diff --git a/sanic/response.py b/sanic/response.py
index d0e64cea..859f7d02 100644
--- a/sanic/response.py
+++ b/sanic/response.py
@@ -153,7 +153,7 @@ def html(body, status=200, headers=None):
                         content_type="text/html; charset=utf-8")
 
 
-async def file(location, mime_type=None, headers=None):
+async def send_file(location, mime_type=None, headers=None):
     filename = path.split(location)[-1]
 
     async with open_async(location, mode='rb') as _file: