diff --git a/Lib/test/test_xml_etree.py b/Lib/test/test_xml_etree.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_xml_etree.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_xml_etree.py
@@ -2098,6 +2098,36 @@
                 ERRORS.codes[ERRORS.XML_ERROR_SYNTAX])
 
 
+class KeywordArgsTest(unittest.TestCase):
+    def test_issue14818(self):
+        x = ET.XML("<a>foo</a>")
+        self.assertEqual(x.find('a', None),
+                         x.find(path='a', namespaces=None))
+        self.assertEqual(x.findtext('a', None, None),
+                         x.findtext(path='a', default=None, namespaces=None))
+        self.assertEqual(x.findall('a', None),
+                         x.findall(path='a', namespaces=None))
+        self.assertEqual(list(x.iterfind('a', None)),
+                         list(x.iterfind(path='a', namespaces=None)))
+
+        self.assertEqual(ET.Element('a').attrib, {})
+        elements = [
+            ET.Element('a', dict(href="#", id="foo")),
+            ET.Element('a', attrib=dict(href="#", id="foo")),
+            ET.Element('a', dict(href="#"), id="foo"),
+            ET.Element('a', href="#", id="foo"),
+            ET.Element('a', dict(href="#", id="foo"), href="#", id="foo"),
+        ]
+        for e in elements:
+            self.assertEqual(e.tag, 'a')
+            self.assertEqual(e.attrib, dict(href="#", id="foo"))
+
+        with self.assertRaisesRegex(TypeError, 'must be dict, not str'):
+            ET.Element('a', "I'm not a dict")
+        with self.assertRaisesRegex(TypeError, 'must be dict, not str'):
+            ET.Element('a', attrib="I'm not a dict")
+
+
 # --------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
@@ -2153,7 +2183,8 @@
         StringIOTest,
         ParseErrorTest,
         ElementTreeTest,
-        TreeBuilderTest]
+        TreeBuilderTest,
+        KeywordArgsTest]
     if module is pyET:
         # Run the tests specific to the Python implementation
         test_classes += [NoAcceleratorTest]
diff --git a/Lib/xml/etree/ElementTree.py b/Lib/xml/etree/ElementTree.py
--- a/Lib/xml/etree/ElementTree.py
+++ b/Lib/xml/etree/ElementTree.py
@@ -205,6 +205,8 @@
     # constructor
 
     def __init__(self, tag, attrib={}, **extra):
+        if not isinstance(attrib, dict):
+            raise TypeError("must be dict, not %s" % attrib.__class__.__name__)
         attrib = attrib.copy()
         attrib.update(extra)
         self.tag = tag
diff --git a/Modules/_elementtree.c b/Modules/_elementtree.c
--- a/Modules/_elementtree.c
+++ b/Modules/_elementtree.c
@@ -358,12 +358,32 @@
     if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "O|O!:Element", &tag, &PyDict_Type, &attrib))
         return -1;
 
-    if (attrib || kwds) {
-        attrib = (attrib) ? PyDict_Copy(attrib) : PyDict_New();
+    if (attrib) {
+        /* attrib passed as positional arg */
+        attrib = PyDict_Copy(attrib);
+        if (kwds)
+            PyDict_Update(attrib, kwds);
+    } else if (kwds) {
+        PyObject *attrib_str = PyUnicode_FromString("attrib");
+        if (PyDict_Contains(kwds, attrib_str)) {
+            /* attrib passed as kw arg, ends up in kwds, extract it */
+            attrib = PyDict_GetItem(kwds, attrib_str);
+            if (!PyDict_Check(attrib)) {
+                Py_DECREF(attrib_str);
+                PyErr_Format(PyExc_TypeError, "must be dict, not %.100s",
+                             Py_TYPE(attrib)->tp_name);
+                return -1;
+            }
+            attrib = PyDict_Copy(attrib);
+            PyDict_DelItem(kwds, attrib_str);
+        } else {
+            /* attrib wasn't even in kwds */
+            attrib = PyDict_New();
+        }
+        Py_DECREF(attrib_str);
         if (!attrib)
             return -1;
-        if (kwds)
-            PyDict_Update(attrib, kwds);
+        PyDict_Update(attrib, kwds);
     } else {
         Py_INCREF(Py_None);
         attrib = Py_None;
@@ -881,13 +901,15 @@
 }
 
 static PyObject*
-element_find(ElementObject* self, PyObject* args)
+element_find(ElementObject* self, PyObject* args, PyObject *kwds)
 {
     int i;
     PyObject* tag;
     PyObject* namespaces = Py_None;
-
-    if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "O|O:find", &tag, &namespaces))
+    static char *kwlist[] = {"path", "namespaces", 0};
+
+    if (!PyArg_ParseTupleAndKeywords(args, kwds, "O|O:find", kwlist,
+                                     &tag, &namespaces))
         return NULL;
 
     if (checkpath(tag) || namespaces != Py_None) {
@@ -913,15 +935,17 @@
 }
 
 static PyObject*
-element_findtext(ElementObject* self, PyObject* args)
+element_findtext(ElementObject* self, PyObject* args, PyObject *kwds)
 {
     int i;
     PyObject* tag;
     PyObject* default_value = Py_None;
     PyObject* namespaces = Py_None;
     _Py_IDENTIFIER(findtext);
-
-    if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "O|OO:findtext", &tag, &default_value, &namespaces))
+    static char *kwlist[] = {"path", "default", "namespaces", 0};
+
+    if (!PyArg_ParseTupleAndKeywords(args, kwds, "O|OO:findtext", kwlist,
+                                     &tag, &default_value, &namespaces))
         return NULL;
 
     if (checkpath(tag) || namespaces != Py_None)
@@ -951,14 +975,16 @@
 }
 
 static PyObject*
-element_findall(ElementObject* self, PyObject* args)
+element_findall(ElementObject* self, PyObject* args, PyObject *kwds)
 {
     int i;
     PyObject* out;
     PyObject* tag;
     PyObject* namespaces = Py_None;
-
-    if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "O|O:findall", &tag, &namespaces))
+    static char *kwlist[] = {"path", "namespaces", 0};
+
+    if (!PyArg_ParseTupleAndKeywords(args, kwds, "O|O:findall", kwlist,
+                                     &tag, &namespaces))
         return NULL;
 
     if (checkpath(tag) || namespaces != Py_None) {
@@ -990,13 +1016,15 @@
 }
 
 static PyObject*
-element_iterfind(ElementObject* self, PyObject* args)
+element_iterfind(ElementObject* self, PyObject* args, PyObject *kwds)
 {
     PyObject* tag;
     PyObject* namespaces = Py_None;
     _Py_IDENTIFIER(iterfind);
-
-    if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "O|O:iterfind", &tag, &namespaces))
+    static char *kwlist[] = {"path", "namespaces", 0};
+
+    if (!PyArg_ParseTupleAndKeywords(args, kwds, "O|O:iterfind", kwlist,
+                                     &tag, &namespaces))
         return NULL;
 
     return _PyObject_CallMethodId(
@@ -1567,9 +1595,9 @@
     {"get", (PyCFunction) element_get, METH_VARARGS},
     {"set", (PyCFunction) element_set, METH_VARARGS},
 
-    {"find", (PyCFunction) element_find, METH_VARARGS},
-    {"findtext", (PyCFunction) element_findtext, METH_VARARGS},
-    {"findall", (PyCFunction) element_findall, METH_VARARGS},
+    {"find", (PyCFunction) element_find, METH_VARARGS | METH_KEYWORDS},
+    {"findtext", (PyCFunction) element_findtext, METH_VARARGS | METH_KEYWORDS},
+    {"findall", (PyCFunction) element_findall, METH_VARARGS | METH_KEYWORDS},
 
     {"append", (PyCFunction) element_append, METH_VARARGS},
     {"extend", (PyCFunction) element_extend, METH_VARARGS},
@@ -1578,7 +1606,7 @@
 
     {"iter", (PyCFunction) element_iter, METH_VARARGS},
     {"itertext", (PyCFunction) element_itertext, METH_VARARGS},
-    {"iterfind", (PyCFunction) element_iterfind, METH_VARARGS},
+    {"iterfind", (PyCFunction) element_iterfind, METH_VARARGS | METH_KEYWORDS},
 
     {"getiterator", (PyCFunction) element_iter, METH_VARARGS},
     {"getchildren", (PyCFunction) element_getchildren, METH_VARARGS},