diff -u b/modules/field/field.api.php b/modules/field/field.api.php
--- b/modules/field/field.api.php
+++ b/modules/field/field.api.php
@@ -675,11 +675,6 @@
  * Widget hooks are typically called by the Field Attach API during the
  * creation of the field form structure with field_attach_form().
  *
- * @see hook_field_widget_info_alter()
- * @see hook_field_widget_form()
- * @see hook_field_widget_form_alter()
- * @see hook_field_widget_error()
- *
  * @return
  *   An array describing the widget types implemented by the module.
  *   The keys are widget type names. To avoid name clashes, widget type
@@ -705,6 +700,12 @@
  *       - FIELD_BEHAVIOR_DEFAULT: (default) If the widget accepts default
  *         values.
  *       - FIELD_BEHAVIOR_NONE: if the widget does not support default values.
+ *
+ * @see hook_field_widget_info_alter()
+ * @see hook_field_widget_form()
+ * @see hook_field_widget_form_alter()
+ * @see hook_field_widget_WIDGET_TYPE_form_alter()
+ * @see hook_field_widget_error()
  */
 function hook_field_widget_info() {
     return array(
@@ -784,9 +785,6 @@
  * properties from $field and $instance and set them as ad-hoc
  * $element['#custom'] properties, for later use by its element callbacks.
  *
- * @see field_widget_field()
- * @see field_widget_instance()
- *
  * Other modules may alter the form element provided by this function using
  * hook_field_widget_form_alter().
  *
@@ -830,6 +828,11 @@
  *
  * @return
  *   The form elements for a single widget for this field.
+ *
+ * @see field_widget_field()
+ * @see field_widget_instance()
+ * @see hook_field_widget_form_alter()
+ * @see hook_field_widget_WIDGET_TYPE_form_alter()
  */
 function hook_field_widget_form(&$form, &$form_state, $field, $instance, $langcode, $items, $delta, $element) {
   $element += array(
@@ -847,15 +850,19 @@
  * @param $form_state
  *   An associative array containing the current state of the form.
  * @param $context
- *   An associative array containing additional information about the current
- *   field widget:
- *   - field: The field structure.
- *   - instance: The field instance structure.
- *   - form: The form structure where widgets are being attached.
- *     This might be a full form structure, or a sub-element of a larger form.
+ *   An associative array containing the follwoing key-value pairs, matching the
+ *   arguments received by hook_field_widget_form():
+ *   - "form": The form structure where widgets are being attached to. This
+ *     might be a full form structure, or a sub-element of a larger form.
+ *   - "field": The field structure.
+ *   - "instance": The field instance structure.
+ *   - "langcode": The language associated with $items.
+ *   - "items": Array of default values for this field.
+ *   - "delta": The order of this item in the array of subelements (0, 1, 2,
+ *     etc).
  *
  * @see hook_field_widget_form()
- * @see hook_form_alter()
+ * @see hook_field_widget_WIDGET_TYPE_form_alter
  */
 function hook_field_widget_form_alter(&$element, &$form_state, $context) {
   // Add a css class to widget form elements for all fields of type mytype.
@@ -868,7 +875,7 @@
 /**
  * Alter widget forms for a specific widget provided by another module.
  *
- * Modules can implement hook_field_widget_NAME_form_alter() to modify a
+ * Modules can implement hook_field_widget_WIDGET_TYPE_form_alter() to modify a
  * specific widget form, rather than using hook_field_widget_form_alter() and
  * checking the widget type.
  *
@@ -877,21 +884,24 @@
  * @param $form_state
  *   An associative array containing the current state of the form.
  * @param $context
- *   An associative array containing additional information about the current
- *   field widget:
- *   - field: The field structure.
- *   - instance: The field instance structure.
- *   - form: The form structure where widgets are being attached.
- *     This might be a full form structure, or a sub-element of a larger form.
+ *   An associative array containing the follwoing key-value pairs, matching the
+ *   arguments received by hook_field_widget_form():
+ *   - "form": The form structure where widgets are being attached to. This
+ *     might be a full form structure, or a sub-element of a larger form.
+ *   - "field": The field structure.
+ *   - "instance": The field instance structure.
+ *   - "langcode": The language associated with $items.
+ *   - "items": Array of default values for this field.
+ *   - "delta": The order of this item in the array of subelements (0, 1, 2,
+ *     etc).
  *
- * @see hook_field_widget_form_alter()
  * @see hook_field_widget_form()
- * @see hook_form_alter()
+ * @see hook_field_widget_form_alter()
  */
-function hook_field_widget_NAME_form_alter(&$element, &$form_state, $context) {
-  // Code here will only act on the widget NAME.  For example, if the widget
-  // name is mymodule_autocomplete, then the following will change the
-  // autocomplete path for the mymodule_autocomplete widget only.
+function hook_field_widget_WIDGET_TYPE_form_alter(&$element, &$form_state, $context) {
+  // Code here will only act on widgets of type WIDGET_TYPE.  For example,
+  // hook_field_widget_mymodule_autocomplete_form_alter() will only act on
+  // widgets of type 'mymodule_autocomplete'.
   $element['#autocomplete_path'] = 'mymodule/autocomplete_path';
 }
 
diff -u b/modules/field/field.form.inc b/modules/field/field.form.inc
--- b/modules/field/field.form.inc
+++ b/modules/field/field.form.inc
@@ -78,8 +78,6 @@
         if ($element = $function($form, $form_state, $field, $instance, $langcode, $items, $delta, $element)) {
           // Allow modules to alter the field widget form element.
           $context = array(
-            'entity_type' => $entity_type,
-            'entity' => $entity,
             'form' => $form,
             'field' => $field,
             'instance' => $instance,
@@ -209,7 +207,6 @@
 
         // Allow modules to alter the field widget form element.
         $context = array(
-          'entity_type' => $instance['entity_type'],
           'form' => $form,
           'field' => $field,
           'instance' => $instance,