What is the difference between 'type' and 'class'?

[Peng Yu]

pydoc xrange says:

Help on class xrange in module __builtin__:

class xrange(object)

python_2.6.5_library.pdf says:

Objects of type xrange are similar to buffers

Are type and class synonyms? It seems that they are at least according
to some webpages that I read. But I'm not completely sure. Could you
let me know in case my impress is wrong?

-- 
Regards,
Peng