diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/709-ec_2_instance-python-3-8-compatibility.yml b/changelogs/fragments/709-ec_2_instance-python-3-8-compatibility.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..293f89179b2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/709-ec_2_instance-python-3-8-compatibility.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+---
+bugfixes:
+  - ec2_instance - ec2_instance module broken in Python 3.8 - dict keys modified during iteration (https://github.com/ansible-collections/amazon.aws/issues/709).
diff --git a/plugins/modules/ec2_instance.py b/plugins/modules/ec2_instance.py
index e7757ed825c..2bfde6f91f2 100644
--- a/plugins/modules/ec2_instance.py
+++ b/plugins/modules/ec2_instance.py
@@ -1463,6 +1463,8 @@ def change_network_attachments(instance, params):
 
 def find_instances(ids=None, filters=None):
     paginator = client.get_paginator('describe_instances')
+    sanitized_filters = dict()
+
     if ids:
         params = dict(InstanceIds=ids)
     elif filters is None:
@@ -1470,13 +1472,16 @@ def find_instances(ids=None, filters=None):
     else:
         for key in list(filters.keys()):
             if not key.startswith("tag:"):
-                filters[key.replace("_", "-")] = filters.pop(key)
-        params = dict(Filters=ansible_dict_to_boto3_filter_list(filters))
+                sanitized_filters[key.replace("_", "-")] = filters[key]
+            else:
+                sanitized_filters[key] = filters[key]
+        params = dict(Filters=ansible_dict_to_boto3_filter_list(sanitized_filters))
 
     try:
         results = _describe_instances(**params)
     except (botocore.exceptions.BotoCoreError, botocore.exceptions.ClientError) as e:
         module.fail_json_aws(e, msg="Could not describe instances")
+
     retval = list(results)
     return retval