 | This is a documentation subpage for Template:Disambiguation. It may contain usage information, categories and other content that is not part of the original template page. |
 | This template is used on approximately 234,000 pages. To avoid major disruption and server load, any changes should be tested in the template's /sandbox or /testcases subpages, or in your own user subpage. The tested changes can be added to this page in a single edit. Consider discussing changes on the talk page before implementing them. |
 | This template should not be substituted. |
| This template adds an automatically generated short description via an embedded template. If the automatic short description is not optimal, override it by adding {{Short description}} at the top of the article. |
This is the {{Disambiguation}} template.
This is a general-purpose template, to be placed at the bottom of any article that exists to help readers find other articles with the same or similar names. This concept is called disambiguation and is used with many common words, such as cross, life and work. This template automatically adds articles to the Category:Disambiguation pages.
Page title fixes
This template will automatically detect incomplete disambiguation present in page titles. If the title includes anything other than (disambiguation) in parentheses, it is assumed to be the article type. For example, this template on the page 1st Division (France) would produce the text "This disambiguation page lists France articles associated with the title 1st Division". If the page title contains parentheses that are not used for disambiguation (such as Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask)), set |ignore_parentheses=yes. If you wish to manually specify the article type, use the |type= parameter.
Variant templates
Disambiguation
For disambiguation pages requiring cleanup, use {{Disambiguation cleanup}}.
More specific and alternative templates exist for disambiguation pages whose entries are limited exclusively to items of a particular type:
Note: A set index article (SIA) is not a disambiguation page; it is a list article about a set of items of a specific type that also share the same (or similar) name. Wikipedia:Set index articles includes templates for SIAs.
Parameters
Sometimes there isn't a specific disambiguation template (see list above) that fits for a page, or the page has items in more than one of the above classes. Then use {{Disambiguation}} but with one or more parameters telling which categories to use. Up to ten parameters can be fed, and in any order. For example:
{{Disambiguation|school|hospital}}
| Only add a parameter from this list if the disambiguation page has several items of that type: | |
{{Disambiguation|hn}} (or name, names, human name, human names, or hndis){{Disambiguation|hn=sortkey}} | for Category:Human name disambiguation pages for Category:Human name disambiguation pages with a specified sort key (e.g. {{Disambiguation|hn=Doe, John}}) |
{{Disambiguation|animal}} (or animals) | for Category:Animal common name disambiguation pages |
{{Disambiguation|architecture}} | for Category:Architectural disambiguation pages |
{{Disambiguation|biology}} (or biologies) | for Category:Biology disambiguation pages |
{{Disambiguation|bird}} (or birds) | for Category:Bird common name disambiguation pages |
{{Disambiguation|building and structure}} (or building, buildings, structure, structures, or buildings and structures) | Category:Buildings and structures disambiguation pages |
{{Disambiguation|church}} (or church building, church buildings, or churches) | for Category:Church building disambiguation pages |
{{Disambiguation|county}} (or counties){{Disambiguation|uscounty}} (or uscounties) | for Category:County name disambiguation pages for Category:United States county name disambiguation pages |
{{Disambiguation|culture}} (or language, languages, nationality, nationalities, language nationality, languages nationalities, language and nationality, languages and nationalities, or cultures) | for Category:Language and nationality disambiguation pages |
{{Disambiguation|date and time}} (or date, dates, time, times, date time, dates times, or dates and times) | for Category:Date and time disambiguation pages |
{{Disambiguation|department}} (or departments) | for Category:Department name disambiguation pages |
{{Disambiguation|district}} (or districts) | for Category:District name disambiguation pages |
{{Disambiguation|economics}} | for Category:Economics disambiguation pages |
{{Disambiguation|fish}} (or fishes | for Category:Fish common name disambiguation pages |
{{Disambiguation|flight number}} (or flight, or flight numbers) | for Category:Flight number disambiguation pages |
{{Disambiguation|genus}} (or genera) | for Category:Genus disambiguation pages |
{{Disambiguation|geo}} (or area, areas, geodis, geography, geographical, location, locations, place name, place names, place, places) | for Category:Place name disambiguation pages |
{{Disambiguation|hospital}} (or hospital name, hospital names, or hospitals) | for Category:Hospital disambiguation pages |
{{Disambiguation|latin}} (or latin name, or latin names) | for Category:Latin name disambiguation pages |
{{Disambiguation|letter number}} (or letter-number) | for Category:Letter–number combination disambiguation pages |
{{Disambiguation|linguistics}} (or phonetics) | for Category:Linguistics disambiguation pages |
{{Disambiguation|math}} (or mathdab, mathematics, mathematical, or maths) | for Category:Mathematics disambiguation pages |
{{Disambiguation|military}} | for Category:Military units and formations disambiguation pages |
{{Disambiguation|mosque}} (or mosques) | for Category:Mosque disambiguation pages |
{{Disambiguation|municipality}} (or municipalities) | for Category:Municipality name disambiguation pages |
{{Disambiguation|number}} (or numberdis, ambiguous number, ambiguous numbers, or numbers) | for Category:Lists of ambiguous numbers |
{{Disambiguation|opus number}} (or opus, or opus numbers) | for Category:Opus number disambiguation pages |
{{Disambiguation|parish}} (or parishes) | for Category:Parish name disambiguation pages |
{{Disambiguation|plant}} (or plants) | for Category:Plant common name disambiguation pages |
{{Disambiguation|political party}} (or party, parties, political, or political parties) | for Category:Political party disambiguation pages |
{{Disambiguation|province}} (or provinces) | for Category:Province name disambiguation pages |
{{Disambiguation|religion}} (or hindu, hindu temple, hindu temples, religious building, or religious buildings) | for Category:Religious buildings and structures disambiguation pages (note that hindu, hindu temple, and hindu temples, are only to be used on disambiguation pages about Hindu temples) |
{{Disambiguation|road}} (or roaddis, or roads) | for Category:Road disambiguation pages |
{{Disambiguation|road same title}} (or roads same title) | for Category:Lists of roads sharing the same title |
{{Disambiguation|school}} (or schooldis, education, educational institution, educational institutions, college, colleges, university, universities, or schools) | for Category:Educational institution disambiguation pages |
{{Disambiguation|science}} | for Category:Science disambiguation pages |
{{Disambiguation|ship}} (or ships) | for Category:Ship disambiguation pages |
{{Disambiguation|social science}} (or social) | for Category:Social science disambiguation pages |
{{Disambiguation|species latin}} (or species latin name, or species latin names) | for Category:Species Latin name disambiguation pages |
{{Disambiguation|species latin name abbreviation}} (or species latin name abbr, species latin name abbrs, or species latin name abbreviations) | for Category:Species Latin name abbreviation disambiguation pages |
{{Disambiguation|station}} (or stations) | for Category:Station disambiguation pages |
{{Disambiguation|synagogue}} (or synagogues) | for Category:Synagogue disambiguation pages |
{{Disambiguation|taxonomy}} (or taxonomical, or taxonomies) | for Category:Taxonomy disambiguation pages |
{{Disambiguation|technology and engineering}} (or engineering, tech, tech and engineering, or technology) | for Category:Technology and engineering disambiguation pages |
{{Disambiguation|template}} (or templates) | for Category:Template disambiguation pages |
{{Disambiguation|temple}} (or buddhist, buddhist temple, buddhist temples, or temples) | for Category:Buddhist temple disambiguation pages |
{{Disambiguation|temple name}} (or temple names) | for Category:Temple name disambiguation pages |
{{Disambiguation|title and name}} (or name title, names titles, name and title, names and titles, title, titles, tndis, title name, titles names, or titles and names) | for Category:Title and name disambiguation pages |
{{Disambiguation|township}} (or townships){{Disambiguation|arkansas township}} (or arkansas townships){{Disambiguation|illinois township}} (or illinois townships){{Disambiguation|indiana township}} (or indiana townships){{Disambiguation|iowa township}} (or iowa townships){{Disambiguation|kansas township}} (or kansas townships){{Disambiguation|michigan township}} (or michigan townships){{Disambiguation|minnesota township}} (or minnesota townships){{Disambiguation|missouri township}} (or missouri townships){{Disambiguation|nebraska township}} (or nebraska townships){{Disambiguation|new jersey township}} (or new jersey townships){{Disambiguation|north carolina township}} (or north carolina townships){{Disambiguation|north dakota township}} (or north dakota townships){{Disambiguation|ohio township}} (or ohio townships){{Disambiguation|oklahoma township}} (or oklahoma townships){{Disambiguation|pennsylvania township}} (or pennsylvania townships){{Disambiguation|south dakota township}} (or south dakota townships) |
for Category:Township name disambiguation pages for Category:Arkansas township disambiguation pages for Category:Illinois township disambiguation pages for Category:Indiana township disambiguation pages for Category:Iowa township disambiguation pages for Category:Kansas township disambiguation pages for Category:Michigan township disambiguation pages for Category:Minnesota township disambiguation pages for Category:Missouri township disambiguation pages for Category:Nebraska township disambiguation pages for Category:New Jersey township disambiguation pages for Category:North Carolina township disambiguation pages for Category:North Dakota township disambiguation pages for Category:Ohio township disambiguation pages for Category:Oklahoma township disambiguation pages for Category:Pennsylvania township disambiguation pages for Category:South Dakota township disambiguation pages |
{{Disambiguation|transport route}} (or transport routes) | for Category:Transport route disambiguation pages |
| These can be added if there are one or more elements in the list (per their category descriptions): | |
{{Disambiguation|airport}} (or airports) | for Category:Airport disambiguation pages |
{{Disambiguation|callsign}} (or call sign, call signs, broadcast call sign, broadcast call signs, or callsigns) | for Category:Broadcast call sign disambiguation pages |
| These can be added even if there's only one element in the list, since these types are not actually ambiguous: | |
{{Disambiguation|given name}} (or first name, first names, or given names) | for Category:Disambiguation pages with given-name-holder lists |
{{Disambiguation|surname}} (or last name, last names, or surnames) | for Category:Disambiguation pages with surname-holder lists |
| This parameter reflects the title, not the contents: | |
{{Disambiguation|chinese}} (or chinese char, chinese-char, chinesechar, chinese character, or chinese characters) | for Category:Disambiguation pages with Chinese character titles |
| And these parameters reflect a maintenance need, not the contents: | |
{{Disambiguation|cleanup}} (or clean up, or clean-up) | for Category:Disambiguation pages in need of cleanup |
{{Disambiguation|one non-primary topic}} (or non-primary, or non-primary topic) | for Category:Disambiguation pages containing one non-primary topic |
{{Disambiguation|split}} | for Category:Disambiguation pages in need of being split |
This list is currently complete as of 5 January 2025[update] and {{Disambiguation}} has parameters for all subcategories of Category:Disambiguation pages; it is recommended to use this template and its parameters instead of adding that categories' subcategory to the disambiguation page manually.
Nocat
If categorization is not needed on pages that are not in mainspace, then the "nocat" parameter may be set equal to "true" or "yes" as follows:
{{Disambiguation|nocat=true}}{{Disambiguation|nocat=yes}}
Redirects
Technical details
Internally, this template uses {{Dmbox}}. That template categorises pages into Category:All disambiguation pages and Category:All article disambiguation pages.
This template also uses {{Disambiguation/cat}} to handle the categorisation parameters, such as "hospital" and "school".
Other templates and modules used:
- {{Disambiguation page short description}}
- {{Template other}}
- {{Title disambig text}}
- {{PAGENAMEBASE}}
- {{Trim}}
- {{Str rep}}
- {{#invoke:Redirect|isRedirect}}
Template use
Place template at the foot of the disambiguation page after all of the disambiguation content but before any categories (see below) (interlanguage links to Wikidata), as per the WP:DCAT guideline.
TemplateData
This is the TemplateData for this template used by TemplateWizard, VisualEditor and other tools. See a monthly parameter usage report for Template:Disambiguation in articles based on its TemplateData.
TemplateData for Disambiguation
Place at the bottom of Disambiguation pages.
| Parameter | Description | Type | Status | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First category key | 1 | Used to put the page in a category. Can be one of 'split' (dab pages in need of being split); 'clean up','clean-up','cleanup' (dabs in need of cleanup); 'non-primary','non-primary topic','one non-primary topic' (dabs without a primary topic); 'building','buildings','structure','structures','buildings and structures','building and structure' (building and structure dabs); 'airports','airport' (airport dabs); 'architecture' (architecture dabs); 'hospital name','hospital names','hospitals','hospital' (hospital dabs); 'schooldis','education','educational institution','educational institutions','college','colleges','university','universities','schools','school' = (educational institution dabs); 'stations','station' (station dabs); 'hindu','hindu temple','hindu temples','religious building','religious buildings','religion' (religious building dabs); 'church building','church buildings','churches','church' (church building dabs); 'mosques','mosque' (mosque dabs); 'synagogues','synagogue' (synagogue dabs); 'buddhist','buddhist temple','buddhist temples','temples','temple' (Buddhist template dabs); 'sciences','science' (science dabs); 'biologies','biology' (biology dabs); 'animals','animal' (animal dabs); 'birds','bird' (bird dabs); 'fishes','fish' (fish dabs); 'plants','plant' (plant common name dabs); 'taxonomical','taxonomies','taxonomy' (taxonomy dabs); 'genera','genus' (genus dabs); 'latin name','latin names','latin' (Latin name dabs); 'species latin name','species latin names','species latin' (species Latin name dabs); 'species latin name abbr','species latin name abbrs','species latin name abbreviations','species latin name abbreviation' (species Latin name abbreviation dabs); 'phonetics','linguistics' (linguistics dabs); 'mathdab','mathematics','mathematical','maths','math' (mathematical dabs); 'social','social sciences','social science' (social science dabs); 'economics' (economics dabs); 'area','areas','geodis','geography','geographical','location','locations','place name','place names','place','places','geo' (place name dabs); 'counties','county' = (county name dabs); 'uscounties','uscounty' (United States county name dabs); 'departments','department' (department name dabs); 'districts','district' (district name dabs); 'municipalities','municipality' (municipality name dabs); 'parishes','parish' (parish name dabs); 'provinces','province' (province name dabs); 'townships','township' (township name dabs); 'arkansas townships','arkansas township' (Arkansas township dabs),'illinois townships','illinois township' (Illinois township dabs),'indiana townships','indiana township' (Indiana township dabs),'iowa townships','iowa township' (Iowa township dabs),'kansas townships','kansas township' (Kansas township dabs),'michigan townships','michigan township' (Michigan township dabs),'minnesota townships','minnesota township' (Minnesota township dabs),'missouri townships','missouri township' (Missouri township dabs),'nebraska townships','nebraska township' (Nebraska township dabs),'new jersey townships','new jersey township' (New Jersey township dabs),'north carolina townships','north carolina township' (North Carolina township dabs),'north dakota townships','north dakota township' (North Dakota township dabs),'ohio townships','ohio township' (Ohio township dabs),'oklahoma townships','oklahoma township' (Oklahoma township dabs),'pennsylvania townships','pennsylvania township' (Pennsylvania township dabs),'south dakota townships','south dakota township' (South Dakota township dabs),'call sign','call signs','broadcast call sign','broadcast call signs','callsigns','callsign' = (broadcast call sign dabs),'caselaw' = (caselaw dabs),'chinese char','chinese-char','chinesechar','chinese character','chinese characters','chinese' (Chinese character titles),'language','languages','nationality','nationalities','language nationality','languages nationalities','language and nationality','languages and nationalities','cultures','culture' (language and nationality dabs),'date','dates','time','times','date time','dates times','dates and times','date and time' (date and time dabs),'flight','flight numbers','flight number' (flight number dabs),'opus','opus numbers','opus number' (opus number dabs),'name','names','human name','human names','hndis','hn' (human name dabs),'last name','last names','surnames','surname' (surname dabs),'first name','first names','given names','given name' (given-name dabs),'hangul title','hangul titles','hangul' (Hangul dabs),'letter-number','letter number' (letter–number combination dabs),'military' (military dabs),'numberdis','ambiguous number','ambiguous numbers','numbers','number' (ambiguous number dabs),'party','parties','political','political parties','political party' (political party dabs),'roaddis','roads','road' (road dabs),'roads same title','road same title' (road same title dabs),'ships','ship' (ship dabs),'engineering','tech','tech and engineering','technology','technology and engineering' (technology and engineering dabs),'templates','template' (template dabs),'temple names','temple name' (temple name dabs),'name title','names titles','name and title','names and titles','title','titles','tndis','title name','titles names','titles and names','title and name' (title and name dabs),'transport routes','transport route' (transport route dabs)
| String | suggested |
| Second category key | 2 | Further category keys, as parameter 1.
| String | optional |
| Third category key | 3 | Further category keys, as parameter 1.
| String | optional |
| Fourth category key | 4 | Further category keys, as parameter 1.
| String | optional |
| Fifth category key | 5 | Further category keys, as parameter 1.
| String | optional |
| Sixth category key | 6 | Further category keys, as parameter 1.
| String | optional |
| Seventh category key | 7 | Further category keys, as parameter 1.
| String | optional |
| Eighth category key | 8 | Further category keys, as parameter 1.
| String | optional |
| Ninth category key | 9 | Further category keys, as parameter 1.
| String | optional |
| Tenth category key | 10 | Further category keys, as parameter 1.
| String | optional |
| Human name | hn | Human name disambiguation page with its own sort key. | String | optional |
| page-title | page-title | Page title to use, only useful for special cases when default does not work.
| String | optional |
| nocat | nocat | Set to 'yes' to prevent categorisation. | String | optional |
| demospace | demospace | Used for testing. | String | optional |
| ignore_parentheses | ignore_parentheses | Set to 'yes' to prevent parentheses in the article title from being parsed as incomplete disambiguation. | String | optional |
| type | type | Manually specify the article type in the descriptive text ('This disambiguation page lists {{{type}}} articles...') | String | optional |
See also
- Wikipedia:Hatnote
- {{Dablinks}} – lists wikilinks on the page that link to disambiguation pages
- {{dabsearch}}
- {{Disambiguation needed}} – Adds an inline "disambiguation needed" tag to an ambiguous link within an article, see Wikipedia:OTHERUSES for more.
- {{WikiProject Disambiguation}} – for disambig talkpages
- {{Redirect}} – for linking to disambiguation pages in an article that is the primary topic of a redirect
- {{Other uses}} – for linking to disambiguation pages in articles