Wikipedia: The Missing Manual

For Multiple Meanings: Disambiguation

Disambiguation is a fancy word for how Wikipedia handles a single term that’s associated with more than one topic. If you type a word or name that pertains to more than one article—Jerry Lewis, for example—disambiguation helps you find the article you’re looking for.

You see disambiguation in two places:

• Disambiguation pages. These are separate pages where you can pick a link to go to the article you want. Such pages normally begin something like “Mercury can refer to the following,” followed by a list of several article links to choose from.

• Disambiguation links. These are notes at the top of an article that say things like “For other uses of the word mercury, go to mercury (element).” In this case, the link may go directly to another article, or, if there are several alternative articles, to a disambiguation page—as in mercury (disambiguation).

Figure 16-15 shows both types of disambiguation.

Figure 16-15. Top: If you type Jerry Lewis in the search box and click Go, you arrive at this article. If you had another Jerry Lewis in mind, simply click the Jerry Lewis (disambiguation) link near the top of the page. Bottom: The Jerry Lewis (disambiguation) page lists four articles that editors think readers might want when they search for the name Jerry Lewis.

Creating and updating disambiguation pages and disambiguation links at the top of articles are important ...