Template:Distinguish/doc

Usage

{{distinguish|PAGE1}}

Not to be confused with PAGE1.

{{distinguish|PAGE1|PAGE2}}

Not to be confused with PAGE1 or PAGE2.

{{distinguish|PAGE1|PAGE2|PAGE3}}

Not to be confused with PAGE1, PAGE2, or PAGE3.

This hatnote is generally used when there can be confusion with a similar term. This is typically used when readers have misspelled their desired title, and the error would be apparent by simply displaying the alternative term without further explanation. For example, consider a reader looking for the punctuation mark who instead ends up at coma:

Coma →

Not to be confused with Comma.

Readers are presumed to recognize that they actually wanted comma by merely looking at the spelling, and this case generally requires no further explanation.

However, {{distinguish}} is not suitable when the difference is not readily apparent without additional details. Consider a reader looking for a game they believe is named Reversi:

Reversi →

Not to be confused with Reversis.

In the above hatnote, it is not generally apparent how the suggested Reversis is different from Reversi, which is also a game.

Reversi → Template:About

Using {{about}} instead of {{distinguish}}, the differences in the suggested article is explained upfront without requiring the reader to click through and differentiate the terms on their own.

{{Distinguish}} should only be used when the ambiguity exists for a portion of the readership that is sufficient to warrant a hatnote. Care should be taken to avoid trivial uses.

See also

• {{Distinguish2}}, for multiple disambiguation targets or prepending "the".