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Article titles can be ambiguous. For example, Mercury can mean a chemical element, a planet or a Roman god. Prince is usually a royal title but may refer to the musician. Care is needed to ensure that each link to such topics leads to the right article. This essay discusses finding and correcting links which take the reader to the wrong destination.

Finding pairs

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The first task is to identify pairs of titles where links to the first may be intended for the second. Because of the way titles are disambiguated, many misdirected links take the reader to a page at the base name when a qualified name was intended: to Mercury instead of Mercury (element), or to Apple instead of Apple Inc.

In some cases, the base name is occupied by a disambiguation page or by a redirect to a disambiguation page. Such links are easy to find: the original editor is often notified by User:DPL bot, and they appear on reports such as Disambiguation pages with links. Any incoming links are normally errors and tend to be fixed quickly, sometimes with semi-automated tools such as DisamAssist and Dablinks. Techniques for finding and fixing such problems are already dealt with by WP:WikiProject Disambiguation and will not be discussed further here.

In other cases, the base name is occupied by an article (its primary topic) or by a primary redirect to an article. Most links to that page are correct, making errors harder to find. For example, most links to Prince really are about the royal title, and these false positives need to be eliminated before changing the remaining minority of misdirected links to Prince (musician).

The use of qualified base names suggests a method of finding pairs. There are thousands of pairs of articles (or redirects to articles) where one title is the first word(s) of the other but the list can be refined. We can automatically remove pairs where the short title has few incoming links, on the grounds that a short list of links will contain few errors. We can also disregard pairs where the long title has few links, as its topic is not widely referred to. We can then manually remove obvious false positives. For example, South and South Africa both have many incoming links, but it is unlikely that an editor referring to "South Africa" would accidentally link to "South".

As fixing proceeds, the articles' content may suggest further pairs. For example, links to John Lewis which should lead to John Lewis & Partners can occur in lists of British shops which also link to Iceland rather than Iceland (supermarket).

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Having picked a likely pair, we then need to find links which may be in error. Wikipedia's search does this job well. There are two main ways to find links to a shorter title such as Slough (an article about a town) which should lead to a longer one such as Slough (hydrology). Firstly we can look for articles about the longer title:

Slough linksto:Slough hydrology insource:/\[\[ *[Ss]lough *\]\]/
Slough linksto:Slough swamp insource:/\[\[ *[Ss]lough *\]\]/

Secondly, we can look for articles not about the shorter title:

Slough linksto:Slough -Berkshire -England -town insource:/\[\[ *[Ss]lough *\]\]/

The first two terms on each line are almost equivalent to the last one and should hardly affect the output. They are included simply to speed up the search, as insource: alone is very inefficient. Beware that linksto: alone might find many pages which do not link directly but transclude a navigation template with a link. The insource: expression should normally match both sentence and lower case, e.g. [Ss]lough. If only one of the articles is a proper noun then it may also be sensible to do a wider search for just one case. For example,

Slough linksto:Slough insource:/\[\[ *slough *\]\]/

is unlikely to produce false positives, because intentional links to Slough will have a capital S. If there are too many results (say more than 1000), it may be best to limit the search to the intersection of the two sets:

Slough linksto:Slough hydrology -Berkshire -England -town insource:/\[\[ *[Ss]lough *\]\]/
Slough linksto:Slough swamp -Berkshire -England -town insource:/\[\[ *[Ss]lough *\]\]/

It is more efficient to do all searches first and take the union of the outputs (concatenate, then sort eliminating duplicates). In practice, however, further searches for new terms may suggest themselves once fixing is underway.

The morelikethis: feature can also be useful. The following search finds several hundred links, most of which are correct, but sorts them so that the few which require attention appear near the start:

linksto:prince insource:/\[\[ *Prince *\]\]/ -insource:/\[\[ *Prince *\]\] ([A-Z]|of)/ morelikethis:"Prince (musician)"

Fixing errors

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Errors can be fixed manually, but it is helpful to use a tool such as AWB or JWB. (Both require permission. AWB has more functions but requires Microsoft Windows or a particular Wine setup.) Changes must be made with consideration, as a typical success rate is 50%, i.e. half of the flagged links are false positives which should not be changed.

Typical regular expressions to change piped and unpiped links are:

\[\[ *(Prince) *\| → [[$1 (musician)|
\[\[ *(Prince) *\]\] → [[$1 (musician)|$1]]

$1 here is JWB's notation for the text which matched the first round brackets, i.e. the base name. Use the g flag to change all occcurrences. Consider using the i flag to catch lower case initials, though in this case it is best left off as a quick way of skipping links to the generic term "prince".

We can combine pairs with similar qualifiers, especially if they are likely to occur in the same articles. For example, several terms have specialised meanings in taxonomy:

\[\[ *(family|synonym|tribe) *\| → [[$1 (biology)|

and

\[\[ *(family|synonym|tribe) *\]\] → [[$1 (biology)|$1]]

In this case, the g and i flags are important.

Examples

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This table lists some base names and qualified names which lead to articles on different topics. Some wikilinks to the base name may be intended for the qualified name. These examples have already been fixed, but some errors may have been missed and new ones may appear.

Single-letter titles, especially C and V, deserve a special mention. [[C]] may intend C (programming language). [[C#Anything]] links to a (possibly absent) section of the article about the letter C, so wikitext such as [[C#]] often leads the reader astray. They may intend C Sharp (programming language), C♯ (musical note) or a musical scale such as C-sharp major or C-sharp minor. [[V]] can be a typo for Control-V, meaning that the intended target is whatever title was in the editor's clipboard at the time. Short titles can also indicate gratuitous [[over]]linkin[[g]].

Links with the note "lowercase" can be detected by checking the case of the wikilink. For example, links to [[hamlet]] normally relate to a village rather than the play. "Uppercase" works similarly – links to [[Acre]] usually denote a place rather than the unit – but may occur correctly in a title or to begin a sentence.

Links marked GBB are on User:GoingBatty/Backlinks and are probably checked for new incoming links. Other links are on User:Certes/Backlinks and are checked for new incoming links daily (as of January 2021), except those which produce many false positives and few useful leads.

Base Meaning Alternatives Comments
A to G letter C♯ (musical note), C-sharp major (scale), C-sharp minor (scale), etc. See above note about C#, etc.
ABC News United States ABC News (Australia)
Acre unit Acre (state) in Brazil, Acre, Israel uppercase
Admiral naval officer Admiral Group, Admiral Sportswear uppercase
Adobe building material Adobe Inc. uppercase, GBB
Alphabet letters Alphabet Inc. uppercase
Americana artifacts Americana (music)
Aperture, Sculpture, Spire Aperture (mollusc), Sculpture (mollusc), Spire (mollusc)
Apple fruit Apple Inc. uppercase, GBB
Argos Greek city Argos (retailer) now a dab
Aspect ratio geometry Aspect ratio (image)
B, C, F, Java letters B (programming language), C (programming language), C Sharp (programming language), F (programming language), F Sharp (programming language), Java (programming language) See above note about C# etc.
Bachelor single man Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, etc. GBB
Bay coastal inlet Bay (architecture), Bay (horse)
Billboard hoarding Billboard (magazine) GBB
Black, White literal colours Black (U.S. Census), White (U.S. Census)
Bowling, Duck Bowling (cricket), Duck (cricket)
Bridge crossing Contract bridge
Butterfly insect Butterfly stroke (swimming)
Captain military term Captain (association football), Captain (sports) Similarly Goalkeeper, Manager, Penalty shootout, Referee
Carousel merry-go-round Carousel (musical)
Caterpillar insect Caterpillar Inc. uppercase
Chancellor government Chancellor (education)
Chestnut tree Chestnut (coat)
Company commercial enterprise Company (military unit)
Consul Roman official Consul (representative)
Colorado Rockies baseball Colorado Rockies (NHL)
Commonwealth community Commonwealth of Nations
Conservative redirect: ideology Conservative Party (UK)
Country nation Country music
Corvette ship Chevrolet Corvette
Dance movement Dance music
Family, Synonym, Tribe Family (biology), Synonym (taxonomy), Tribe (biology)
Ford redirect: motor company Ford (crossing) now a dab
Fox animal Fox Corporation, Fox Broadcasting Company, etc. uppercase
Guinea country Guinea (coin) lowercase
Hamlet Shakespeare play Hamlet (place) lowercase
Icon, Library religious object Icon (computing), Library (computing)
Julius Caesar emperor Julius Caesar (play) Avoid the character
Jupiter, Mars, Venus Jupiter (mythology), Mars (mythology), Venus (mythology) See also Neptune, Pluto, Saturn, Uranus
Knot tie Knot (unit)
Krishna deity Krishna (Telugu actor) and others
Life, Time, Slate Life (magazine), Time (magazine), Slate (magazine) GBB (Slate, Time)
Mass amount of matter Mass (liturgy), Mass (music)
Monopoly economics term Monopoly (game) uppercase
National Football League American gridiron National Football League (Ireland)
National League league of three divisions National League (division)
Nature, Science, Tetrahedron Nature (journal), Science (journal), Tetrahedron (journal) uppercase
Nirvana religious concept Nirvana (band) uppercase
Oxygen element Oxygen (TV channel) uppercase
Primate ape Primate (bishop)
Prince royal Prince (musician) uppercase
Sailing, Swimming Sailing (sport), Swimming (sport)
Salt NaCl Salt (chemistry)
Spirit supernatural being Spirit (rover), various albums and cars
Stroke medical condition Stroke (engine)
Sunday Times redirect: UK The Sunday Times (Sydney)
The Daily Telegraph UK The Daily Telegraph (Sydney)
The Northern Miner Canadian journal The Northern Miner (Queensland)
The Observer UK newspaper observer.com
Tree woody plant Tree (graph theory)

Places

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Many primary topics share a name with similarly named places. In many cases, there are multiple alternatives; only the most widely linked are listed here.

Base Meaning Alternatives Comments
Alexandria Egypt Alexandria, Virginia; Alexandria, West Dunbartonshire
Aspen tree Aspen, Colorado uppercase
Athens Greece Athens, Georgia; Athens, Ohio
Batman superhero Batman, Turkey
Battle fight Battle, East Sussex uppercase
Bethlehem Palestine Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Birmingham England Birmingham, Alabama
Boston Massachusetts Boston, Lincolnshire
Boulder rock Boulder, Colorado uppercase
Butte hill Butte, Montana uppercase
Brampton Canada several targets
Cairns Australia cairn lowercase
Cambridge England Cambridge, Massachusetts
Calvados brandy Calvados (department) France
Canterbury England Canterbury, New Zealand
Chester England Chester, Pennsylvania
Christchurch New Zealand Christchurch, Dorset formerly Hampshire
Cicero orator Cicero, Illinois
Dollar currency Dollar, Clackmannanshire uppercase
Durango Mexico Durango, Biscay; Durango, Colorado
East London England East London, Eastern Cape
Edmonton Canada Edmonton, London
Esplanade promenade Esplanade, Kolkata uppercase
Eye sight organ Eye, Suffolk uppercase
Flint stone Flint, Flintshire uppercase
Gladstone politician Gladstone, Queensland
Gloucester England Gloucester, Massachusetts
Greenwich England Greenwich, Connecticut
Guna redirect: concept Guna, India or Guna district
Hanover Germany Hanover, New Hampshire
Hollywood California Hollywood, Florida
Horsham England Horsham, Victoria
Hyderabad India Hyderabad, Sindh Pakistan
Ipswich England Ipswich, Queensland
Ithaca Greek island Ithaca, New York
Kansas City redirect: area Kansas City, Missouri
La Paz Bolivia La Paz, Baja California Sur Mexico
Leek vegetable Leek, Staffordshire uppercase
Liverpool England Liverpool, New South Wales
London England London, Ontario
Loni name several places
Luxembourg country Luxembourg City
Manchester England Manchester, New Hampshire
Mansfield England Mansfield, Ohio
March month March, Cambridgeshire
Melbourne Australia Melbourne, Derbyshire
Mold U.S. fungus Mold, Flintshire uppercase
Naples Italy Naples, Florida
New Britain Papua New Guinea New Britain, Connecticut
New Brunswick Canada New Brunswick, New Jersey
Newfoundland redirect: province Newfoundland (island)
Norfolk England Norfolk, Virginia
Northampton England Northampton, Massachusetts
Norwich England Norwich, Connecticut
Odessa Ukraine Odessa, Texas
Ore rock Ore, East Sussex uppercase
Oxford England Oxford, Ohio
Pali language Pali, Rajasthan and other places
Panama City Panama Panama City, Florida
Perth Australia Perth, Scotland
Piedmont Italy Piedmont (United States)
Portsmouth England Portsmouth, Virginia
Pueblo native community Pueblo, Colorado uppercase
Punjab region Punjab, India; Punjab, Pakistan
Reading literacy Reading, Berkshire uppercase
Republic of China redirect: Taiwan Republic of China (1912–1949) mainland
Rye cereal Rye, East Sussex uppercase
Sandwich food Sandwich, Kent uppercase
St. Augustine redirect: theologian St. Augustine, Florida
St. Paul redirect: apostle Saint Paul, Minnesota also Saint Paul
St. Petersburg redirect: Russia St. Petersburg, Florida
Surrey England Surrey, British Columbia
Sydney Australia Sydney, Nova Scotia
Tripoli Libya Tripoli, Lebanon; Tripoli, Greece
Troy ancient city Troy, Michigan; Troy, New York
Van vehicle Van, Turkey or Van Province
Warwick England Warwick, Queensland
Wellington New Zealand several targets
York England York, Pennsylvania
Place searches
"Alexandria" linksto:"Alexandria" insource:/\[\[ *Alexandria *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(Virginia|VA|Louisi|LA|United S|US)/
"Athens" linksto:"Athens" insource:/\[\[ *Athens *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(Georgia|GA|United S|US)/
"Batman" linksto:"Batman" insource:/\[\[ *Batman *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(Turk)/
"Battle" linksto:"Battle" insource:/\[\[ *Battle *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(East|Sussex|United K|UK|Engl)/
"Bethlehem" linksto:"Bethlehem" insource:/\[\[ *Bethlehem *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(Pennsylvania|PA|United S|US)/
"Birmingham" linksto:"Birmingham" insource:/\[\[ *Birmingham *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(Alabama|AL|United S|US)/
"Boston" linksto:"Boston" insource:/\[\[ *Boston *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(Linc|United K|UK|Engl)/
"Boulder" linksto:"Boulder" insource:/\[\[ *Boulder *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(Colorado|CO|United S|US)/
"Brampton" linksto:"Brampton" insource:/\[\[ *Brampton *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(Cumb|Carlisle|Camb)/
"Calvados" linksto:"Calvados" insource:/\[\[ *Calvados *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?([Dd][eé]p|France|rench)/
"Cambridge" linksto:"Cambridge" insource:/\[\[ *Cambridge *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(Massachusetts|MA|United S|US|New E)/
"Canterbury" linksto:"Canterbury" insource:/\[\[ *Canterbury *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(New Zealand|NZ)/
"Chester" linksto:"Chester" insource:/\[\[ *Chester *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(Pennsylvania|PA|United S|US)/
"Christchurch" linksto:"Christchurch" insource:/\[\[ *Christchurch *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(Dorset|Hampshire|Hants|United K|UK|Engl)/
"Cicero" linksto:"Cicero" insource:/\[\[ *Cicero *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(Illinois|IL|United S|US)/
"Dollar" linksto:"Dollar" insource:/\[\[ *Dollar *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(Clack|Scot|United K|UK)/
"Durango" linksto:"Durango" insource:/\[\[ *Durango *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(Biscay|Basque|Spain|Colorado|CO|United S|US)/
"Edmonton" linksto:"Edmonton" insource:/\[\[ *Edmonton *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(London|Greater|orth L|United K|UK|Engl)/
"Esplanade" linksto:"Esplanade" insource:/\[\[ *Esplanade *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(Kolkata|Calcutta|West B|Bengal|India)/
"Eye" linksto:"Eye" insource:/\[\[ *Eye *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(Suffolk|Engl|United K|UK)/
"Flint" linksto:"Flint" insource:/\[\[ *Flint *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(Flints|Sir y Fflint|Fflint|Wales|United K|UK)/
"Gladstone" linksto:"Gladstone" insource:/\[\[ *Gladstone *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(Queensland|QLD|Australia)/
"Gloucester" linksto:"Gloucester" insource:/\[\[ *Gloucester *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(Massachusetts|MA|United S|US)/
"Greenwich" linksto:"Greenwich" insource:/\[\[ *Greenwich *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(Connecticut|CT|United S|US)/
"Guna" linksto:"Guna" insource:/\[\[ *Guna *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(India|Madhya|Ethiopia|istrict|unction)/
"Hanover" linksto:"Hanover" insource:/\[\[ *Hanover *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(New Hampshire|NH|United S|US)/
"Hollywood" linksto:"Hollywood" insource:/\[\[ *Hollywood *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(Florida|FL)/
"Horsham" linksto:"Horsham" insource:/\[\[ *Horsham *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(Victoria|V|Australia)/
"Hyderabad" linksto:"Hyderabad" insource:/\[\[ *Hyderabad *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(Sindh|Pak)/
"Ipswich" linksto:"Ipswich" insource:/\[\[ *Ipswich *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(Queensland|Q|Australia)/
"Kansas City" linksto:"Kansas City" insource:/\[\[ *Kansas City *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(Missouri|MO)/
"Kansas City" linksto:"Kansas City" insource:/\[\[ *Kansas City *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(Kansas|KS)/
"Leek" linksto:"Leek" insource:/\[\[ *Leek *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(Staff|Engl|United K|UK)/
"Liverpool" linksto:"Liverpool" insource:/\[\[ *Liverpool *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(New South Wales|NSW|Australia)/
"London" linksto:"London" insource:/\[\[ *London *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(Ontario|ON|Canad)/
"Loni" linksto:"Loni" insource:/\[\[ *Loni *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(Ahmednagar|Maharashtra|India|Bijapur|Karnataka|Ghaziabad|Uttar Pradesh|Punjab|Pakistan)/
"Luxembourg" linksto:"Luxembourg" insource:/\[\[ *Luxembourg *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(, \[*Lux|[Cc]ity)/
"Manchester" linksto:"Manchester" insource:/\[\[ *Manchester *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(New Hampshire|NH|United S|US)/
"Mansfield" linksto:"Mansfield" insource:/\[\[ *Mansfield *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(Ohio|OH|United S|US)/
"March" linksto:"March" insource:/\[\[ *March *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(Camb|Engl|United K|UK)/
"Melbourne" linksto:"Melbourne" insource:/\[\[ *Melbourne *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(Derby|Engl|United K|UK)/
"Mold" linksto:"Mold" insource:/\[\[ *Mold *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(Flints|Sir y Fflint|Fflint|Wales|United K|UK)/
"Naples" linksto:"Naples" insource:/\[\[ *Naples *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(Florida|FL|United S|US)/
"New Britain" linksto:"New Britain" insource:/\[\[ *New Britain *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(Connecticut|CT|United S|US)/
"New Brunswick" linksto:"New Brunswick" insource:/\[\[ *New Brunswick *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(New Jersey|NJ|United S|US)/
"Newfoundland" linksto:"Newfoundland" insource:/\[\[ *Newfoundland *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(sland)/
"Norfolk" linksto:"Norfolk" insource:/\[\[ *Norfolk *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(Virginia|VA|United S|US)/
"Northampton" linksto:"Northampton" insource:/\[\[ *Northampton *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(Massachusetts|MA|United S|US)/
"Norwich" linksto:"Norwich" insource:/\[\[ *Norwich *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(Connecticut|CT|United S|US)/
"Odessa" linksto:"Odessa" insource:/\[\[ *Odessa *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(Texas|TX|United S|[^R]US[^S])/
"Ore" linksto:"Ore" insource:/\[\[ *Ore *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(East|Sussex|Engl|United K|UK)/
"Oxford" linksto:"Oxford" insource:/\[\[ *Oxford *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(Ohio|OH|United S|US)/
"Pali" linksto:"Pali" insource:/\[\[ *Pali *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(Rajasthan|Rajasthan|India)/
"Perth" linksto:"Perth" insource:/\[\[ *Perth *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(Scotland|Perth(s| and K| \& K)|United K|UK)/
"Piedmont" linksto:"Piedmont" insource:/\[\[ *Piedmont *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(United S|US)/
"Portsmouth" linksto:"Portsmouth" insource:/\[\[ *Portsmouth *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(Virginia|VA|United S|US)/
"Pueblo" linksto:"Pueblo" insource:/\[\[ *Pueblo *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(Colorado|CO|United S|US)/
"Punjab" linksto:"Punjab" insource:/\[\[ *Punjab *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(India|Pak)/
"Reading" linksto:"Reading" insource:/\[\[ *Reading *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(Berk|Engl|United K|UK)/
"Rye" linksto:"Rye" insource:/\[\[ *Rye *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(East|Sussex|Engl|United K|UK)/
"Sandwich" linksto:"Sandwich" insource:/\[\[ *Sandwich *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(Kent|Engl|United K|UK)/
"Petersburg" linksto:"St. Petersburg" insource:/\[\[ *S[aint.]* Petersburg *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(Florida|FL|United S|[^R]US[^S])/
"Surrey" linksto:"Surrey" insource:/\[\[ *Surrey *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(British Columbia|BC|Canad)/
"Sydney" linksto:"Sydney" insource:/\[\[ *Sydney *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(Nova Scotia|NS[^W]|Canad)/
"Troy" linksto:"Troy" insource:/\[\[ *Troy *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(Michigan|MI|New York|NY|United S|US)/
"Warwick" linksto:"Warwick" insource:/\[\[ *Warwick *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(Queensland|Q|Australia)/
"Wellington" linksto:"Wellington" insource:/\[\[ *Wellington *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(Somerset|Shrop|Salop)/
"Wellington" linksto:"Wellington" insource:/Duke of \[\[ *Wellington *\]\]/
"York" linksto:"York" insource:/\[\[ *York *\]\].?.?.?.?.?.?(Pennsylvania|PA|United S|US)/

Sports teams

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Many primary topics share a name with similarly named sports teams. In many cases, there are multiple alternatives; only the most widely linked are listed here. All can usefully be limited to uppercase search: links to bears can be assumed to refer to mammals, etc. Teams where the likely bad target is a dab such as Jets are not listed; nor are redirects to the team such as Lakers, even where other meanings exist. Short names marked * are shared by multiple teams.

Short name Correct article League
Arsenal Arsenal F.C. EPL
Wolves Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. EPL
Tigers Detroit Tigers MLB
Angels Los Angeles Angels MLB
Twins Minnesota Twins MLB
Pirates Pittsburgh Pirates MLB
Jays Toronto Blue Jays MLB
Rockies Colorado Rockies MLB
Hawks Atlanta Hawks NBA
Hornets Charlotte Hornets NBA
Cavaliers Cleveland Cavaliers NBA
Warriors Golden State Warriors NBA*
Rockets Houston Rockets NBA
Heat Miami Heat NBA
Pelicans New Orleans Pelicans NBA
Thunder Oklahoma City Thunder NBA
Jazz Utah Jazz NBA
Bears Chicago Bears NFL
Falcons‎ Atlanta Falcons‎ NFL
Broncos Denver Broncos NFL
Lions Detroit Lions NFL*
Jaguars Jacksonville Jaguars NFL
Dolphins Miami Dolphins NFL
Vikings Minnesota Vikings NFL
Saints New Orleans Saints NFL
Eagles Philadelphia Eagles NFL
Buccaneers Tampa Bay Buccaneers NFL
Titans Tennessee Titans NFL
Canadiens Montreal Canadiens NHL
Lightning Tampa Bay Lightning NHL
Hurricanes Carolina Hurricanes NHL*
Penguins Pittsburgh Penguins NHL
Avalanche Colorado Avalanche NHL
Stars Dallas Stars NHL
Predators Nashville Predators NHL
Blues St. Louis Blues NHL*
Ducks Anaheim Ducks NHL
Coyotes Arizona Coyotes NHL
Flames Calgary Flames NHL
Sharks San Jose Sharks NHL*
Griquas Griquas (rugby) Currie Cup
Leopards Leopards (rugby team) Currie Cup
Border Reivers Border Reivers (rugby union) Pro14
Blues Cardiff Blues Pro14*
Warriors Celtic Warriors Pro14*
Cheetahs Cheetahs (rugby union) Pro14*
Dragons Dragons (rugby union) Pro14
Ospreys Ospreys (rugby union) Pro14
Blues Blues (Super Rugby) Super Rugby*
Cheetahs Cheetahs (rugby union) Super Rugby*
Crusaders Crusaders (rugby union) Super Rugby
Hurricanes Hurricanes (rugby union) Super Rugby*
Lions Lions (Super Rugby) Super Rugby*
Sharks Sharks (rugby union) Super Rugby*
Force Western Force Super Rugby
Saracens Saracens F.C. rugby
Wasps Wasps RFC rugby
Barbarians Barbarian F.C. rugby

Also beware of stray positions such as back and wing. Links to towns and cities (Watford 1:2 Liverpool) also occur but are harder to detect.

Surnames

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Surname pages, despite being a list of topics which the article title might mean, are articles rather disambiguation pages, so incoming links are not reported as errors. Here are the 100 surnames which required the most fixes in April 2020. It is sorted by link count but can be sorted alphabetically by clicking the header.

Surname Likely target(s) Comment
Zunz Leopold Zunz
Orsini Orsini family
Rothmans Rothmans International redirect replaced by dab
Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg
Rockefeller Rockefeller family
Paintal Paintal (comedian)
Pirandello Luigi Pirandello
Rothschild Rothschild family; Rothschild & Co
Cherubini Luigi Cherubini
Pevsner Nikolaus Pevsner
O'Reilly O'Reilly Media many are correct
Primo de Rivera Miguel Primo de Rivera; Fernando Primo de Rivera
Cimarosa Domenico Cimarosa
Narasimha Rao P. V. Narasimha Rao
Hefele Karl Josef von Hefele
Caracciolo House of Caracciolo
Bakunin Mikhail Bakunin
Weber Carl Maria von Weber; Max Weber
Malevich Kazimir Malevich
Korotayev Andrey Korotayev commonly cited
Hartzell Hartzell Propeller
Krauser Krauser GmbH [de]
Ghazali Al-Ghazali? queried at WP Iran
Touré Touré (journalist)
Sadat Anwar Sadat many are correct
Rajguru Shivaram Rajguru some are correct
Maitland Maitland, New South Wales some are correct
Strozzi Strozzi family
Delacroix Eugène Delacroix
Schwarzkopf Anton Schwarzkopf; Hans Schwarzkopf GmbH rewritten as a dab
Reuter Reuters
Baden Powell Baden Powell (mathematician) and others
McDonaldMacdonald McDonald's
Lessing Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
Boyle Boyle, County Roscommon many are correct
Aelian Claudius Aelianus
Zichy Zichy family
Nomura Nomura Holdings; Nomura Securities
Takeda Takeda Pharmaceutical Company; Takeda clan
Rouault Georges Rouault
Gilbert Scott George Gilbert Scott
Batista Fulgencio Batista; Dave Bautista sic some are correct
Andrássy Gyula Andrássy many are correct
Prabhu Prabhu (actor); Prabhu (film) many are correct
IonescoIonescu Eugène Ionesco
Douay Douai
Tyszkiewicz Tyszkiewicz family
Mommsen Theodor Mommsen
Malis Malis (region)
Köppen Köppen climate classification
Fauré Gabriel Fauré
Della Robbia ? queried at WP Sculpture
D'AddarioDaddario D'Addario (manufacturer) or Evans Drumheads
Compere Compere (host) rewritten as a dab
Bernstein Leonard Bernstein; Pełczyce
Tippett Michael Tippett
Sanseverino unchanged House of Sanseverino also exists
Pucci Emilio Pucci; Pucci family
Nkrumah Kwame Nkrumah; Nkrumaism
Hieronymus VerdussenVerdussen Various sections of Verdussen family redirect retargetted
Ghirlandaio Domenico Ghirlandaio? queried at WP Visual arts
Beckett Samuel Beckett
O'RyanRyan (surname) O'Ryan (singer)
Neumann Georg Neumann
Matsushita Matsushita Electric
Gesenius Wilhelm Gesenius
Ferrero Ferrero SpA
Dietz Diez (Verbandsgemeinde); Diez, Germany
Amorim Amorim, Póvoa de Varzim; Corticeira Amorim
Wankel Wankel engine
Uexküll Ikšķile many are correct
Stirner Max Stirner; Stirnerism
Sridhar Sridhar (actor) and others many are unclear
Rossetti Dante Gabriel Rossetti many are correct
Polaco Polaco (singer)
Nassar Nassar (actor)
Morandi Morandi (band) and others
Bulgakov Mikhail Bulgakov
Barks Barks Music News [ja]
Agnelli Agnelli family
Ungaro Emanuel Ungaro
Teleki Teleki (village) many for family: no article
Tarnowski Tarnowski family
Laroo Laroo T.H.H. converted to dab
Hamdan ? mostly unresolved
Guicciardini Francesco Guicciardini
Fragonard Jean-Honoré Fragonard and others
Erdem Erdem Moralıoğlu
Clark Clark Freeport and Special Economic Zone and others
Borromeo House of Borromeo
Bazzi Bazzi (singer)
AzulaiAzoulay Chaim Yosef David Azulai
Wolf-Ferrari Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari
Sylvester Sylvester the Cat and others
Schichau Schichau-Werke
Scarlatti ? queried at WP Composers
Saussure Ferdinand de Saussure now a dab
Noriega Noriega (producer), Manuel Noriega

These commonly linked surname articles are generally linked correctly, as they also describe the family or another homonymous topic:

Other productive changes outwith the top 100:

Surname Likely target(s) Comment
Bohlen Böhlen
Boiardo Matteo Maria Boiardo
Bosman Bosman ruling
Braun Braun (company)
Gabrielli Gabrielli family
Haider Haider (film)
Jayachandran P. Jayachandran
Jellinek Adolf Jellinek
Manning Manning Publications
Mantegna Andrea Mantegna
Naryshkin Naryshkin family
Sachs ZF Sachs; Sachs Motorcycles
Sacks Sack (American football)
Saunders Saunders (imprint)
Uccello Paolo Uccello
Van Heusen Van Heusen (brand)
Velazquez Diego Velázquez

Works of art

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Titles of works of art (broadly construed) often appear in italics. Qualified titles with many incoming links which do not have a dab or work of art at the base name may attract misdirected links. For example, ''[[Abraham Lincoln]]'' may refer to Abraham Lincoln (1930 film). These can be found thus:

  1. Run a Quarry query to list suspicious cases, one initial at a time.
  2. Search for links to the page at the base name which are in italics and may be intended for the qualified name, e.g. linksto:"Abraham Lincoln" insource:/[^']''\[\[Abraham Lincoln\]/ (the [^'] preventing bold text from matching).

A similar procedure can identify songs, etc. expected to appear in quotes.

Ephemera

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User:HostBot/Top 1000 report shows Wikipedia's most visited pages, some of which enjoy temporary popularity. As of December 2020, the following entries from the top 150 have an unrelated topic at the base name:

Base name Topic Likely target(s) Comment
Start-Up Redirect to Startup company Start-Up (South Korean TV series) Retargeted to dab
The Crown The state in the Commonwealth The Crown (TV series) Fixed
The Undoing Album by Steffany Gretzinger The Undoing (miniseries) Page move pending
Virgin River Colorado River tributary Virgin River (TV series) No bad links

See also the historic monthly top 100s in Topviews.

Current and future work

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Set index articles

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Many set index articles have incoming links which could be improved. Roughly A–F checked and fixed; currently checking the widely linked Ministry of Finance.

Given names with dabs

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Articles with template {{given name}} having a corresponding X (disambiguation) page (not a redirect). This is proving fruitful: 100+ fixes for A alone.

Former dabs

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Category:Former disambiguation pages converted to set index articles, some of which overlap with other groups here. Roughly A–B checked and fixed.

See also

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