Template:Confusing
 | This article may be confusing or unclear to readers. (December 2025) |
 | This template is used on approximately 2,400 pages and changes may be widely noticed. Test changes in the template's /sandbox or /testcases subpages, or in your own user subpage. Consider discussing changes on the talk page before implementing them. |
 | Any breaking changes to this template, including moving it or nominating it for deletion, must be communicated in advance to Twinkle's users and maintainers at Wikipedia talk:Twinkle. The standard installation of Twinkle relies on this template. Thank you. |
Usage
- This template categorises tagged articles into Category:Wikipedia articles needing clarification.
- You can specify whether the template applies to an article (default) or section by adding
|articleor|sectionafter the template's name. There is also the Template:Confusing section template for the sections. - It is recommended to use the
reasonparameter to explain what is confusing. For example:
{{Confusing|date=December 2025|reason=the Wangler is referred to in the plural but the diagram shows only one}}
| This article may be confusing or unclear to readers. In particular, the Wangler is referred to in the plural but the diagram shows only one. (December 2025) |
- When a talk page discussion is held, a direct link to that discussion can be added via the
|talk=parameter. For example:
{{Confusing|date=December 2025|talk=Template talk:Confusing#Talk parameter please!}}
| This article may be confusing or unclear to readers. (December 2025) |
- Do not capitalize the beginning of the reason, since it is preceded by "In particular, ".
- Do not add a full stop/period at the end of the reason because the template automatically puts a full stop/period in.
- Please do not subst: this template.
{{Confusing|small=left}} generates:
 | This article may be confusing or unclear to readers. (December 2025) |
{{Confusing|small=left|reason=the tensing of the article is ambiguous}} generates:
| This article may be confusing or unclear to readers. In particular, the tensing of the article is ambiguous. (December 2025) |
Template data
TemplateData for Confusing
This template is used to mark an article or section as confusing and in need of clarification.
| Parameter | Description | Type | Status | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Article or section? | 1 | Set to 'section' to specify that you are referring to the section
| String | optional |
| Discussion location | talk | The location at which the discussion on the issue is being held. Should be full page name, followed by #, followed by section name. Please do not enclose between [[and ]]. The link will be automatically formatted using the section sign (§).
| Page name | suggested |
| What is confusing? | reason | Explain what part of the text needs to be clarified. | String | optional |
| Date | date | The date this template was added, in the format [full month name] [full year].
| Date | required |
| Small? | small | Set to 'left' if a small version should be shown instead of the default | String | optional |
See also
- Template:Clarify, an in-line version of this template
- Template:Confusing section, a section version of this template
- Template:Technical
- Template:Context
- Template:Vague
- Wikipedia:Template messages/Cleanup for an overview of cleanup templates.