Alphabetical order

There are two main systems of alphabetizing. The information below will help you choose the system that is best suited for your purposes.

On this page

• Two ways of alphabetizing
• Word-by-word system
  • Word-by-word system: Uses
  • Word-by-word system: Punctuation
  • Word-by-word system: Advantages and disadvantages
• Letter-by-letter system
  • Letter-by-letter system: Uses
  • Letter-by-letter system: Punctuation
  • Letter-by-letter system: Advantages and disadvantages

Two ways of alphabetizing

A list or index may be alphabetized using the word-by-word system or the letter-by-letter system. The table below compares the two systems.

Example of a list alphabetized using the word-by-word system and the letter-by-letter system

Word by word	Letter by letter
Laurence, Margaret	Laurence, Margaret
Le Jeune, Père	Leacock, Stephen
Le Pan, Douglas	Leechman, Douglas
Leacock, Stephan	Le Jeune, Père
Leechman, Douglas	Le Pan, Douglas

Word-by-word system

As shown in the table above, in the word-by-word system, the first word is prioritized and then the second word is taken into consideration. In other words, alphabetizing is done up until the first space and then starts over (Laurence comes before Le, which comes before Leacock).

To determine which of the two-word entries beginning with Le is listed first, you must look at the second part of the surname: Le + J comes before Le + P.

Word-by-word system: Uses

A word-by-word arrangement is often used in a proper noun listing of open compounds, such as geographical names:

• North Umpqua
• North Valley Stream
• North Vancouver
• North Vernon
• North Versailles
• Northumberland Strait
• Northumbria
• Northvale
• Northville

Note: In a letter-by-letter listing, the entries with the word North would not have been grouped together.

Word-by-word system: Punctuation

Sources generally agree that a parenthesis or comma ends the alphabetizing. However, some sources also treat hyphens (except in the case of a prefix) and slashes as spaces. All other marks of punctuation are ignored.

Word-by-word system: Advantages and disadvantages

An advantage of the word-by-word listing is that it provides for a clear grouping of related entries. For example, if the letter-by-letter method were used with the entries book, book jacket, book label and book list, they would be separated by an entry such as bookkeeping.

Example of a list alphabetized using the word-by-word system and the letter-by-letter system

Word by word	Letter by letter
book	book
book jacket	book jacket
book label	bookkeeping
book list	book label
bookkeeping	book list

A disadvantage of the word-by-word listing is that a related term may have to be separated from the grouping because it is one word (hyphenated or unhyphenated). For example, entries such as booklet and bookmark might well be separated from the above group, even though they belong to the same subject field.

Letter-by-letter system

As shown in the table above, in the letter-by-letter system, the number of words in the entry is irrelevant, and spaces are not considered. As the name suggests, entries are arranged according to each letter. The letters L-a (Laurence) come before L-e-a (Leacock); the letters L-e-e (Leechman) come before L-e-J (Le Jeune); and so on.

Letter-by-letter system: Uses

Dictionaries are arranged in a letter-by-letter format.

The letter-by-letter format is also useful for an index of acronyms, letters and symbols with technical meanings, as in a scientific work.

List organizations by their acronyms or abbreviations if they are usually referred to in that way. The short form should be alphabetized letter by letter and followed immediately by the full title in parentheses or a cross-reference to that title.

Letter-by-letter system: Punctuation

In the letter-by-letter system, spaces and other marks of punctuation are ignored, except for a parenthesis or comma, which ends the alphabetizing.

Letter-by-letter system: Advantages and disadvantages

The advantage of a letter-by-letter listing is that a compound occupies the same position, whether it is unhyphenated, hyphenated or written as two words.

A disadvantage of the letter-by-letter system is that related entries may be separated.