Glossary vs Index

Glossary and Index are two words that are often confused due to the appearing similarity between their meanings. Actually, they are two different words that convey two different meanings. A glossary is a list of words or a word list. On the other hand, an index refers to alphabetical listing of important words. This is the main difference between the two words.

Glossary is usually added at the end of a chapter or a lesson in a book or a text book respectively. It is a word list comprising of difficult words used in the chapter or the lesson and their meanings. On the other hand, an index is usually added towards the end of a book or a text book and it contains the important words or names of persons or places or things in an alphabetical order.

Glossary is added at the end of poems too, whereas index is added at the end of a novel or a work of poetry. It is added at the end of non-fiction books too. Sometimes the word ‘index’ is used to refer a directory. Indexing is chiefly employed in big libraries like public and private libraries in order to prepare a catalogue of books on various subjects.

It is indeed true that indexing forms a part of the training given in library and information science. A librarian should be well-versed in the art of indexing the books to form a catalogue of books in his library. Sometimes a file is also referred to by the word index. It is often called as index file.

On the other hand, glossary improves one’s vocabulary. It strengthens one’s scholarship of words. Compilation of glossary and index is an art by itself. These are the differences between glossary and index.

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