Glossary Consistency Calculator
Score terminology consistency and coverage across documents for translation quality assurance and technical writing standards.
About this calculator
This calculator scores how consistently a glossary was applied across a set of reviewed documents, using two independent measures: Consistency Score is the share of term usages that matched the glossary correctly (Consistent Usages divided by total usages), while Coverage Rate is the share of your glossary that actually got used at all (total terms minus Missing Terms, divided by total terms). Quality Grade then averages those two percentages into a 1-5 rating band. Consistency Score and Coverage Rate are built from entirely separate inputs and don't interact: Consistency Score only responds to Consistent Usages and Inconsistent Usages, while Coverage Rate only responds to Total Glossary Terms and Missing Terms.
A glossary could score perfectly on one measure and poorly on the other — for example, every term that WAS used could be used consistently (a high Consistency Score) while half the glossary never appeared in any document at all (a low Coverage Rate). Document Count is captured as an input but does not feed into any of the four output calculations here — it exists as context for the review scope, not as a factor the scoring formulas use. This tool assumes you already have accurate counts of consistent, inconsistent, and missing term usages from a manual or tool-assisted terminology review; it does not perform that term-matching itself.
Inputs
Results
Consistency Score
93.75%
How to Use This Calculator
- Enter the Total Glossary Terms defined for your project.
- Enter Consistent Usages and Inconsistent Usages — how many times terms appeared used correctly vs. incorrectly across the documents reviewed.
- Enter Missing Terms (glossary terms that never appeared) and the Document Count reviewed.
- Review the Consistency Score (%) and Coverage Rate (%) results.
- Use the Consistency Score to set a minimum threshold (e.g., 95%) for translation QA acceptance.
How the result changes with Consistent Usages
| Consistent Usages | Consistency Score |
|---|---|
| 225 | 88.24% |
| 338 | 91.85% |
| 675 | 95.74% |
| 1,125 | 97.4% |
What each input means
- Total Glossary Terms
- Total number of terms defined in the glossary.
- Consistent Usages
- Number of times glossary terms were used correctly and consistently.
- Inconsistent Usages
- Number of times glossary terms were used inconsistently (wrong form, synonym used, etc.).
- Missing Terms
- Glossary terms that never appeared in any document.
- Document Count
- Number of documents reviewed for consistency.
What each result means
- Consistency Score
- Percentage of term usages that are consistent with the glossary.
- Coverage Rate
- Percentage of glossary terms actually used in documents.
- Quality Grade
- A 1-5 rating band (Poor to Excellent) averaged from Consistency Score and Coverage Rate.
How this is calculated
Worked example, using the default values
- Identify Input Parameters5 parametersTotal Glossary Terms = 100, Consistent Usages = 450, Inconsistent Usages = 30, Missing Terms = 5, Document Count = 10 = 5 input(s) provided
- Calculate Consistency ScoreConsistency Score = min(10093.75 = 93.75
- Calculate Coverage RateCoverage Rate = min(10095 = 95
- Calculate Inconsistency RateInconsistency Rate = min(1006.25 = 6.25
Engine last updated . Checked against 2 independently-derived tests — how we verify calculators. Built by Paul Gunder, a software engineer, not a licensed financial, medical, or legal professional.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the number of documents reviewed change my Consistency Score?
No — Document Count is recorded as context but doesn't feed into Consistency Score, Coverage Rate, Inconsistency Rate, or Quality Grade at all. Those four figures come entirely from Total Glossary Terms, Consistent Usages, Inconsistent Usages, and Missing Terms; adding more documents to the review scope leaves every result unchanged unless it also changes those underlying counts.
Can a glossary have a high Consistency Score but a low Coverage Rate?
Yes, and that's a meaningful distinction this calculator is built to surface: Consistency Score only measures how correctly the terms that WERE used were applied, while Coverage Rate separately measures how much of the full glossary actually appeared anywhere in the documents. A small set of terms used flawlessly scores well on consistency while still leaving Coverage Rate low if most of the glossary went unused.
Why does raising Consistent Usages improve my Consistency Score?
Consistency Score is Consistent Usages divided by the sum of Consistent and Inconsistent Usages, expressed as a percentage — so with Inconsistent Usages held fixed, adding more correctly-used term instances always increases that ratio. This holds across the calculator's full declared range of usage counts, never reversing.
Does this calculator identify which specific terms were used inconsistently?
No — it only scores aggregate counts you provide (how many usages were consistent, inconsistent, or missing entirely), not individual term-by-term detail. You need a separate terminology review process or QA tool to identify which specific glossary entries drove the inconsistency and missing-term counts you enter here.
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