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Two controls that both save something for later, with no agreed division between them.
In principle the ribbon saves to a reading list and the star marks a favourite or contributes to a rating. In practice services use them interchangeably, so the same action carries a ribbon on one site and a star on the next. Users hesitate over which to press because there genuinely is no rule.
Both save something for later; the star usually means a rating or a favourite, the ribbon a reading list, but the two are used interchangeably in practice.
Drawn from the visual attributes recorded for each symbol. Only traits the two records disagree about are listed.
| Trait | Bookmark ribbon symbol | Favourite star symbol |
|---|---|---|
| Built from | objects | stars |
| Bookmark ribbon symbol | Favourite star symbol | |
|---|---|---|
| Shape | A rectangle notched into a V | A five-pointed star |
| Nominal job | Save to a list to return to | Mark as favoured, or rate |
| Also used for rating | No | Yes, in a row of five |
| Consistent across services | No | No |
| Relationship (from Symbolwise's records) | Commonly confused with Favourite star symbol — Both save something for later; the star usually means a rating or a favourite, the ribbon a reading list, but the two are used interchangeably in practice. | Commonly confused with Bookmark ribbon symbol — Both save something for later, with no agreed division between them. |
Wikipedia · retrieved 2026-08-01
Tertiary reference. Used for widely-agreed identity, origin and current use, not for contested detail or exact dates.
Wikipedia · retrieved 2026-08-01
Tertiary reference. Used for widely-agreed identity, origin and current use, not for contested detail or exact dates.
Wikipedia · retrieved 2026-08-01
Tertiary reference. Used for widely-agreed identity, origin and current use, not for contested detail or exact dates.
Both register approval and usually add the item to a list. Several large services replaced a star or a thumbs-up with a heart on the reasoning that a heart is a lighter, less judgemental gesture — a change in what people are willing to press, not a change in what the shape means.
Both are drawn as one continuous decorative stroke with a closed loop and a tail that crosses back over itself, which is why a description of the shape alone reaches both. The clef is far taller, spans a stave, and its spiral encircles one specific line — that encircled line is the note G, and it is the only reason the shape is drawn where it is.
The ampersand is a ligature of the Latin word et, still visible in some italic forms where the e and the t can be picked out. The Tironian et is a separate mark descending from a Roman shorthand, shaped like a small seven, and it is in daily public use in Ireland as the written form of 'agus'. A reader who knows only the ampersand takes the other for a numeral, which on a bilingual road sign produces a confidently wrong place name.
A building's assembly point is a safe place to stand once you are outside. A ship's muster station is a staffed step in a procedure: you are counted against a roll, briefed, and if necessary allocated to a survival craft, which is why it has a letter or a number and appears on your cabin door card. Both are green, both show grouped figures, and both are called an assembly point in ordinary speech — and treating a muster station as somewhere merely to wait is the misunderstanding drills exist to correct.