Microsoft uses terms that cause a lot of confusion in training. What follows are some of "Word's words" and the alternative language I use in training and support to describe a feature or concept. 

Word's Word: Template

Used to describe the document type used as the basis for other documents.  Not to be confused with documents containing text to be used. Templates form the basis of Word and have special properties.
File Extension examples: DOCX, DOTX, DOTM

Alternate Word Used In Training:  
None. Word's word is perfectly fine. They are describing their product.

Addendum
Learner:  "I just do a save as and give it a new name."
Trainer: "That's not a template. That's an abomination."
See Kenyon: Rant about creating Templates from (flawed) documents 

Word's Term: List Template 

Used to describe paragraph definition: 

• Number appearance

• Punctuation before or after a number

• Whether the number restarts

• Horizontal distance between left margin and number 

• Horizontal distance between number and text

• Etc. 

Alternate Words Used In Training:
Numbering scheme

• Numbering scheme

• Paragraph  numbering scheme

• Outline numbering scheme

Word's Term: Merge, Mail Merge 

• Used to describe generating multiple documents from one base document.

• Each document can contain unique, customized information, such as an addressee, invoice amount, etc. 

VDL Change:  None

Word's Term: Merge 

Used to describe combining 2 or more table cells

Alternate Word Used In Training: Join

Term Used by Other Authors: Merge  Documents

Alternate Word Used In Training: Combine documents. Copy the contents of one document into another.