The article raises the question of the absence in educational and methodological literature of a unified approach to understanding the basic terms of the theory of dispute, which complicates not only the teaching of this topic, but also the organization of independent work for students. The educational materials posted by universities on their websites are analyzed and the conclusion is drawn that all the basic terms are used unsystematically, and the definitions contradict each other. It is pointed out that it is inadmissible to include in the definitions of forms of dispute evaluative elements of either the types of disputes themselves or the people involved in them. One of the options for classifying types of dispute is proposed, convenient for use in the process of studying the topic under consideration, based on the use of the criterion «degree of opposition of theses».