diff --git a/docs/docsite/rst/intro_inventory.rst b/docs/docsite/rst/intro_inventory.rst
index 012ba3b254..5f319c457c 100644
--- a/docs/docsite/rst/intro_inventory.rst
+++ b/docs/docsite/rst/intro_inventory.rst
@@ -283,7 +283,7 @@ the 'raleigh' group might look like::
 It is okay if these files do not exist, as this is an optional feature.
 
 As an advanced use case, you can create *directories* named after your groups or hosts, and
-Ansible will read all the files in these directories. An example with the 'raleigh' group::
+Ansible will read all the files in these directories in lexicographical order. An example with the 'raleigh' group::
 
     /etc/ansible/group_vars/raleigh/db_settings
     /etc/ansible/group_vars/raleigh/cluster_settings
diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/vars/host_group_vars.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/vars/host_group_vars.py
index 3b531af6e2..d27b337ff0 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/vars/host_group_vars.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/vars/host_group_vars.py
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ class VarsModule(BaseVarsPlugin):
     def _get_dir_files(self, path):
 
         found = []
-        for spath in os.listdir(path):
+        for spath in sorted(os.listdir(path)):
             if not spath.startswith(u'.') and not spath.endswith(u'~'):  # skip hidden and backups
 
                 ext = os.path.splitext(spath)[-1]