I'm not sure what you're asking. I use Google Spreadsheets to sort text all the time. I use it most often to organize my collection of recipes, which I sort by main ingredient most of the time.

I'm not sure what "the first five pages of spreadsheets" mean. I just open a blank spreadsheet when I start entering data.

The blank spreadsheets have as their default that the top row is "frozen," which means you can make the top row your subject heading: usage, spanish name, etc. These frozen rows can then be sorted either in descending or ascending order, and all the data moves with it, based on what you're sorting.