diff --git a/tools/workspace/check_lists_consistency.bzl b/tools/workspace/check_lists_consistency.bzl
index b945a179db21..e765f35d566a 100644
--- a/tools/workspace/check_lists_consistency.bzl
+++ b/tools/workspace/check_lists_consistency.bzl
@@ -1,25 +1,29 @@
 # -*- python -*-
 
 def check_lists_consistency(
-        glob,
-        file_list):
-    """Checks consistency between lists of files and glob expression.
+        *,
+        files,
+        glob_include,
+        glob_exclude = None):
+    """Checks that a hard-coded list of files fully covers a glob expression.
 
-    If lists of files are hard-coded (e.g. public and private headers), one may
-    want to verify that all the files that should be listed are indeed listed.
-    This is especially important when the version of the target is updated, to
-    verify that the lists of files are also updated if necessary.
+    When a package.BUILD.bazel file hard-codes a list of files (e.g., a list of
+    headers of source files), we would like to fail-fast when upstream adds new
+    files so that we can refresh our list. This is especially important when
+    the version of the external is updated.
 
     Args:
-        glob (:obj:`str`): expression used to find all the files. The list of
-            files created thanks to this expression is compared to the given
-            lists of files.
-        file_list (:obj:`list` of :obj:`str`): List of file names. This is
-        typically a list of public headers concatenated with a list of private
-        headers.
+        files (:obj:`list` of :obj:`str`): List of expected file names that
+            will be matched by the glob expressions.
+        glob_include (:obj:`list` of :obj:`str`): List of glob patterns to
+            search for, per native.glob(include = ...).
+        glob_exclude (:obj:`list` of :obj:`str`): List of glob patterns to
+            exclude from the search, per native.glob(exclude = ...).
     """
-    all_headers = native.glob(glob)
-    unknown_headers = [x for x in all_headers if x not in file_list]
-    if len(unknown_headers) != 0:
-        fail("Inconsistent file lists. Unknown file(s): " +
-             str(unknown_headers))
+    all_files = native.glob(glob_include, exclude = (glob_exclude or []))
+    uncovered_files = sorted([x for x in all_files if x not in files])
+    if len(uncovered_files) != 0:
+        fail("The following files matched a glob of upstream sources, but " +
+             "were not covered by the package.BUILD.bazel file: {}".format(
+                 uncovered_files,
+             ))
diff --git a/tools/workspace/ignition_math/package.BUILD.bazel b/tools/workspace/ignition_math/package.BUILD.bazel
index 8669a624b1df..76341dbc9a1f 100644
--- a/tools/workspace/ignition_math/package.BUILD.bazel
+++ b/tools/workspace/ignition_math/package.BUILD.bazel
@@ -145,8 +145,8 @@ drake_generate_include_header(
 )
 
 check_lists_consistency(
-    file_list = private_headers + public_headers_no_gen,
-    glob = ["include/**/*.hh"],
+    files = private_headers + public_headers_no_gen,
+    glob_include = ["include/**/*.hh"],
 )
 
 public_headers = public_headers_no_gen + [
diff --git a/tools/workspace/ignition_utils/package.BUILD.bazel b/tools/workspace/ignition_utils/package.BUILD.bazel
index b3620f8679a6..2ce8f04787d8 100644
--- a/tools/workspace/ignition_utils/package.BUILD.bazel
+++ b/tools/workspace/ignition_utils/package.BUILD.bazel
@@ -76,8 +76,8 @@ drake_generate_include_header(
 )
 
 check_lists_consistency(
-    file_list = private_headers + public_headers_no_gen,
-    glob = ["include/**/*.hh"],
+    files = private_headers + public_headers_no_gen,
+    glob_include = ["include/**/*.hh"],
 )
 
 public_headers = public_headers_no_gen + [