Parrivo word videos
Ambiguous: meaning and sentence examples
ambiguous means able to be understood in more than one way. Watch the story, then try free practice below.
Read the story
Meet me by the bank. Easy—the bank building.
She's not here.
Wait—we chose two different banks.
That's ambiguous.
A word or message is ambiguous when it can be understood in more than one way.
Meet me by the river bank. Got it!
See you by the port? Uh-oh.
Words change everything.
Explore the word · adjective
What does ambiguous mean?
able to be understood in more than one way.
How the story shows the meaning
Bank can name a financial institution or the land beside a river. Both friends understand a possible meaning, but choose different places. “River bank” removes that particular ambiguity.
ambiguous in a sentence
- “Meet me by the bank” is ambiguous because bank can refer to two different places.
- “I saw the teacher with the telescope” could mean I used a telescope or the teacher had one.
- “Alex told Jordan that they had won” can be ambiguous if the reader cannot tell whom “they” refers to.
An ambiguous sentence has more than one possible interpretation. A sentence containing the word ambiguous is not necessarily ambiguous itself: “The ambiguous sign confused us” can be clear.
Check your understanding
Read the answer and explanation
Meet me by the river bank beside the footbridge. Correct. It identifies the intended kind of bank and gives a specific location.
Try two more questions
Explain your thinking, then open a sample answer. These are extra practice examples to use after watching.
1. Rewrite the telescope sentence so it is clear who used the telescope.
Show sample answer
“Using a telescope, I saw the teacher” identifies the observer’s tool. “I saw the teacher who was carrying a telescope” assigns it to the teacher.
2. Write two possible interpretations of “The chicken is ready to eat,” then clarify one.
Show sample answer
The chicken might be hungry, or a prepared chicken meal might be ready. “The cooked chicken is ready for us to eat” makes the meal interpretation clear.
Companion lesson by Parrivo · Updated