Ambiguity adds depth and humor to human speech but chaos to machines. Explore the four levels where meaning gets lost in translation.
This arises when words sound identical but have different meanings (homophones). Humans use context effortlessly; machines struggle.
"I want to buy two tickets too."
To a basic speech system, these often sound identical.
Audio Input:
Select the correct interpretation:
When a single word has multiple meanings. This splits into two fascinating categories: Polysemy (related meanings) and Homonymy (unrelated meanings).
Connected Meanings
1. Dining Fork
Tool with prongs for eating.
2. Fork in the Road
A path splitting (like the prongs).
Core Concept: Division from a single point.
Unrelated Meanings
1. Sports Bat
Wooden equipment.
2. Animal Bat
Nocturnal mammal.
Historical coincidence in spelling.
Ambiguity in the sentence structure (syntax). The words are clear, but their arrangement creates multiple valid parse trees.
"I saw the man with the telescope."
Use the toggle to see how the meaning shifts structurally.
Meaning: "I used a telescope to see the man."
The phrase "with the telescope" modifies the verb "saw".
"It is warm in here."
Drag the slider to change the context and speaker intent:
Context: A meteorologist reading a sensor.
Intent: Informational
Pragmatic ambiguity is the hardest for AI. It requires knowing social norms, non-verbal cues, and shared history—things that aren't in the text itself.