Glossary:Polysemy
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Lexical Ambiguity
/ˈlek-si-kəl æmbigjʊɘti/
Definition
Lexical ambiguity arises if one word has two ore more different meanings. This is likely to occur with polysemous and homophone words.
Examples
pupil: 1. a student; 2. the centre of the eye
break: 1. time to relax; 2. action of damaging something
Related terms
References
- Bieswanger, Markus & Annette Becker. 2006. Introduction to English Linguistics (3rd edition). Tübingen and Basel: A. Francke Verlag.