A reader comes across the ambiguous word "bark" when reading a sentence, yet she has absolutely no difficulty understanding its intended meaning. Based on the research on lexical ambiguity, her ability to disambiguate the word most likely resulted from

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Contextual information plays a crucial role in determining the appropriate meaning of an ambiguous word like "bark." The context in which the word is used helps the reader quickly and effortlessly disambiguate its meaning, without needing to consciously consider all possible interpretations.  The term "lexical" is related to the word "lexicon," which is a synonym for "dictionary." Lexical ambiguity means that there is more than one meaning for the word. Use of context to broaden the meaning allows us to disambiguate or differentiate the meanings of the word. People use information from the surrounding context to determine which meaning of a word is appropriate in a particular instance of use.

A Reader Comes Across the Ambiguous Word "Bark" When Reading