There is a considerable amount of confusion between the words ambiguous and vague. Because, both carry almost the same meaning which are obscure and not clear. You have to differentiate between vagueness and ambiguity to bring greater clarity to your efforts. So, let us take a look at the difference between both the words.
Let’s see some examples of the words.
Correct: My position in the Company is ambiguous.
Incorrect: My position in the Company is vague.
Correct: He was vague to say the least.
Incorrect: He was ambiguous to say the least.
How and When to Use Ambiguous in Sentence
Ambiguous means something that is not easily described. For example – “He lives in India.” Here, the exact state, city and place is not specified. India is a big country. It creates a confusion, hence the meaning of the word.
Some examples of sentences using ambiguous:
- It is an ambiguous question.
- The movie’s ending is ambiguous.
- He liked to keep the story of his life ambiguous.
- The last part of his letter was deliberately ambiguous.
- He left a very ambiguous message on the answerphone last night.
- The document’s ambiguous wording makes it very difficult to follow.
How and When to Use Vague in Sentence
Vague means something that is imprecise and not fully explained.
Here are some sentence examples of the word.
- He rolled his eyes at the vague response.
- It is very vague and awful.
- These were at their best vague plans.
- A vague uneasiness possessed me.
- I don’t have a vague recollection of either game.
- It’s a rather vague term to put into Google.
Now, let us take a look at a sentence where both the words have been put to use correctly.
Example: When I asked him an ambiguous question, he gave me a vague answer.
Keep exploring EnglishBix for more quality resources to understand the use of commonly confused words.