ambiguous

/æmˈbɪɡjuəs/

meaning in plain English

Something that can be understood in more than one way, so it’s not clear what it really means.

Imagine a road sign that points both ways—its meaning is ambiguous, so you can't tell which way to go.

for example

The politician got in trouble for making statements that were too vague and ambiguous.

Ever asked someone, 'Did you have a good time?' only to get a shrug that could mean anything from 'It was fine' to 'I hated it'? That shrug is ambiguous—it leaves you guessing because the meaning isn’t pinned down. The world is full of these moments where the same words or actions can point in multiple directions, and that’s why 'ambiguous' is the perfect word for them.