CMA Foundation · Fundamentals of Business Laws and Business Communication · Barriers to Business Communication
The word 'bank' used by a speaker means a financial institution, but the listener thinks of a river bank. Which semantic problem does this illustrate?
This illustrates the use of words with multiple meanings, such as homonyms. The speaker intends a financial institution while the listener understands a river bank, so the same word carries different meanings for each party. The confusion comes from the word itself, not from sentence structure or channel.
- AUse of homonyms, where one word has different meaningsCorrect
- BUse of euphemisms to soften a message
- CPoor choice of channel
- DAmbiguity from badly arranged sentence structure
Explanation
A word having more than one meaning or the same spelling and sound with different meanings leads to misunderstanding. Here 'bank' is understood differently by the two parties. Sentence structure is not the cause because the confusion comes from a single word.
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