Reinterpreting homographs in context

When readers encounter an ambiguous homograph, they are typically able to immediately select an appropriate meaning based on the preceding context. However, in cases where there is not enough context to select the correct meaning, it is unclear how readers process the ambiguous word. In the present study, we investigated how readers select meanings of homographs when the disambiguating information is delayed. Participants read two or three sentence passages in which a homograph appeared in the first sentence and the disambiguating information was in the last. After each passage, participants rated how much sense the passage made. These ratings were compared to ratings obtained when an unambiguous synonym was substituted for the homograph. The results suggest that in many cases, readers can identify both possible interpretations of the homograph, even after an intervening sentence. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).