Advanced · NLP

Word Sense Disambiguation (WSD)

Visual diagram · (in preparation) · Math · (in preparation) · Worked example · 3 difficulty levels.

TL;DR. The computational process of determining the correct meaning of a word when it has multiple possible meanings based on context.

Technical Definition

The computational process of determining the correct meaning of a word when it has multiple possible meanings based on context.

How it works

WSD is a fundamental challenge in natural language understanding. For example, discriminating whether 'bank' refers to a financial institution or a river's edge. AI systems use surrounding words, semantic dictionaries, or machine learning models to infer the correct sense, crucial for accurate translation, information retrieval, and question answering.

Related Concepts

• Disambiguation — The process of resolving ambiguities in natural language, choosing the correct meaning or interpretation.