A method for resolving ambiguities in natural language by organizing the task into multiple iterations of analysis done in successive levels of depth. The processing is adaptive to the users' need for accuracy and efficiency. At each level of processing the most accurate disambiguation is made based on the available information. As more analysis is done, additional knowledge is incorporated in a systematic manner to improve disambiguation accuracy. Associated with each level of processing is a measure of confidence, used to gauge the confidence of a process in its disambiguation accuracy. An overall confidence measure is also used to reflect the level of the analysis done.