A vague sentence is one that has no clear meaning. A recent example in my life would be the other day, when I was asked to file “those papers” in the government office where I work. Because there are many papers to be filed in many different places, there is no clear meaning about what it is that I should do. Because of the lack of direct meaning in my boss's instructions, this statement is very vague.
A ambiguous statement, on the other hand is slightly different. Unlike a vague statement, where the lack of specificity leads to the possibility of multiple meanings, an ambiguous statement has no clear meaning usually do to the unusual placement of words. An example from my life occurred the other day, when my mother asked me, while putting away Christmas decorations, to “Put the ornament in the box in the garage. This could mean I am supposed to be putting away an ornament inside a box that happens to located in the garage, or it could mean that the ornament I am looking for is already in a box, and that box then goes into the garage.
Although both types are slightly different, both usually just need to be slightly rewritten to make more sense.
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