English words with three or more completely unrelated meanings

The word “band” has at least three distinct meanings:

  1. A group of people engaged in a cooperative pursuit, such as a musical group or a band of thieves.

  2. A strap or belt intended to carry a tension load

  3. A frequency interval

Obviously, “distinct” is a matter of opinion, but what are some other English words with at least three distinct meanings? What is the English word that has the most distinct meanings?

A candidate is “set”

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/set

Punch:

1: (v) to strike with the fist

2: (n) a type of beverage

3: (n) a puppet character, ie Punch and Judy

All three of those are related.

The word check has WAY more than three. Do I get a prize?

Also, the word fuck.

4: (v) to use a punch, i.e., “punch a hole on this mark”

There are 14 more listed as phrases or idioms…

There are differing degrees of relation between the definitions, but it’s an impressive word overall.

No, you do not. I won’t dispute the fact that the word ‘check’ has multiple “completely unrelated” meanings, but I think you’re attributing more than what the OP asked for, which was “*three or more ****completely unrelated ***meanings”, IMHO changing the tense of the word doesn’t make for unrelated meanings. :dubious:

Just how many meanings are you implying, according to your post? :confused:

I posit the same to Darth Panda.

I’m not really interested in checking each definition against every other and presenting a case for each one that I feel differs, but I do feel as though things like:

play, as in “give”, referring to a range of motion something has (how much play);

play, as in “turn” in a game (your play);

play, as in “conduct” (fair play, dirty play, etc.);

play, as in “perform” on a musical instrument (play the guitar); and

play, as in “opportunity” relating to an oil field (an oil play)

are examples of distinct meanings. That isn’t to say that in the course of the history of language that there is no common ancestry - of course there is- I’m just saying that the meanings are distinct, for some reasonable value of distinct. Many more definitions within the list constitute other meanings, with varying degrees of distinctness, which you, the OP, and others are free to evaluate for yourselves, should you desire to do so.

GAY

  1. Bright
  2. Homosexual
  3. Lame

Bore

Right

Fly: 1) a bug 2) an opening in trousers 3) to travel in air 4) to leave in haste.

O.k. maybe the last 2 are too close…

Run:

  1. Rapid legged locomotion
  2. A sequence of cards in games such as Gin Rummy
  3. A small stream
  4. A score in games such as cricket and baseball
    … and numerous others.

As already noted, deciding whether meanings are related or unrelated can be contentious.

light

  1. the electromagnetic radiation (She was blinded by the light)
  2. not having much weight (the pillow was light)
  3. not having much content (a light topic for conversation)
  4. to set aflame (I will light the match)

probably more but these are just off the top of my head.

How does that dictionary define “recursive”?

How on earth is it possible to determine “completely unrelated”? Drawing the line is going to be largely subjective and arbitrary. I think the only way to do that is to base it on different etymologies, which will eliminate just about everything mentioned above.

Otherwise, of course the words that have the most listings for different meanings are going to be ones like set, get, put, etc.–that is, the oldest worlds in the language.

As for the other question in the OP, if you just want words with three or more definitions, all you have to do is open a dictionary. Probably 60% of the entries will have at least three “different” meanings.

There are certainly examples of words with two completely unrelated meanings: “Bear” comes to mind. There’s no connection, not even etymological, between “ursine” and “carry”.

For the OP, one that almost qualifies is “bit”. I don’t think that “past tense of bite” and “a small piece” are related to each other, though either might be related to “the part of a harness that goes in a horse’s mouth”. The computer definition, though, “an amount of information sufficient to distinguish between two possibilities”, is more complicated, since it has a dual etymology: In part, it’s a portmanteau for “binary digit”, but in part, it’s also influenced by “a small piece”. Does that count as a completely unrelated meaning or not?

Inasmuch as to how?

Chronos has the idea I was trying to convey in the OP.

I am aware that one can pick up dictionary and see multiple definitions for most words. What I’m looking for are completely unrelated definitions, like light, meaning visible electromagnetic radiation, and light meaning the opposite of heavy. (It’s always possible that these are only apparently unrelated, with some obscure but interesting connection.) I’m not looking for “apron” meaning a garment that covers a flattish area, and “apron” meaning an area of pavement covering a flattish area.

4: (n) a tool used to partially or completely penetrate a substance such as metal, plastic, leather, etc.