# English words with three or more completely unrelated meanings **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 11, 2011, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-with-three-or-more-completely-unrelated-meanings/605825 "2011-12-11T15:00:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-with-three-or-more-completely-unrelated-meanings/605825/41 "2011-12-12T16:51:54Z")
Mr Punch, the puppet originated in Italian theatre Commedia Del Arte, where he is known as [Punchinello or Pulcinella](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulcinella). However, I’m not sure that a proper noun counts as a separate definition for a word. I’d also guess that ‘punch’ the alcoholic drink is so called because it has a kick like a punch with the fist. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-with-three-or-more-completely-unrelated-meanings/605825/42 "2011-12-12T20:15:15Z")
Here’s my contribution: SCORE 1. a notch or incision (or the act of making one) 2. a record or measurement of activity (sports scores, a score to settle, a test score) 3. musical notation (or the act of making it) 4. twenty 5. (slang) to have sex (though I suppose we could see how this meaning comes from definitions 1 or 2) Also worth noting that all definitions but 4 can be nouns and verbs. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-with-three-or-more-completely-unrelated-meanings/605825/43 "2011-12-12T20:51:25Z")
I think the meanings of score are all connected. > **[Score Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/score)** > > Score definition, the record of points or strokes made by the competitors in a game or match. See more. Origin: before 1100; (noun) Middle English; late Old English scora, score (plural; singular \*scoru ) group of twenty (apparently orig. notch) \< Old Norse skor notch; (v.) Middle English scoren to incise, mark with lines, tally debts \< Old Norse skora to notch, count by tallies; later v. senses derivative of the noun; akin to shear As I understand it, it comes from counting i9n groups of 20, and cutting a notch for each group. Thus you have three base meanings there: 1. group of twenty 2. cutting 3. keeping count. And lots of other meanings derived from them. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-with-three-or-more-completely-unrelated-meanings/605825/44 "2011-12-12T21:24:35Z")
Polish: 1. to shine up 2. a country near to Germany 3. Like a poll (or a Paul) ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-with-three-or-more-completely-unrelated-meanings/605825/45 "2011-12-12T22:26:59Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Mr Punch, the puppet originated in Italian theatre Commedia Del Arte, where he is known as [Punchinello or Pulcinella](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulcinella). > > However, I’m not sure that a proper noun counts as a separate definition for a word. > I’d also guess that ‘punch’ the alcoholic drink is so called because it has a kick like a punch with the fist. Actually, the words may be related, but not in the way that you guess. “Punch” comes from a word meaning “five” in Indian languages, the idea being that it is made with 5 ingredients. Compare: “Punjab”, meaning 5 rivers in Persian. The origin of our number words is generally obscure, but it is speculated that the Indo-European word for “five” is related to that for “hand” or “fist”, the connection obviously being the 5 fingers on a human hand. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-with-three-or-more-completely-unrelated-meanings/605825/46 "2011-12-13T14:18:42Z")
Hand: What’s at the end of your arm Assistance Applause A measurement of a horse’s height. All right, so maybe they’re somewhat related… ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-with-three-or-more-completely-unrelated-meanings/605825/47 "2011-12-13T15:20:53Z")
Bank - - to tilt, as in to bank an aircraft - side of a river - place that stores and lends money of course, the tilt is related to the river, as bank also mean the road or railroad was on a earthen bank tilted to handle fast turns. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-with-three-or-more-completely-unrelated-meanings/605825/48 "2011-12-13T19:08:12Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > Hand: > > What’s at the end of your arm > Assistance > Applause > A measurement of a horse’s height. > > All right, so maybe they’re somewhat related… Somewhat? You use what’s at the end of your arm to assistance, applaud, and to measure a horse’s height. ---
**Author:** ![SpectBrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a87d85/32.png) [@SpectBrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpectBrain)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-with-three-or-more-completely-unrelated-meanings/605825/49 "2011-12-13T20:32:08Z")
“Don’t waste your time on the branches small,” Said the farmer to his son, “But lay your axe at the root of the tree, So your work is sooner done.” Then, like a good and obedient boy, Not a word back did he say, But he laid his axe at the root of the tree, And went off and fished all day. – Newton Mackintosh, Precious Nonsense!, 1895 ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-with-three-or-more-completely-unrelated-meanings/605825/50 "2011-12-13T22:26:53Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > [Rack has good number of distinct etymologies](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/rack): > > 1. Framework of bars - from Middle Dutch _rac, rec, recke_ > 2. Ruin or destruction; wrack - from Middle English _wrak_ > 3. A horse’s gait - origin unknown, possible from _rock_, or from French _racquassure_ > 4. A group of drifting clouds, from Middle English _rak, reck(e)_; also possibly from Old English _racu_, “cloud” > 5. To draw off from the lees (like in beermaking or winemaking), from Old French, compare to _raqué_ > 6. The neck portion of mutton, goat, or veal - origin unknown Uh, you forgot the best one. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-with-three-or-more-completely-unrelated-meanings/605825/51 "2011-12-13T22:33:31Z")
> [@Darth\_Panda](#): > > Uh, you forgot the best one. I think that’s related to definition #1 or #6, though, so I didn’t count it as a separate etymology/completely different meaning. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-with-three-or-more-completely-unrelated-meanings/605825/52 "2011-12-13T23:20:14Z")
[Dis](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/dis) 1. lady, woman, or fertility goddess in Norse mythology. 2. to treat with contempt; to disrespect. 3. plural of di, a musical tone in between do and re. 4. plural of Di, a female given name. 5. abbreviation for distance or distant. 6. abbreviation for distribute. 7. abbreviation for disease. 8. abbreviation for disability. I’m not counting the Roman god of the underworld as a definition. Nor the Disney channel trademark. Nor the prefix dis- since it isn’t a word in its own right. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-with-three-or-more-completely-unrelated-meanings/605825/53 "2011-12-13T23:32:19Z")
Actually, now I’m wondering if the OP could clarify whether we’re looking for words that are homonyms (same spelling, same pronunciation, different meaning/etymology) or heteronyms (same spelling, different pronunciation, different meaning/etymology.) ---
**Author:** ![Noel\_Prosequi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b19c9b/32.png) [@Noel\_Prosequi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noel_Prosequi)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-with-three-or-more-completely-unrelated-meanings/605825/54 "2011-12-14T13:22:42Z")
I found 30 meanings for “[jack](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/jack)”. While some may be related, there is a world of difference between car jack and apple jack. ---
**Author:** ![Hyperelastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Hyperelastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hyperelastic)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-with-three-or-more-completely-unrelated-meanings/605825/55 "2011-12-14T13:57:28Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Actually, now I’m wondering if the OP could clarify whether we’re looking for words that are homonyms (same spelling, same pronunciation, different meaning/etymology) or heteronyms (same spelling, different pronunciation, different meaning/etymology.) Homonyms, but ones in which the meanings are reasonably distinct. By heteronym, I assume you mean something like _en_trance (a place where one may enter) or en_trance_ (to exert a weird kind of influence over). ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-with-three-or-more-completely-unrelated-meanings/605825/56 "2011-12-14T15:01:33Z")
**Lay** is, erm, a fertile field for this: Past tense of _lie_ in the “to recline” meaning; to place; to seduce successfully; girl evaluated on her sexual performance (whaddaya mean, chauvinist? :dubious: ); long probably-narrative poem… Something I encountered by a fluke was, well, **fluke:** 1. A trematode parasitic worm 2. One lobe of the horizontal tail ‘fin’ of a whale or porpoise 3. An improbable coincidence, one that could not be foreseen ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-with-three-or-more-completely-unrelated-meanings/605825/57 "2011-12-14T17:01:07Z")
> [@Hyperelastic](#): > > Homonyms, but ones in which the meanings are reasonably distinct. By heteronym, I assume you mean something like _en_trance (a place where one may enter) or en_trance_ (to exert a weird kind of influence over). Yes, or like the “dis” example before. A true homonym, by strict definition, has distinct meanings and distinct etymologies. A lot of the words mentioned here are strictly polysemes–words with the same pronunciation (and often same spelling), but with different, but related, meanings. Actually, [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homonym) has a good run down of all the different terms: > [@](#): > > A distinction is sometimes made between “true” homonyms, which are unrelated in origin, such as skate (glide on ice) and skate (the fish), and polysemous homonyms, or polysemes, which have a shared origin, such as mouth (of a river) and mouth (of an animal). ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-with-three-or-more-completely-unrelated-meanings/605825/58 "2011-12-14T21:31:09Z")
Cleave. 1. To adhere closely; stick; cling. 2. To remain faithful. 3. To split or divide by or as if by a cutting blow, especially along a natural line of division, as the grain of wood. 4. To make by or as if by cutting. 5. To penetrate or pass through (air, water, etc.). 6. To cut off; sever. 7. To part or split, especially along a natural line of division. 8. To penetrate or advance by or as if by cutting. Note that definition (1) is an antonymn for (3), (6), and (7). ---
**Author:** ![orborborb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/278dde/32.png) [@orborborb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orborborb)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2016, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-with-three-or-more-completely-unrelated-meanings/605825/59 "2016-08-15T05:18:42Z")
The most impressive I’ve found is “bolt” a bar that locks a door a screw that attaches things a part of a gun that isn’t obviously similar to either of those things ammunition for a crossbow a startled sprint a lightning bolt a bolt of cloth to eat food quickly for a plant to grow tall quickly and, archaically, to pass something through a sieve ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2016, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-with-three-or-more-completely-unrelated-meanings/605825/60 "2016-08-15T08:21:41Z")
> [@orborborb](#): > > The most impressive I’ve found is “bolt” > a bar that locks a door > […] > a part of a gun that isn’t obviously similar to either of those things I’m pretty sure rifle bolts are called that because [their mechanism](https://4b1e874935ea5d25a97e-f099844d0e354c7ab50c55a966be6870.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/product/f11903r1.jpg) is _just_ like[the door mechanism](http://3.imimg.com/data3/XS/DS/MY-8642066/brass-door-bolt-250x250.png). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-with-three-or-more-completely-unrelated-meanings/605825.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-with-three-or-more-completely-unrelated-meanings/605825.md?page=4)