What Word Has the Most Meanings?
Run
The winner of the polysemy contest is “run.” The Oxford English Dictionary lists almost 650 distinct but related uses of that word — just as a verb, not for multiple parts of speech.
A sampling: run for office, run on electricity, a contract with a year to run, these colors won’t run, my nose is running, the boundary runs west, chills run up my spine, she runs the bases well, don’t run
a red light, run the wires through the wall, run your car off the road, don’t run the risk, big ears run in the family, how to run a machine or run a store, run a tab at a bar, run a story, and run a hot bath.
For more candidates as contenders in the polysemy contest, consider “put,” “go,” “take,” “stand,” “get,” “fall,” and “strike.” How many uses of each of those words can you think of?
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