well

Well is four different words wearing one spelling, and only one of them is a thing you can point at: the deep shaft dug down to water, with a bucket on a rope. That is the noun, and it is the rarest of the four.

The others do the real work. As an adverb it says something was done properly — she sings well, it went well. As an adjective it means healthy, and it is the answer to how are you. And at the start of a sentence it is not describing anything at all: Well, I suppose so. That last one is the commonest use of the word in speech and the hardest to define, because it does not mean, it manages — it buys a moment, softens a disagreement, or signals that an answer is coming.

Phrases it lives in

• as well — too, or in addition, at the end of a sentence
• as well as — in addition to, and not instead of
• well done — said to praise somebody for what they managed
• might as well — there is no better option, so let us do this
• oh well — said to accept a small disappointment and move on