i need the terminology

[joeneverland]

i need to know what the term is for one thing that has two different meanings. For example, if i say "i'm going choke my chicken" and then i go into the kitchen and choke a litteral chicken. what is the term for that?

[rewboss]

I'm not sure, but I think the word you're looking for is "metaphor". That's an expression that is not to be taken literally. For example: "He laughed his head off." It doesn't mean that he laughed so hard his head fell off, it just means that he laughed very hard. Another one: "It was raining cats and dogs"(*) just means that it was raining very hard.

On a side note, two different words with different meanings that are pronounced the same are called "homonyms" -- e.g. "bear" and "bare". Two different words that are spelled the same are properly called "homographs" -- e.g. "refuse", when stressed on the first syllable, means "trash" or "garbage"; but when stressed on the second syllable, it means "not to accept". Many homographs are also homonyms.

As a matter of interest: What does "to choke one's chicken" mean? I've never heard that expression before.

(*) Here's a joke involving a metaphor and a homograph. Question: What's worse than raining cats and dogs? Answer: Hailing taxis.