“Noodle” holds three unrelated ancestries under one spelling. The pasta sense borrows straight from German Nudel. The head — as in use your noodle — is probably a twist on noddle. And the verb, to noodle: playing loosely on an instrument, turning an idea over, or catching catfish bare-handed, is imitative in origin or simply unexplained. Same six letters, no shared root — a case of coincidence, not connection.