Vocabulary development is essential to early language acquisition, supporting cognitive, social, and academic growth. While much research focuses on general vocabulary, studies on multiple-meaning words - polysemous (related meanings) or homonymous (unrelated meanings) - are limited. This study focused on the expressive lexicon, examining (1) the progression of multiple-meaning word acquisition across ages 3, 4, and 5; (2) differences in acquisition between polysemous and homonymous words; and (3) the impact of a gamified intervention program on multiple-meaning word knowledge. Results showed age-related gains in multiple-meaning word knowledge, from ages 3 to 5. Polysemous words showed a trend of improvement from age 3, whereas homonymous word gains emerged only from age 4. The intervention program enhanced retrieval across all ages, with greater benefits for ages 4 and 5. These findings deepen understanding of expressive multiple-meaning vocabulary development in preschoolers and highlight age-related and semantic-category differences.
Neeman et al. (Thu,) studied this question.