diff --git a/apkg_builder.py b/apkg_builder.py
index 97dea4f..39e58e2 100644
--- a/apkg_builder.py
+++ b/apkg_builder.py
@@ -720,6 +720,116 @@ _EMOJI_STOP = frozenset(
         "bar",
         "wheel",
         "horizontal",
+        # Polysemous keywords producing wrong-sense emoji (Sprint 17 audit)
+        "high",  # ⚡ high voltage, not "tall"
+        "down",  # 🫳 palm down, not "descend"
+        "off",  # 📴 phone off, not "remove"
+        "away",  # 💨 dashing away, not "depart"
+        "together",  # 🤲 palms together, not "unite"
+        "top",  # 🎩 top hat, not "upper"
+        "low",  # 🔈 low volume, not "short"
+        "flat",  # 🥿 ballet flat, not "apartment"
+        "soft",  # 🍦 soft serve, not "quiet"
+        "broken",  # 💔 broken heart, not "damaged"
+        "round",  # 📍 round pushpin, not "circular"
+        "cool",  # 🆒 COOL button, not "cold"
+        "free",  # 🆓 FREE button, not "liberated"
+        "long",  # 🪘 long drum, not "lengthy"
+        "straight",  # 📏 straight ruler, not "direct"
+        "empty",  # 🪹 empty nest, not "void"
+        "hot",  # 🥵 hot face, not "warm"
+        "cross",  # ✝️ latin cross, not "intersect"
+        "bright",  # 🔆 bright button, not "luminous"
+        "old",  # 👴 old man, not "aged"
+        "head",  # 🙂‍↔️ shaking head, not "leader"
+        # Category words that match generic emoji
+        "military",  # 🎖️ military medal for any military term
+        "sports",  # 🏅 sports medal for any sports term
+        "food",  # 😋 yummy face for any food term
+        "city",  # 🇻🇦 Vatican flag for any city
+        "china",  # 🇨🇳 China flag for "porcelain"
+        "polish",  # 💅 nail polish for "to polish/shine"
+        "aid",  # 🦻 hearing aid for "to help"
+        "office",  # 🧑‍💼 office worker for "bureau"
+        "construction",  # 🏛️ classical building, not construction
+        "cinema",  # 🎦 cinema emoji for any film term
+        "ceremony",  # 🎑 moon ceremony for any ceremony
+        "building",  # 🏛️ classical building for any structure
+        # Body parts / human features → wrong emoji
+        "arm",  # 🦾 mechanical arm for "to arm"
+        "hair",  # 👱 blond person for "hair"
+        "nose",  # 😤 steam from nose
+        "tongue",  # 😛 tongue-out face
+        "chest",  # 🪎 not a chest
+        "eyes",  # 😃 face with eyes
+        # Abstract/vague words
+        "fear",  # 😱 screaming face
+        "anger",  # 💢 anger symbol
+        "angry",  # 😠 angry face
+        "tired",  # 😫 tired face
+        "sad",  # 😥 sad face
+        "joy",  # 😂 tears of joy
+        "love",  # 💌 love letter
+        "cold",  # 🥶 cold face
+        "pile",  # 💩 pile of poo
+        "man",  # 👨 man
+        "woman",  # 👩 woman
+        "boy",  # 👦 boy
+        "girl",  # 👧 girl
+        "baby",  # 👶 baby
+        "children",  # 🚸 children crossing
+        "student",  # 🧑‍🎓 student
+        "adult",  # 🧑‍🧑‍🧒 family
+        "name",  # 📛 name badge
+        "check",  # ✅ check mark
+        "line",  # 🫥 dotted line face
+        "floor",  # 🤣 ROFL (rolling on floor)
+        "room",  # 🧖 person in steamy room
+        "bubble",  # 👁️‍🗨️ speech bubble
+        "car",  # 🚃 railway car, not automobile
+        "bullet",  # 🚅 bullet train
+        "steam",  # 😤 face with steam
+        "fly",  # 🪰 the insect, not the verb
+        "plant",  # 🪴 potted plant for all "X (plant)" entries
+        "tree",  # 🌲 evergreen for all "X (tree)" entries
+        "ball",  # ⛹️ person bouncing ball
+        "bag",  # 👝 clutch bag
+        "fight",  # 🫯 not a fight
+        "cloud",  # 🫯 not a cloud
+        "video",  # 🎮 video game, not video
+        "rescue",  # ⛑️ rescue worker helmet
+        "exchange",  # 💱 currency exchange
+        "cut",  # 🥩 cut of meat, not "to cut"
+        "key",  # 🔐 locked with key
+        "walking",  # 🚶 person walking
+        "running",  # 🏃 person running
+        "climbing",  # 🧗 person climbing
+        "speaking",  # 🗣️ speaking head
+        "playing",  # 🤽 person playing
+        "feeding",  # 👩‍🍼 person feeding
+        "shooting",  # 🌠 shooting star
+        "clapping",  # 👏 clapping hands
+        "cooking",  # 🍳 cooking emoji
+        "holding",  # 🥹 face holding back tears
+        # More wrong-sense matches from remaining audit
+        "paper",  # 🏮 red lantern for "paper"
+        "track",  # 🛤️ railroad for "track record"
+        "vertical",  # 🚦 traffic light for "vertical"
+        "speaker",  # 🔇 muted speaker for "speaker (person)"
+        "square",  # 🟥 red square for "plaza"
+        "wrapped",  # 🎁 gift for "wrapped, bound"
+        "volume",  # 🔈 speaker for "volume (book)"
+        "mobile",  # 📱 phone for "mobile, moveable"
+        "flash",  # 📸 camera flash for "to shine"
+        "identification",  # 🪪 ID card for "locating"
+        "service",  # 🐕‍🦺 service dog for "service, term"
+        "ground",  # ⛱️ umbrella on ground
+        "machine",  # 🎰 slot machine for "mechanism"
+        "liquid",  # 🫗 pouring for "liquid, drop"
+        "vehicle",  # 🚙 SUV for any vehicle mention
+        "window",  # 🪟 window pane for "window, gap"
+        "information",  # ℹ️ info symbol
+        "child",  # 🧒 child emoji
     }
 )
 
@@ -921,11 +1031,13 @@ def build_vocab_deck(
         else:
             freq_display = "Unlisted"
 
-        # Emoji: use entry's emoji if emoji_visible, else fall back to emoji_lookup
+        # Emoji: use entry's emoji if emoji_visible, else fall back to emoji_lookup.
+        # Skip fallback for verbs — keyword matching on verb definitions produces
+        # wrong-sense emoji (e.g. "to cut" → 🥩, "to arm" → 🦾).
         emoji_str = ""
         if entry.get("emoji_visible") and entry.get("emoji"):
             emoji_str = entry["emoji"]
-        elif not emoji_str and emoji_lookup:
+        elif emoji_lookup and not meaning.startswith("to "):
             meaning_clean_for_emoji = EMOJI_RE.sub("", meaning).strip()
             for kw in re.sub(r"[^\w\s]", " ", meaning_clean_for_emoji.lower()).split()[:5]:
                 if len(kw) > 2 and kw not in _EMOJI_STOP and kw in emoji_lookup: