Wrong meaning and diluted meaning are two distinct failure modes, and they require different responses. **Wrong meaning** is when your product has established a stable meaning, but it's the wrong one; one that doesn't connect with desire, doesn't enter the fantasy frame of your target users, or actively repels the users you want. A product that has become known as the cheap option when you want to be the premium option has wrong meaning. A product associated with a use case that doesn't represent your best customer has wrong meaning. Wrong meaning is not the absence of meaning; it's an active problem where accumulated signals have converged on something that works against you. The diagnostic signal: you have consistent market presence and some awareness, but you consistently attract users who churn, underuse the product, or are price-sensitive in ways that don't fit your model. The funnel converts, but the wrong users convert. **Diluted meaning** is when your product has no stable meaning at all; every signal points in a slightly different direction, and the total impression is "unclear" rather than wrong. Diluted meaning often comes from trying to appeal to everyone: adding the feature for the enterprise customer, the pricing tier for the freelancer, the integration for the agency. Each addition is individually reasonable. The cumulative effect is a product that means nothing specific to anyone. The diagnostic signal: you struggle to describe your product in a single sentence that feels both accurate and compelling. Different users describe it in completely different ways. There is no consistent "we use X because it's the Y for Z" in how your user base talks about you. Both wrong meaning and diluted meaning are upstream of every funnel symptom. Fixing flows and features while meaning is wrong or diluted is the crutch trap.