Yes, what native English speakers hear is seldom what is meant, but I found it amusing to examine the definition of "free" here: https://www.dictionary.com/brow

Yes, what native English speakers hear is seldom what is meant, but I found it amusing to examine the definition of "free" here: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/free https://www.dictionary.com/browse/free The sense of "provided without payment" is the 11th definition, "without cost" is the 36th definition, both quite far from the leading definitions. The first 8 listed involve liberty and autonomy, for example.