The study compared all meanings of “to eat” with the dictionary meaning of “to eat” to analyze textbook pedagogy, analyzed cases of contextual meaning presented in textbooks, and explored related instructional challenges and solutions. Polysemous words have different but related meanings. Second language learners can be confused with the meanings of polysemous words since these polysemous words, which look the same, have different yet closely related meanings. This confusion leads Korean teachers to pay more attention to strategies for teaching polysemous words. This study focuses on the polysemous verb “to eat” because students might have an especially hard time understanding the meaning of this common verb when it is used differently at particular proficiency levels or in a specific textbook. The purpose of this study is to investigate how many times the polysemous verb “to eat” occurs in each proficiency level of current textbooks and whether the meanings of various definitions in dictionaries are presented in these textbooks. By looking at the semantic distribution of the polysemous verb “meokda (to eat)” in Korean textbooks published by seven universities, the study identifies the following challenges. First, there is no coherence in the presentation of dictionary entries (i.e., definition entries and meanings) of “to eat” in the Korean textbooks. Second, there is no balance in the proportion of dictionary entries (ie. definition entries and meanings) of “to eat” in Korean textbooks. Third, the meaning of the polysemous verb “to eat” is neither presented as part of a series nor presented consecutively in Korean textbooks according to each proficiency level. Fourth, there is no variety of idiomatic expressions of “to eat” in the textbooks. There are three main ways to compensate for these challenges. First of all, there are 20 different meanings of “to eat” in the Standard Korean Dictionary, but 15 different meanings are not presented in the actual Korean textbooks. However, the Korean textbooks should reflect the highest frequencies of definitions used according to the “Development of Frequency of Vocabulary of Basic Languages in Korean Language Education.” Second, for intermediate and advanced level students, Korean textbooks should present the meanings of the polysemous verb “to eat” consistently and consecutively so that Korean learners can use the verb’s extended meaning, in addition to its basic meaning. Third, intermediate and advanced-level Korean textbooks should present examples and sentences based on the extended meanings, rather than just the basic meanings of “to eat” That way, Korean learners will be able to grasp the meaning of all iterations of the verb “to eat.”