Or to ask the same question in Chinese.
Mama ma ma ma?
媽媽罵馬嗎？ Put it into google translate and you get:  Mother scold the horse?

Mama is your mom. (First tone)
ma is to scold.          (Fourth tone)
ma is a horse            (Third tone)
ma is a verbal question mark.(Neutral tone) When put at then end of a statement it turns the statement into a question. ( A handy trick sometimes).
ma with a second tone is hemp or marijuana.
Hmmmmm.... Maybe Mom is scolding the horse for eating her marijuana?

So, anyway Mandarin has four tones and a neutral tone.
Although there are relatively few sounds in Chinese, with the addition of tones to the equation it multiplies the possible number of meanings. Context is also key and I will go into all of this in future blogs.