obviously you can use much to mean little with a how in front but generally with a little snarky aside like ", which is not much at all," after the "how much", but yes, in typical usage they are not interpreted the same, although I'd say the difference really only becomes important in comparative usage as in "how little for how much" and similar examples.

on edit: took out hows to avoid confusion.

human beings are not always perfect communicators, regrettably.

Luckily, other humans can 'clear things up' :)