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False Friends: Words That Look the Same but Aren't
Some foreign words look like English ones but mean something else entirely. Meet eight false friends that cause awkward moments in real conversations.
Linguists call them false friends: words that look or sound like words you know, but mean something quite different. They're the reason so many language learners have a story about the time they confidently said something wrong. Here are eight worth knowing before you start chatting with people abroad.
The classics
- Embarazada (Spanish) looks like "embarrassed", but it means pregnant. If you want to say you're embarrassed, use avergonzado or tengo vergüenza instead.
- Gift (German) means poison, not a present. A present is a Geschenk. In Swedish, gift means married, which makes for some strange-looking wedding invitations.
- Librairie (French) is a bookshop, not a library. A library is a bibliothèque. Walk into the first one expecting to borrow books for free and you'll have a short, polite misunderstanding.
- Constipado (Spanish) usually means you have a cold, not what the English word suggests.
The ones that sound almost right
- Actuellement (French) means "currently", not "actually". If a French friend says actuellement they're talking about right now.
- Parenti (Italian) means relatives in general, not parents. Parents are genitori.
- Sensible (French and Spanish) means sensitive. Telling someone they're sensible is about feelings, not about good judgement.
- Éxito (Spanish) means success, not exit. An exit is a salida, which you'll see on every door sign in Spain.
Why they happen
Most false friends come from shared roots that drifted apart over centuries. English, French, Spanish and Italian all borrowed from Latin, but each kept and changed different pieces. Sometimes a word kept its spelling and swapped its meaning on the way.
How to avoid getting caught
The easiest rule is to treat any word that looks suspiciously familiar with a bit of caution, especially when it's an important one. A quick check in a dictionary takes ten seconds.
When you're chatting with someone and a word seems strange, say so. "I think that word means something different in English!" is a great conversation starter, and the answer usually comes with a story. Almost everyone who has learned a second language has been caught out by one.
And if you're the one who made the mistake, laugh with them. It's the quickest way to turn an awkward moment into something people remember fondly.
For a safer way to start practising, try saying thank you in 20 languages.
