Quick English: False Friends
False friends are pairs of words in two different languages that look the same but have different meanings.
There are lots of false friends with English, and many of them are found in Latin-based languages. However, this does not mean that they are only in those languages.
Watch out for these words, as you could end up saying some very confusing or embarrassing things!
Here are common false friends:
French
achever/achieve:
- achever (French): finish (or to finish off… someone)
- achieve (English): to accomplish something, to be successful at something
coin/coin:
- coin (French) : corner
Coin Coin : quack-quack - coin (English): a round, metal disk used as currency
German
Chef/chef:
- Chef (German): boss
- chef (English): professional cook
Gift/gift:
- Gift (German): poison
- gift (English): a present, something given to someone
Italian
camera/camera:
- camera (Italian): room
- camera (English): a device for taking photographs
confrontare/confront:
- confrontare (Italian): to compare
- confront (English): to oppose or challenge someone
Portuguese
atender/attend:
- atender (Portuguese): to help, to answer
- attend (English): to be present somewhere
argumento/argument:
- argumento (Portuguese): a point of view, opinion
- argument (English): a verbal fight
Spanish
divertir/divert:
- divertir (Spanish): to have a good time
- divert (English): to change the direction of something
embarazada/embarrass:
- embarazada (Spanish): to be pregnant
- embarrass (English): to make someone look foolish in front of others
Common False Friends Across Different Languages:
These are false friends that exist in several languages, but mean something different in English
- magazijn (Dutch); magasin (French); magazzino (Italian); магазин (Russian): shop, warehouse
- magazine (English): a publication that is released regularly
- café (French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish): coffee
- café (English): coffeeshop, place to purchase coffee
- gentil (French, Portuguese, Spanish): polite, kind
- gentle (English): delicate, soft
- actuel (French); aktuell (German); attualmente (Italian); aktualny (Polish); actualmente (Spanish): in the moment
- actual (English): real, existing
There are many more false friends to beware of. Keep reading the Kaplan Blog for more false friends in a future post! Are there any word pairs that are difficult for you? What are the false friends from your native language?