False friends in English, German and Spanish
False friends are words that look the same in two languages but mean different things. The ones that trip up English, German and Spanish speakers most.
False friends are words that look or sound alike in two languages but mean different things. They feel safe because you think you already know them, which is exactly why they cause mistakes. English, German and Spanish share many roots, so they share many false friends too.
False friends between English and German #
| English word | German look-alike | What the German word means |
|---|---|---|
| gift | Gift | poison |
| become | bekommen | to get, to receive |
| handy | Handy | mobile phone |
| chef | Chef | boss |
| sensible | sensibel | sensitive |
"I will become a coffee" is a classic slip of a German speaker in English. In German, "Ich bekomme einen Kaffee" just means "I'll get a coffee".
Spanish words that mislead English speakers #
| English word | Spanish look-alike | What the Spanish word means |
|---|---|---|
| embarrassed | embarazada | pregnant |
| carpet | carpeta | folder |
| constipated | constipado | having a cold |
| sensible | sensible | sensitive |
An English speaker who says "estoy embarazada" after a small mistake has just announced a pregnancy. To say you are embarrassed, say "me da vergüenza" instead.
Most similar words are true friends #
Do not let false friends make you distrust every familiar word. Most words that look alike mean what you think. "Information", "Information" and "información" are the same idea in all three languages, and so are "hotel", "music" and "nation" with their German and Spanish twins. Linguists call these true friends cognates. They give an adult learner a large head start, so use them freely and check only the ones that seem odd in their sentence.
Words that trick all three #
Some words mislead in all three languages at once. "Actually" means "in fact" in English. German "aktuell" and Spanish "actual" both mean "current". "Eventually" means "in the end" in English. German "eventuell" and Spanish "eventualmente" mean "possibly".
How to spot false friends early #
Read a lot, and notice when a sentence does not make sense with the meaning you expected. That moment of surprise is a false friend showing itself. Talking with a partner in a language exchange helps too, because a native speaker hears the slip at once and can tell you what you said.
Linguists have catalogued many more. The entry on false friends is a good place to keep reading.
About the author
German editor of Bridgeword
Experience Translator from English and Spanish into German
Clara edits the German edition of Bridgeword. She works as a translator from English and Spanish into German, which means she spends her days with the words that look alike and mean something else. She writes about memory, vocabulary and false friends.
