False friends are pairs of words in two languages that look or sound similar but differ in meaning. Such words can cause difficulty for students learning a foreign language because the students are likely to misidentify the words based on knowledge of their native language. Comedy sometimes includes puns on false friends.
From the etymological point of view, false friends can be created in several ways:
- Cognates:
- If Language A borrowed a word from Language B, then in Language B the word shifted in meaning, a native speaker of language A will face a false friend when learning language B.
- In certain cases, false friends were created separately in the two languages from related roots and sound similar because of this
- False cognates:
- some false friends are simply homonyms with no relation between them whatsoever.
| Non-English word | Which resembles English | But actually means |
|---|---|---|
| accuser (French) | accuse | acknowledge (accuser réception = acknowledge receipt), although it can also mean "accuse" in other cases |
| actuel (French) and its cognates | actual | current |
| bald (German) | bald | soon |
| bekommen (German) | become | obtain, get (compare English "come by") |
| bond (French) | bond | leap, bound |
| brav (German) | brave | well-behaved |
| canto (Latin) | canto | I sing |
| compromiso (Spanish) | compromise | promise |
| culte (French) | cult | worship (as in lieu de culte = house of worship |
| Dom (German) | dome | cathedral |
| ego (Latin) | ego | I |
| embarazada (Spanish) | embarrassed | pregnant |
| foresto (Esperanto) | forest | absence |
| Gift (German) | gift | poison |
| greippi (Finnish) | grape | grapefruit |
| i (Latin) | I | go! (imperative) |
| is (Latin) | is | you go |
| it (Latin) | it | he/she/it goes |
| main (French) | main | hand |
| molestar (Spanish) | molest | bother, annoy |
| once (Spanish) | once | eleven |
| pathetique (French) | pathetic | emotional |
| pétulant (French) | petulant | playful |
| Preservatif (French) (1) | preservative | condom |
| saikou (Japanese) | psycho | the best |
| salivit (Latin) | salivate | he/she/it jumped |
| sensible (French and Italian) | sensible | sensitive |
| sum (Latin) | sum | I am |
| wanken (German) | wank | to sway |
| will (German) | will | want |
| winken (German) | wink | to wave |
- The words Präservativ (German), prezerwatywa (Polish) are derived from the French preservatif (which means both "preservative" and "condom") and all false friends of the word name. This is an example of how in one language, a word can acquire an additional meaning which is not shared by other languages.
Since false friends are common problem for language learners, teachers sometimes compile lists of false friends as an aid for their students.
Even compilers of bilingual dictionaries are sometimes fooled by false friends, particularly when they are cognates. For example, the Spanish desgracia can on rare occasions mean "disgrace", but it usually means "misfortune". The best defense for the language student is to use a monolingual dictionary in the target language as a final authority.