False friends in German (falsche Freunde)
Posted by False friends or false cognates are words that sound and/or look the same in two languages but different meaning. While there are a significant number of words in German that sound and/or look the same as words in English, for example April, arm and film, not all familiar-sounding German words mean what you expect.
The following German words look and/or sound like English words but have different meanings:
- Absolvieren = to complete a course or exam (absolve = lossprechen)
- Artist = circus or theatrical performer (artist = Künstler)
- Bald = soon (bald = kahl, glatzköpfig) e.g. Er hat eine Glatze = He’s bald
- Chef = boss, head of the department (chef = Chefkoch, Küchenchef, Koch)
- Direktion = (office) administration / management (direction = Richtung)
- Expertise = report (expertise = Sachverstand)
- Fabrik = factory (fabric = Stoff, Gewebe)
- Gift = poison (gift = geschenk)
- Gymnasium = secondary/high school (gymnasium = Turnhalle, Sporthalle)
- Kollege = colleague, co-worker (college = Hochschule, Universität)
- Komfortabel = luxurious (comfortable = bequem, gemütlich)
- Mist = manure, dung (mist = Dunst, leichter Regen)
- Objekt = house, piece of property (object = Ziel)
- Pension = guest house, small hotel (pension = Rente)
- Phantasie/Fantasie = imagination (fantasy = Tagtraum)
- Sender = broadcaster, (radio/TV) station (sender = Absender)
- Transparent = banner, placard (transparent = durchsichtig)
- Roman = novel (Roman = Römer)
- Rat = advice, counsel (rat = Ratte), e.g. Rathaus = townhall