Faux amis

One of the great things about learning French or English is that many words have the same roots in the Romance languages and English. However, there are also a great many faux amis, or false cognates, which look similar but have different meanings. This is one of the biggest pitfalls for students of French. There are also "semi-false cognates": words that can only sometimes be translated by the similar word in the other language.

This alphabetical list includes hundreds of French-English false cognates, with explanations of what each word means and how it can be correctly translated into the other language. To avoid confusion due to the fact that some of the words are identical in the two languages, the French word is followed by (F) and the English word is followed by (E).


Newest faux amis


Baraque (F) vs Barracks (E)

     Baraque (F) is a shed or hut, and can be used informally to refer to a house as a shack, dump, or hole. Familiarly, it can also refer to a burly guy.
     Barracks (E) = une caserne.


Délit (F) vs Delight (E)

     Un délit (F) = crime, offense, abuse, or misdemeanor.
     Delight (E) = un grand plaisir, une joie, un délice.


Engagement (F) vs Engagement (E)

     Engagement (F) has many meanings: commitment, promise, agreement; (finance) investing, liabilities; (negotiations) opening, start; (sports) kick-off; (contest) entry. It never means a marital engagement.
     Engagement (E) usually indicates one's engagement to be married: les fiançailles. It can also refer to un rendez-vous or une obligation.


Important (F) vs Important (E)

     Important (F) has a much broader meaning that its English cognate. In addition to important in the sense of significant or authoritative, important (F) can also mean large, considerable, substantial.
     Important (E) = important.


Marmite (F) vs Marmite (E)

     Marmite (F) = cooking pot or soup pot.
     Marmite (E) is a British food, a paste for bread made from yeast extract - une pâte à tartiner à base d'extrait de levure.