Updated by Valentina Rampazzo on December 16, 2024
17 false cognates in French to look out for
When you learn French as an English speaker, you might come across some words that look as if they were English but they’re actually French and have a totally different meaning. False cognates in French or faux amis, are quite common but worry not, we’ll cover some in this article, along with core differences and some examples. We’ve put together a list of the 17 most common false friends in French and English so that you can better express yourself — and avoid any embarrassing faux pas — when speaking French.
Before we dive into false cognates in French, let’s take a step back and clarify the concept of cognates altogether. Cognates aren’t all the time ‘false’. Due to historical connections between languages, such as shared roots – think of Latin – it happens that words in French and English, for example, have the same etymological origin. In other words, they have similar meanings, spellings, and pronunciations.
A few examples of cognates are:
Cognates can be of various types:
While false cognates in French or any other language feel tricky, true and borrowed cognates add real value to language learning.
We briefly mentioned that false cognates are words in two languages that look similar but have different meanings. The reason for that is because, despite appearances, two faux amis don’t actually have the same etymological origin in the context of their current meaning.
How did these linguistic coincidences occur?
The French verb attendre looks like the English “attend.” In French, it means “to wait” or “to expect.” This one can be a bit confusing because “attend” has a number of different meanings in English, but the most common ones (e.g. “to be present at” or “to deal with”) don’t mean quite the same thing as in French.
So, why is it important to know this faux ami between English and French? Because the French often use this verb to describe women who are pregnant and expecting a baby (attendre un enfant)!
French is a secular country, so you might be surprised to hear the word blessé used fairly often. In actual fact, this French word means “hurt.” “Blessed” in the religious sense would be translated as béni.
Bouton is an interesting French false cognate because one of its meanings is indeed “button” — as is the case in English. But this word also has another meaning: “spots.” So don’t be too confused the next time you hear your friend complaining about boutons on her face.
If you’re at a gym in France and the fitness instructor asks you to raise your bras, don’t panic! This is simply the French word for “arms.” The French word for an actual bra is soutien-gorge, which is good to know if you love all things French fashion.
Many people in France love to have a chat with friends over drinks. They just tend not to call it that. To describe an exchange of casual chatter, you should use the word bavarder instead. The French word chat is a false friend with its English counterpart because it actually means “cat.”
For any snack lovers out there, this is important: Chips in French are actually potato chips! The French word for chips, as in “French fries,” is frites. This will come in handy the next time you’re ordering food in a restaurant or from a street vendor.
This French false cognate can definitely cause some confusion among language learners. In the United States, a college is a four-year educational institution you attend after finishing high school. In France, collège is the school you attend from the ages of 11 to 15, roughly. After that, students attend lycée until graduating at 18.
This faux ami in French and English could cause quite a stir. Embrasser is the French verb for “kiss” — quite a different way to show affection in some parts of the world than a friendly hug!
Journée is probably one of the first words you’ll learn as a beginner in French.It means “day.” This is a great example of a French false cognate because it doesn’t have the same meaning as the English word “journey,” though you might say that the earth takes a journey around the sun every day. To describe a trip of this kind in French, you’re better off calling it a voyage.
This faux ami in French and English is an important one for book lovers. Since it’s especially confusing for some, here’s a small table to clarify things.
| Librairie | Bookstore |
| Bibliothèque | Library |
If you’re in the unfortunate situation of having to visit a doctor in France, make sure you understand this false friend in French and English. Pain in French means “bread,” whereas the word for “something that hurts” is douleur.
When your French friend uses the phrase passer un examen, don’t start jumping for joy and congratulating them. The verb passer means “to sit” or “to take” rather than “to pass an exam.” Hopefully, your friend will do well — but they don’t have their results just yet.
This French false cognate is a favorite among French language learners because it can easily cause many hilarious misunderstandings. While the English word refers to a substance or chemical added to food to increase its shelf life, the French word préservatif is a condom!
After your friend a passé un examen (see above), you might be confused if they tell you later that they a raté un examen. This does not mean that they rated or graded an exam. Rater is a French verb that means “to fail.” In other contexts, it also means “to miss” (e.g. rater le bus).
Our last false friend in French is sensible. This French word most closely translates to “sensitive” in English. If you want to describe someone who’s reasonable or has a good head on their shoulders, use raisonnable.
While both of these nouns refer to a tool to create memories and capture a moment, caméra in French is a video camera, to shoot home movies or record your holiday adventures. A camera, in English, is only used to take photos either digitally or, if you love developing your own film, analogically.
A spooky false cognate in French is that involving on one hand a grave (in English, they place where you bury a person) and someone who has a seemingly grave appearance (meaning ‘serious’ or ‘heavy’ in French). See the examples:
“Grave !” is also used in conversational French to agree with someone:
Tu veux aller au cinéma ce soir ? Mais grave ! (Do you want to go to the cinema tonight? Totally!)
You’ll always risk coming across false cognates, especially the more you dive into the French language. To avoid mistakes when it comes to using them, here are a few tips:
True cognates are words that look and mean the same thing across languages (actor both in English and Spanish) and false cognates are words that look similar but have different meanings (embarazada in Spanish means “pregnant,” not “embarrassed”).
In addition to what we listed, beware of actuellement (currently) ≠ actually, introduire (to insert) ≠ to introduce, la location (rental/hire) ≠ location, la main (the hand) ≠ main and rester (to remain, to stay) ≠ to rest.
Yes, many languages have false cognates with French. Some examples are:
As you can see, French false cognates can be quite confusing. We hope this article has clarified a few of the most common ones and helped you to understand that everything is not always what it seems. But even if you do use the incorrect word every once in a while, don’t worry — it’s always sure to give a native French speaker a good laugh!
