English–Swedish False Friends
Words that look identical and mean something else entirely — gift, bra, chef, semester.
The false friends — Swedish words that look English and aren't, sorted into ambush pairs: the comedy tier (fart, puss, kiss-adjacent traps), the everyday traps (glas, mätt, sten), the office traps (termin, kvitto, roman), and the precision pairs where Swedish splits what English merges (nagel/spik, styra/kontrollera, slutligt/eventuellt). Every card is a mistake you now won't make.
- 1
en present
a present
Tip: Swedish 'gift' means 'married' — or 'poison'.
- 2
en fjärt
a fart (wind)
Tip: Swedish 'fart' means 'speed'.
- 3
en puss
a kiss
Tip: Swedish 'kiss' means 'pee'.
- 4
en behå
a bra
Tip: Swedish 'bra' means 'good'.
- 5
en lada
a barn
Tip: Swedish 'barn' means 'child'.
- 6
en höna
a hen
Tip: Swedish 'hen' is the gender-neutral pronoun for a person.
- 7
en by
a village
Tip: English 'by' is 'av' or 'vid' — the Swedish word is a noun.
- 8
en sten
a rock (stone)
Tip: Swedish 'rock' means 'coat'.
- 9
glas
glass (the material)
Tip: Swedish 'glass' means 'ice cream'.
- 10
tyg
fabric
Tip: Swedish 'fabrik' means 'factory'.
- 11
en pall
a stool
Tip: Swedish 'stol' means 'chair'.
- 12
mätt
full (after eating)
Tip: Swedish 'full' means 'drunk'.
- 13
en rätt
a dish (food)
Tip: Swedish 'rätt' also means 'right' and 'court'.
- 14
en kock
a chef (cook)
Tip: Swedish 'chef' means 'boss'.
- 15
lugn
calm
Tip: 'Rolig' looks like Danish/Norwegian for calm, but in Swedish it means 'funny'.
- 16
snäll
kind (nice)
Tip: Swedish 'kind' means 'cheek'.
- 17
förnuftig
sensible
Tip: Swedish 'sensibel' means 'sensitive'.
- 18
förstående
sympathetic (understanding)
Tip: Swedish 'sympatisk' means 'likeable'.
- 19
lycka
happiness
Tip: English 'luck' is 'tur' in Swedish, not 'lycka'.
- 20
en tillfällighet
a stroke of luck
Tip: Swedish 'lycka' means happiness, not chance.
- 21
en roman
a novel
Tip: Swedish 'novell' means 'short story'.
- 22
en termin
a semester (term)
Tip: Swedish 'semester' means 'holiday'.
- 23
en läkare
a physician
Tip: Swedish 'fysiker' means 'physicist'.
- 24
ett kvitto
a receipt
Tip: Swedish 'recept' means 'prescription' or 'recipe'.
- 25
rökning
smoking (the activity)
Tip: Swedish 'smoking' means 'dinner jacket'.
- 26
tom
blank (empty)
Tip: Swedish 'blank' means 'shiny'.
- 27
ett varumärke
a brand
Tip: Swedish 'brand' means 'fire'.
- 28
mala
to grind
Tip: Swedish 'grind' means 'gate'.
- 29
en domstol
a court of law
Tip: Swedish 'rätt' can mean court too — context decides.
- 30
ett ben
a leg
Tip: Swedish 'ben' also means 'bone' — the same word for both.
- 31
en nagel
a nail (finger)
Tip: Swedish 'spik' is the metal kind only.
- 32
en spik
a metal nail
Tip: Not to be confused with 'nagel'.
- 33
hyra en bil
to hire a car
Tip: Swedish 'hyra' covers rent and hire alike.
- 34
en hyra
a rent payment
Tip: The same word again — noun and verb.
- 35
ett slutligt resultat
an eventual outcome
Tip: Swedish 'eventuell' means 'possible', never 'final'.
- 36
ett eventuellt resultat
a possible outcome
Tip: This is what 'eventuell' actually means.
- 37
styra
to control (to steer)
Tip: Swedish 'kontrollera' means to check.
- 38
kontrollera
to check
Tip: The Swedish word does the English 'check'.
- 39
en kritiker
a critic
Tip: Swedish 'kritisk' means critical, but 'kritiker' is a reviewer.
- 40
en recension
a review
Tip: Not 'revision', which means an audit.
- 41
en revision
an audit
Tip: Swedish 'revision' is financial, not editorial.
- 42
en redaktör
an editor
Tip: Swedish 'redaktör' is the media one.
- 43
en ledare
a leader
Tip: Same word — Swedish uses it for all three.
- 44
en miljard
a billion
Tip: Swedish 'biljon' means a million million — a thousand times bigger.
- 45
tillbringa tid
to spend time
Tip: Swedish 'spendera' is for money; using it for time is a sloppy anglicism.
- 46
till slut
eventually
Tip: Swedish 'eventuellt' means 'possibly'.
- 47
aktuell
topical / current
Tip: English 'actual' means 'faktisk' — the two rarely match.