More English–Swedish False Friends
A second set of look-alikes that trip up English speakers — gymnasium, konduktör, realisera.
More false friends, sorted by trap type: the education set (gymnasium is high school, en elev a pupil), the profession set (regissör directs films, dirigent conducts, förare drives), the near-miss pairs Swedish splits (ängel/äng, vägg/vall, kista/grav, proposition/förslag) — and the words that simply lie (en by is a village, vår is spring, en rea a sale, sober means tasteful).
- 1
styra
to steer or manage
Tip: Swedish 'kontrollera' means 'to check', not 'to control'.
- 2
en tidskrift
a magazine
Tip: Swedish 'magasin' usually means a warehouse or store.
- 3
en sedel
a banknote
Tip: Swedish 'bil' means 'car'.
- 4
en idrottshall
a sports hall
Tip: Swedish 'gymnasium' means upper-secondary school.
- 5
ett gymnasium
upper-secondary school
Tip: English 'high school' has no direct Swedish equivalent.
- 6
en elev
a school pupil
Tip: Swedish 'student' means a university student or school-leaver.
- 7
en regissör
a film director
Tip: Swedish 'direktör' means a company executive.
- 8
en röra
a mess
Tip: Swedish 'mässa' means a trade fair or a church mass.
- 9
en kostym
a man's suit
Tip: English 'costume' is 'dräkt' or 'utklädnad' in Swedish.
- 10
en klänning
a dress
Tip: Swedish 'dress' means a tracksuit or matching outfit.
- 11
mat
food in general
Tip: English 'meat' is 'kött' — the two are easy to confuse.
- 12
en tallrik
a plate
Tip: Swedish 'plåt' means sheet metal or a baking tray.
- 13
sober
tasteful and understated
Tip: English '___' (not drunk) is 'nykter' in Swedish.
- 14
ett kontor
an office
Tip: Swedish 'officer' is a military rank only.
- 15
en dirigent
an orchestra conductor
Tip: Swedish 'konduktör' is the ticket inspector on a train.
- 16
en förare
a driver
Tip: The person behind the wheel — ends in -are, like many Swedish agent nouns.
- 17
inse
to realise (understand)
Tip: Swedish 'realisera' means to sell off cheaply.
- 18
en rea
a sale
Tip: Swedish 'sal' means a hall or a classroom.
- 19
en kista
a coffin
Tip: English 'chest' is 'bröst' (body) or '___' (box) — be careful.
- 20
en grav
a grave
Tip: Swedish 'tom' means 'empty', not 'tomb'.
- 21
vår
spring (the season)
Tip: Swedish 'springa' means 'to run'.
- 22
en strandkant
a riverbank
Tip: Swedish 'bank' only means the financial kind.
- 23
vin
wine
Tip: Swedish 'vinna' means 'to win' — one letter apart.
- 24
en kaka
a biscuit
Tip: Swedish '___' covers biscuits and plain cake; 'tårta' is the layered kind.
- 25
en läcka
a leak
Tip: Swedish 'lek' means 'a game' or 'play'.
- 26
titta på
to look at
Tip: Swedish '___' has nothing to do with the English word it resembles.
- 27
en bil
a car
Tip: Swedish 'bil' is nothing to do with a bill.
- 28
springa
to run
Tip: Swedish '___' also means a crack or gap as a noun.
- 29
en by
a village
Tip: Swedish 'by' also means a gust of wind in some dialects.
- 30
skynda
to hurry
Tip: Swedish '___' is a cloth — unrelated despite the look.
- 31
lugg
a fringe (hair)
Tip: Swedish '___' has nothing to do with ___.
- 32
bagage
luggage
Tip: The French-looking word is the right one.
- 33
en blöja
a nappy
Tip: Swedish 'napp' means a dummy or a bite when fishing.
- 34
en napp
a dummy (soother)
Tip: Same word as a fishing bite — context decides.
- 35
sylt
a jam (preserve)
Tip: English 'jam' won't do here — Swedes have their own everyday word for the fruit kind.
- 36
en kö
a traffic jam
Tip: The same word as a queue — Sweden queues even in traffic.
- 37
en ängel
an angel
Tip: Swedish '___' not 'angel', which reads as 'ang-el'.
- 38
en äng
a meadow
Tip: Open grassland full of wildflowers.
- 39
en proposition
a bill in parliament
Tip: Swedish '___' is political, not a suggestion.
- 40
ett förslag
a suggestion
Tip: This is the everyday word.
- 41
kräva
to demand
Tip: Swedish 'demontera' means to dismantle — unrelated.
- 42
demontera
to dismantle
Tip: Easy to misread as 'demand'.
- 43
en chans
a chance
Tip: Swedish '___' means to take a risk, not to happen.
- 44
chansa
to take a risk
Tip: The verb form has drifted from the English sense.
- 45
en vägg
a wall (indoor)
Tip: Swedish 'vall' is an embankment or a bank of snow.
- 46
en vall
an embankment
Tip: One letter apart, entirely different.