False Friends

False friends are words that are spelled the same or almost the same in both French and English but have entirely different meanings and can be different parts of speech. The most common ones to watch out for are in Table 1 .

TABLE 1 False Friends

French

English

attendre

to wait for

comment

how

figure

face

librairie

bookstore

occasion

opportunity

pain

bread

rester

to remain

sale

dirty

travail

work

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