Portuguese False Friends: Words That Trick English Speakers
These Portuguese words look like English words you already know, but mean something completely different. Learn them before they embarrass you.
False friends (falsos cognatos) are words that look like an English word but mean something else entirely. They are one of the sneakiest traps in Portuguese because your brain wants to trust them. Here are the ones that trip up English speakers most often.
Quick Takeaways
- "Pretender" means "to intend," not "to pretend" — that is "fingir."
- "Exquisito" means "strange" in Portuguese, not "exquisite."
- "Pasta" means "folder" or "toothpaste," not always the noodles.
- False friends are one of the most common sources of real embarrassment for English speakers — this list heads them off.
The Most Common False Friends
| Portuguese Word | Looks Like | Actually Means |
|---|---|---|
| pretender | pretend | to intend |
| fingir | — | to pretend (the real word) |
| exquisito | exquisite | strange / weird |
| pasta | pasta (food) | folder / toothpaste |
| costume | costume | habit / custom |
| fabrica | fabric | factory |
| livraria | library | bookstore (library is "biblioteca") |
| assistir | assist | to watch (a movie, a show) |
| puxar | push | to pull (the opposite!) |
| novela | novel | soap opera |
| parente | parent | relative (parent is "pai/mae") |
| esquisito | exquisite | weird / strange |
Why These Happen
Portuguese and English share a huge amount of Latin-derived vocabulary, which is normally a huge advantage. But a small set of words drifted apart in meaning over centuries, often because one language kept the original Latin sense and the other shifted. Knowing this list in advance turns a source of embarrassment into a fun pattern to notice.
How to Remember Them
Do not try to memorize the whole list at once. Instead, notice one in context, like "assistir" showing up when someone says "vou assistir um filme" (I am going to watch a movie), and let that single real encounter do the work. The words that actually trip you up in conversation are the ones worth drilling.
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