10 French words with multiple meanings
Have you ever come across a French word that made perfect sense… until it didn’t?
That’s exactly what happened to me a while back when I was reading a Facebook thread where a teacher was commenting on the police a parent had used in an email. My mind immediately went to flashing lights and uniforms. But of course, that wasn’t it at all – she was referring to the font. The typeface. The capitalised, “shouty” letters.
It completely threw me, and it was the first time I had come across la police used in that context. I had just never needed to talk about font styles in French before. But it got me thinking: how many other French words do we come across that have multiple meanings – and how confusing must they be for learners?
It also made me reflect on English. Until that moment, I’d never really considered the dual use of the word font in English – both as a typeface and as the container that holds water for baptisms in churches. That must be equally baffling for French learners of English, especially since the religious version of font is very similar in French (les fonts baptismaux).
Our brains do a great job of storing words and meanings so that we don’t get tripped up as native speakers. But when we’re learning another language, we suddenly notice these things much more.
So today, I thought I’d share 10 commonly confused French words. Some are homonyms (words spelt the same with different meanings), others are homophones (words that sound the same but mean different things). They’re all great examples of how important context – and sometimes gender – can be.
10 French words with multiple meanings
Un avocat
This can mean a lawyer or an avocado. Two completely different things, but the same word.
Une chouette / C’est chouette
Une chouette is an owl. But c’est chouette means something is great or cool.
L’été / été
L’été is summer, while été is the past participle of the verb être (to be).
La foi / une fois / le foie
La foi means faith. Une fois means once. And le foie means liver. They all sound very similar, but are completely different words.
Le tour / la tour
Le tour can mean a turn (like in a game) or the Tour de France. La tour is a tower, like the Eiffel Tower.
Plus tôt / plutôt
Plus tôt means earlier, while plutôt means rather. Very easy to mix up when spoken.
Aussi tôt / aussitôt
Aussi tôt means as soon as possible. Aussitôt means immediately. Again, extremely close in both sound and meaning.
Les pâtes / la pâte
Les pâtes means pasta. La pâte is dough. Only one letter different, but they refer to very different things.
Un moule / une moule
Un moule is a cake tin. Une moule is a mussel. This is a great example of how gender changes meaning entirely.
Un vase / une vase
Un vase is a flower vase. Une vase refers to a layer of mud or silt at the bottom of a body of water.
What can we learn from this?
Something I love about French is that even though there are plenty of tricky words, the gender of the word often helps signal what it means. Unlike English, where we rely entirely on context, French can give you a small clue just from whether the word is masculine or feminine. It’s not foolproof, but it’s something.
So the next time you come across a word that makes you pause – maybe one you’ve seen before in a completely different context – take a moment. Consider the gender, the sentence around it, and what’s really being said. You might just discover a new meaning you hadn’t considered before.
And yes, in case you’re wondering, I still think about la police every time I pick a font now.
On apprend tous les jours – every day’s a school day!
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