Italian False Friends: 30+ Tricky English-Italian False Friends That Confuse Learners

Oops.😅 Italian false friends are sneaky little word traps that look or sound like English words but mean something completely different. They'll trip you up in conversations, make you say embarrassing things, and generally mess with your confidence. Let's dig into the most common ones so you can avoid these mistakes as an Italian learner.

What are Italian false friends (Falsi amici)

They're called false friends because they trick you into thinking you already know what they mean based on their resemblance to English words. The technical term is "false cognates," but most people just call them false friends.

Here's the thing: Italian and English share a ton of vocabulary because they both borrowed heavily from Latin. That's great for learning Italian because you can often guess word meanings correctly. But it also creates these deceptive word pairs that will absolutely catch you off guard if you're not careful.

The confusion happens because your brain sees a familiar-looking word and automatically assigns it the English meaning. You don't even realize you're making an assumption until an Italian person gives you a weird look or you realize the conversation just took a strange turn.

Common Italian false friends that will trick you

Let me walk you through the most commonly confused Italian-English word pairs. I've organized these by how likely they are to cause actual communication problems.

Camera

This is probably the most famous Italian false friend. When you see "camera" in Italian, your brain screams "photography device!" but the actual meaning is "room." The Italian word for the camera you take photos with is "macchina fotografica" or just "fotocamera."

Example: "La mia camera è molto piccola" means "My room is very small," not anything about photography equipment.

Preservativo

This one can lead to genuinely awkward situations. "Preservativo" in Italian means condom, not preservative. If you're talking about food preservatives, you want "conservanti."

I've heard stories of English speakers in Italian supermarkets asking where the preservativi are when they meant food additives. The confused looks from staff make sense now, right?

Pretendere

As I mentioned earlier, "pretendere" doesn't mean to pretend. It means to demand, expect, or claim something. If you want to say "pretend" in Italian, you'd use "fingere" or "fare finta."

Example: "Non puoi pretendere troppo" means "You can't expect too much," not "You can't pretend too much."

Sensibile

This looks exactly like "sensible" but means "sensitive" in Italian. The Italian word for sensible (as in reasonable or practical) is "assennato" or "ragionevole."

Example: "È una persona molto sensibile" means "He/she is a very sensitive person," not a sensible one.

Eventualmente

Your English brain sees this and thinks "eventually," but "eventualmente" actually means "possibly" or "if necessary." For eventually (meaning in the end or after some time), Italian uses "alla fine" or "infine."

Example: "Eventualmente possiamo incontrarci domani" means "We can possibly meet tomorrow," not "We can eventually meet tomorrow."

Libreria

This looks like "library" but means "bookstore" in Italian. A library (The place where you borrow books) is "biblioteca."

Example: "Vado in libreria a comprare un libro" means "I'm going to the bookstore to buy a book."

Annoiato

Doesn't mean annoyed. It means bored. If you're annoyed or irritated, you'd say "irritato" or "infastidito."

Example: "Sono annoiato" means "I'm bored," not "I'm annoyed."

Confrontare

This means to compare, not to confront. To confront someone in Italian, you'd use "affrontare" or "confrontarsi con."

Example: "Dobbiamo confrontare i prezzi" means "We need to compare prices."

Fattoria

Looks like "factory" but means "farm." A factory in Italian is "fabbrica."

Example: "Mio nonno ha una fattoria" means "My grandfather has a farm."

Incidente

This means accident, not incident. While the meanings overlap somewhat, "incidente" specifically refers to accidents (like car crashes), whereas English "incident" is broader and more neutral.

Example: "C'è stato un incidente sulla autostrada" means "There was an accident on the highway."

More Italian false friends to watch out for

Let me give you a bunch more examples because honestly, there are dozens of these tricky word pairs. The more you know upfront, the fewer embarrassing mistakes you'll make.

Why Italian and English have so many false friends

Italian and English share a massive amount of vocabulary because of Latin. English borrowed tons of Latin words directly, and also got Latin-derived words through French after the Norman Conquest. Italian evolved directly from Latin, so it kept many Latin roots.

The problem is that words evolved differently in each language. Sometimes the meaning shifted in English but stayed the same in Italian. Other times, Italian kept the original Latin meaning while English changed it. And sometimes both languages shifted the meaning, but in different directions.

Translation between Italian and English gets tricky because you can't always trust your instincts. That word that looks familiar might mean exactly what you think, or it might mean something completely different. You've got to learn each one individually.

How to avoid false friend mistakes when you learn Italian

Make flashcards specifically for false friends. These are high-value vocabulary items because they're the ones most likely to cause real communication problems. Regular Italian words you don't know will just create gaps in understanding, but false friends create active misunderstandings.

When you encounter a false friend in real content (Books, shows, conversations), pay extra attention. The context will usually make the real meaning clear, and that contextual learning helps cement the correct meaning in your brain.

Practice using them in sentences. Write example sentences, say them out loud, use them in conversations with language partners. The more you actively use the correct meaning, the less likely your brain will default to the English false friend.

Using English-Italian false friends to improve your Italian

Here's something interesting: false friends can actually help you learn Italian faster if you use them strategically. They're memorable precisely because they're confusing in both English and Italian. Your brain pays extra attention to information that violates expectations.

When you learn that "camera" means room, you remember it better than if you just learned a random new Italian word for room. The surprise and the correction create a stronger memory when learning Italian language.

Make connections between the false friend and the real Italian word. For camera/room, you might remember "camera" as "room" by thinking of a hotel room number. For preservativo/condom, the shock factor alone makes it unforgettable.

Group false friends by category. All the ones related to places (libreria/bookstore, fattoria/farm, cantina/cellar) or feelings (annoiato/bored, sensibile/sensitive) or actions (pretendere/demand, confrontare/compare). Organized learning sticks better than random lists.

Anyway, if you want to learn Italian through actual immersion in real content, Migaku's browser extension lets you look up Italian words instantly while watching shows or reading articles. You can catch these false friends in context and save them for review. There's a 10-day free trial if you want to check it out.

False friends are annoying, but let's think about them just as ordinary Italian words

We make mistakes with these tricky words because somehow they are related to English, and our brains tend to take shortcuts. The solution is to treat false friends like any new words, double-checking as if you've never seen them before. The more Italian content you consume, the more naturally you'll learn the correct meanings through context.

Rely on dictionary, not instinct.