Interlingual Homophones

There are words which are pronounced the same as other words but differ in meaning or origin; these words are known as homophones. They are usually found within one language (e.g. carrot and karat) but they can cross language barriers; although they do not often exactly match across languages – as there always seem to be some slight deviation in how various sounds are pronounced – interlingual homophones do exist and can, potentially, cause all sorts of confusion.

• εκεί / aquí
  In Greek, there. In Spanish, here.
• ναι / nej
  In Greek, yes. In Swedish, no.
• pig / pigg
  In English, mammalian species of the genus Sus. In Swedish, alert.
• say / sé
  In English, to speak. In Spanish, I know.
• tack / tak
  In Swedish, thank you. In Polish, yes.

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