To those who ever had problems with words with multiple meanings and to those who like to dive into linguistic lagoons! I've found a fantastic collection of words of English that do not mean the same thing in British English and American English. Below you can read a short extraction of what I found interesting, but I do encourage you to follow the links and read the whole list for yourselves. Thanks for the hard-working people of Wikipedia!
Words from A-L
Words from M-Z
In the first column, you see the word itself, the second has special British meanings connected to that word, the third has common features in Br.E. and Am.E. and the fourth column carries the only American meaning.
| beard; a bearded man (archaic slang) | aquatic rodent known for building dams woman's undepilated external genitalia (obscene slang) | female pubic hair (slang) | |||
| bird (n.) | one's girlfriend or any young female (slang; getting rarer[1] and considered derogatory by some) prison sentence (slang) | an aircraft | insulting hand gesture involving shaking one's fist towards someone with knuckles pointing towards the person being insulted and the middle finger extended (used chiefly in “flipping someone the bird”) (slang) | ||
| blow off | to break wind | to perform oral sex upon | to not turn up to meet somebody (UK: blow out) ("I'm just too busy, I'll have to blow you off for this evening.") | ||
| bogey | dried nasal mucus usu. after extraction from the nose (US: booger) (informal) | the score of one over par in golf | an unidentified aircraft, often assumed to be that of an enemy alternate spelling of "Bogie" (nickname ofHumphrey Bogart) | ||
| an alcoholic drink derived from apples (US: hard cider) | a nonalcoholic drink derived from apples | ||||
| bus with of higher standard of comfort, usually chartered or used for longer journeys* tutor, usu. private, who prepares pupils for examinations * railway carriage * | enclosed horse-drawn passenger carriage sports trainer | extracurricular sports teacher at a school (UK: PE teacher) lowest class on a passenger aircraft (UK:economy) | |||
| Detective inspector (police) | Drill instructor (military) | ||||
| a technician or a person that mends and operates machinery | one employed to design, build or repair equipment practitioner of engineering | one who operates an engine, esp. a locomotive(UK: engine driver) | |||
| fag | cigarette (slang) * (in England; obs.) young public schoolboy who acted as a servant for older pupils drudgery, chore ("it is such a fag – I come back tired to death" – J. Austen) | male homosexual (short for faggot) ) * | |||
| fancy dress | a costume worn to impersonate a well-known character, animal etc., typically at a fancy dress party (US: costume party) | (colloq.) "formal" wear (usu. tuxedos for men and ball gowns for women.) | ||
| fanny | vagina (slang), vulva (vulgar slang) (fanny about or fanny around, vulgar slang) to mess about or procrastinate ("Stop fannying about and hit it with the hammer") | buttocks (colloquial); hence fanny pack (UK: bum bag) | ||
| first floor (of a building) | the floor above ground level (US: second floor) | the floor at ground level (often, but not always, the same floor as a building's lobby) (UK: ground floor) | |||
| fix (v.) | to make firm, fasten, or attach *(the original sense, no longer very common in US) to set or arrange (as a date) *("A time has been fixed") | to repair (orig. US) to sterilise (an animal) to manipulate usually underhandedly ("To fix a fight by paying a boxer to take a dive.") | to adjust or prepare, esp. food or beverage *("I'll fix you a sandwich") (esp. South) to get ready ("I'm fixing to retire") to get even with (someone) [1] (fix up) to provide | ||
| flat | (n.) self-contained housing unit (US: apartment) (adj., of a battery) discharged, exhausted, dead | (adj.) level and smooth structured at a single level, not hierarchical | (n.) a flat tyre/tire * an apartment that occupies the entire floor of a small building (upstate New York and San Francisco); used also in phrases such as railroad flat | ||
| forty (40) | the number 4 × 10 | a 40-acre (160,000 m2) parcel of land, specifically one sixteenth of a section, constituting the smallest unit of agricultural land commonly surveyed ("back 40", "front 40"). in an urban or youth setting, "a 40-ounce beer". | |||
| geezer | gangster, man (esp. Cockney) | old person (derogatory; UK: old geezer [not derog.]) | |||
| an informant (often to the police) (to grass on) to tell on somebody (US: to squeal) | green ground cover | grazing; to feed (livestock) with grass (UK: at grass, to put out to grass) | |||
| hockey | hockey played with a ball on grass (field hockey) * | hockey played on a hard surface (e.g. concrete) or indoors | hockey played on ice with a puck (ice hockey) * | ||
| hood | the folding fabric top on a convertible car (US:convertible top) | head covering forming part of a garment component of academic regalia | hinged cover over the engine in a car (UK: bonnet) a contraction of neighborhood, especially regarding a poor neighborhood short for hoodlum, a tough, destructive young man, or generically any criminal | ||
| hoo-ha | argument | female genitalia | |||
| IRA | Irish Republican Army [listed here to reflect common usage] | ||||
| joint | piece of meat for carving * (slang) hand-rolled cigarette containing cannabis and tobacco | connection between two objects or bones an establishment, especially a disreputable one ("a gin joint"; "let's case the joint") (slang, orig. US) | (slang) hand-rolled cigarette containing only cannabis (slang) prison ("in the joint") | ||
| knock up | to practise before tennis to awaken or summon by knocking | to prepare quickly ("Knock us up something to eat" — L.M. Alcott) | to impregnate*(slang, sometimes vulgar) | |||
| lift (n.) | platform or cage moved vertically in a shaft to transport people and goods to various floors in a building (US: elevator) | ride as a passenger in a vehicle (as in, to give someone a lift) item placed in shoe to increase the height of the wearer, normally plural (lifts, elevator shoes) | an elevation in mood, "I got a lift just talking with her." | |||
| abbr. of raincoat (Mackintosh) | a brand of Apple Inc. computers; abbreviation ofMacintosh. | (Slang; proper n.) A term of informal address used with male strangers; generally implies more unfriendliness or disapproval than the more neutral 'pal' or 'buddy': "Get your car out of my way, Mac!" UK generally 'mate'. Cf. 'Jack.' | |||
| mummy | mother, as addressed or referred to by her child (US: mommy) | Ancient Egyptian mummy, a chemically preserved corpse any preserved corpse (Mexican mumia) | |||
| nickel | the metallic element (Ni) | 5 cent coin (also 'nickle') five dollars (slang) | ||
| notion | concept, conception, inclination | (pl.) small items and accessories, esp. for sewing(UK: haberdashery, q.v.); hence notion store,notion counter, etc. | ||
| panda | police car (slang) (US: zebra, black-and-white) | Type of animal (black and white), e.g. Giant Panda, Red Panda | ||
| traditional Christmas time holiday theatre | silent acting, usu. without props, by mime artist(UK: mime) | |||
| pop | to place or put ("I popped the book on the table") | a sharp explosive sound carbonated soft drink (US usage is regional; also:soda, soda pop) (pop in) to arrive unexpectedly | father (colloquial) (v.) to kill (n.) a sudden increase (as in price) (orig. Stock exchange) * | ||
| recess (time) | remission or suspension of business or procedure | pause between classes at school (UK: break,playtime, Lunchtime) | |||
| ring (v.) | to call (someone) by telephone | to sound a bell | (ring up) *to total up a customer's purchases on acash register | |||
| roundabout | a detour or circuitous path a circular road intersection | a type of men's jacket used in the past (see e.g. Mark Twain) | ||||
| rubber (countable noun) | the duration of a match in certain games (e.g., bridge) | waterproof rain boot (but only in the plural: "rubbers") (UK: wellington) | ||||
| sherbet | a fizzy powdered confectionery | a type of frozen dessert (also spelled sherbert) | |||
| sod | unpleasant person, originally short for sodomite ("He's a sod, isn't he?") unfortunate person when prefixed by 'poor' ("The poor sod's had his wallet nicked.") or 'silly' ("The silly sod really got it knackered.") | layer of grass and earth (in UK in a formal/literary sense) | turf | ||
| squash (n.) | fruit cordial drink (squash (drink)) | sport (squash (sport))* | vegetable (squash (plant))*(UK also gourd) | |||
| torch | handheld device that emits light (US: flashlight) | flaming club used as a light source | (v.) commit an act of arson. (n.) an arsonist. | |||
| walk out, walkout | (v.) "walk out with", to be romantically involved with (archaic) | (v.) to leave a meeting in protest to strike (orig. US) to abandon someone, or to drop out ("she walked out on me") (orig. US) (n.) a kind of strike action (orig. US) the act of leaving a meeting in protest | (adj.) (of a room in a building) featuring outdoor access; (n.) such an access ("full walkout basement", "walkout to the deck") (n.) one who goes out of a store or shop without buying anything | ||||
| z | (pronounced /ˈzɛd/) | the last letter of the alphabet | (pronounced /ˈziː/) a nap ("to catch some z's") zero or no ("I have z cash right now.") | ||||
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