False Friends for Developers: English Words Non-Natives Use Wrong
The most common false friend vocabulary mistakes made by non-native English speaking developers — words that look familiar but mean something different. With before/after examples from code reviews, documentation, and emails.
False friends are words that look similar to a word in your native language but mean something completely different in English. For developers who learned English partly through reading technical documentation, false friends are especially tricky — some of them are used in IT contexts with slightly different meanings.
This guide covers the most common false friend mistakes made by developers from European language backgrounds, with special attention to words that appear frequently in code reviews, documentation, PR comments, and Slack.
What Makes a False Friend?
A false friend (faux ami) is a word in Language A that resembles a word in Language B, but the two words have different meanings.
For example:
- Russian/Ukrainian “актуальний” (aktualny) = current, up-to-date
- English “actual” = real, genuine (not current)
A non-native speaker who writes “the actual version of the API” means “the current version” — but an English reader understands “the genuine version” (as opposed to a fake one).
This guide focuses on false friends that come up specifically in developer communication.
The Most Common False Friends in IT English
1. Actual vs Current
| Your language | What you mean | What you should write |
|---|---|---|
| French: actuel, Spanish: actual, German: aktuell, Russian/Ukrainian: актуальний | current, up-to-date, present | current, existing, present |
❌ “The actual implementation does not support caching.” ✅ “The current implementation does not support caching.”
✅ Correct use of “actual”: “The actual runtime was 4 seconds” (real, as measured — vs estimated)
2. Eventual vs Final / Possible
| Your language | What you mean | What you should write |
|---|---|---|
| French: éventuel, Spanish: eventual, Italian: eventuale, Portuguese: eventual | possible, possible, potential | possible, potential, any |
❌ “For eventual errors, check the logs.” ✅ “For any errors, check the logs.” OR “If there are errors, check the logs.”
❌ “The eventual solution might require a refactor.” ✅ “A possible solution might require a refactor.”
✅ Correct use of “eventual” in English IT: “eventual consistency” — a technical database term meaning “the system will converge to a consistent state eventually (over time)“
3. Consistent vs Consequent / Sequential
| Your language | What you mean | What you should write |
|---|---|---|
| German: konsequent, Dutch: consequent, Polish: konsekwentny | consistent, strict, systematic | consistent, systematic, rigorous |
❌ “We need to be more consequent about following the coding standards.” ✅ “We need to be more consistent about following the coding standards.”
Note: “Consequent” and “consequently” exist in English but mean “following as a result”: ✅ “The database was misconfigured; consequently, all queries failed.”
4. Sensible vs Sensitive / Reasonable
| Your language | What you mean | What you should write |
|---|---|---|
| French: sensible, Spanish: sensible, Italian: sensibile | sensitive, perceptible | sensitive |
| German: sensibel | sensitive | sensitive |
❌ “This is a sensible area — be careful with access controls.” (if you mean “sensitive”) ✅ “This is a sensitive area — be careful with access controls.”
✅ Correct use of “sensible” in English: “That’s a sensible approach” = a reasonable, reasonable choice
So: “sensible data” in your language means sensitive data in English.
5. Eventually vs Finally / In the End
| Your language | What you mean | What you should write |
|---|---|---|
| French: éventuellement, Spanish: eventualmente, Italian: eventualmente | possibly, if necessary, as the case may be | if necessary, possibly, if applicable |
❌ “The service calls the API and eventually retries on failure.” (if you mean “if it fails, it retries”) ✅ “The service calls the API and retries on failure.”
✅ Correct use of “eventually” in English: “The system will eventually reach a consistent state” — in the future, after some time has passed.
6. Assist vs Attend / Participate
| Your language | What you mean | What you should write |
|---|---|---|
| French: assister à, Spanish: asistir a, Italian: assistere a, Portuguese: assistir | to attend (an event) | attend, join, be present at |
❌ “I will assist the meeting tomorrow.” ✅ “I will attend the meeting tomorrow.”
✅ Correct use of “assist”: “Can you assist with the deployment?” = help with
7. Pretend vs Claim / Intend
| Your language | What you mean | What you should write |
|---|---|---|
| French: prétendre, Spanish: pretender, Italian: pretendere, Portuguese: pretender | to claim, to intend, to mean to | claim, intend, mean to |
❌ “The documentation pretends that the function is idempotent.” ✅ “The documentation claims that the function is idempotent.”
❌ “I pretend to fix this before the sprint ends.” ✅ “I intend to fix this before the sprint ends.”
✅ Correct use of “pretend” in English: “The test pretends to be a browser by spoofing the user agent” — to act as if something is true when it is not.
8. Control vs Check / Verify / Manage
| Your language | What you mean | What you should write |
|---|---|---|
| French: contrôler, Spanish: controlar, German: kontrollieren, Italian: controllare | to check, to verify, to inspect | check, verify, review |
❌ “Please control that the tests pass before merging.” ✅ “Please check that the tests pass before merging.”
✅ Correct use of “control” in English IT: “access control”, “version control”, “rate control”
9. Realise vs Implement / Achieve
| Your language | What you mean | What you should write |
|---|---|---|
| German: realisieren, French: réaliser, Italian: realizzare, Spanish: realizar | to implement, to carry out, to build | implement, carry out, build, develop |
❌ “We need to realise the new authentication flow in this sprint.” ✅ “We need to implement the new authentication flow in this sprint.”
✅ Correct use of “realise” in English: “I realised the function had a bug” — to become aware of something.
10. Demand vs Ask / Require
| Your language | What you mean | What you should write |
|---|---|---|
| French: demander, Spanish: demandar (in some contexts), Italian: domandare, German: nachfragen | to ask, to request, to inquire | ask, request |
❌ “I demanded the team lead for a code review.” ✅ “I asked the team lead for a code review.”
Note: “Demand” exists in English and means to insist on something with force — it is confrontational. ✅ Correct use of “demand”: “The client demanded a refund” — strong insistence.
11. Argument vs Parameter / Issue / Discussion
| Your language | What you mean | What you should write |
|---|---|---|
| French: argument (in a discussion), German: Argument | a point in a debate, a reason | argument (same in English for debates) |
| In code: argument | a value passed to a function | argument (same — correct!) |
This one is actually NOT a false friend in technical contexts. In code: ✅ “Pass the user ID as an argument to the function.” — correct!
But in discussions: “My argument is that we should use PostgreSQL” is also correct in English.
Where people go wrong is using “argument” to mean “disagreement” when they mean “discussion”: ❌ “We had an argument about the architecture.” (implies a fight/conflict) ✅ “We had a discussion about the architecture.” OR “We debated the architecture.”
12. Become vs Get (for changes of state)
Not strictly a false friend, but a systematic pattern error.
| What you mean | Wrong | Correct |
|---|---|---|
| The app changed to a broken state | ”The app became broken." | "The app stopped working / broke.” |
| He obtained the role | ”He became admin." | "He became an admin.” (article needed!) |
| The process started taking longer | ”The process became slower.” | ✅ Correct — but more natural: “The process got slower.” |
Quick Reference Table
| False friend | What it means in your language | What it means in English | Correct English word |
|---|---|---|---|
| actual | current | real, genuine | current / existing |
| eventual | possible | in the end, ultimately | possible / potential |
| consequent | consistent, strict | following as a result | consistent |
| sensible | sensitive | reasonable | sensitive |
| eventually | possibly | in the future, ultimately | possibly / if necessary |
| assist | attend (a meeting) | help | attend / join |
| pretend | claim, intend | fake, act as if | claim / intend |
| control | check, verify | manage, regulate | check / verify |
| realise | implement, build | understand, become aware | implement / build |
| demand | ask, request | insist forcefully | ask / request |
Practice
Rewrite the following sentences using the correct English words:
- “Please check the actual API documentation before starting.”
- “We need to control the performance metrics after deploying.”
- “I pretend to attend the architecture review next week.”
- “For eventual exceptions in the handler, we should log and retry.”
- “We realised the feature in three sprints.”
Answers:
- “Please check the current API documentation before starting.”
- “We need to check / review the performance metrics after deploying.”
- “I intend to attend the architecture review next week.” (or: “I plan to attend…”)
- “For any exceptions in the handler, we should log and retry.”
- “We implemented the feature in three sprints.”