List of words having different meanings in American and British English (A–L)
List of words having different meanings in British English and American English
- See also main article: American and British English Differences
| Word | British meaning | American meaning |
| ass | donkey, burro | butt (buttocks), but also donkey and burro |
| Asian | coming from India, Pakistan etc. | East Asian, continental Southeast Asian. In UK, this use is replaced by "Oriental"; however, in US, "oriental" increasingly considered insulting. |
| band | a strap | a finger-ring |
| bum | butt (buttocks) | hobo, homeless person. But sometimes buttocks |
| cafe | diner | French cafe |
| chemist | pharmacist, pharmacy | a person whose profession is chemistry (also British) |
| chips | french fries | crisps |
| chippy | carpenter or fish and chip shop | loose woman (rare) |
| biscuit | cracker or cookie | a pastry similar to a scone |
| dead beat, deadbeat | exhausted | the latter is used as welsher, someone who does not pay their debts, the former sometimes as exhausted |
| dummy | pacifier | mannequin, esp. for automobile crash tests (also British) |
| entrée | starter (first course) | main course |
| fag | cigarette | short for faggot, an insulting term for a male homosexual |
| fanny | pussy (vagina) | buttocks (not obscene) |
| first floor (of a building) | the floor above ground level | the floor at ground level |
| flat | an apartment, (or a deflated tire) | a deflated tyre (or an apartment in some places) |
| ground floor (of a building) | the floor at ground level | sometimes used, but American English prefers 'first floor' |
| gallon | 8 British (imperial) pints | 8 US pints |
| homely | (Of a house) Comfortable, cozy, rustic. (Of a person) Home-loving, domesticated, house-proud. | (Only used of a person) Plain, Ugly. |
| jock | Slang term for a Scotsman. | Slang term for an athlete |
| lounge | living room | noun: a bar (pub); verb: to laze about, to relax (also British) |
| knock up | manufacture hastily; practise before tennis; wake up by knocking | make pregnant |
| mad | insane | angry |
| mean | stingy, miserly, selfish | angry, cruel, vicious |
| muffler | scarf | silencer (on automobile/car) |
| momentarily | for a moment (for a short time) | in a moment (shortly), at that moment, temporarily, (but sometimes for a moment, too) |
| outside lane | the lane closest to the median or central reservation. | the lane furthest from the median or central reservation. In both cases this will be the rightmost lane. |
| pants | underpants | trousers |
| pavement | sidewalk | asphalt; the road surface |
| pint | 1.25 US pints (mnemonic: "a pint of water weighs a pound and a quarter") | 0.8 British (imperial) pints (mnemonic: "a pint's a pound the world around", which it plainly isn't) |
| pissed | drunk | angry (British used pissed off for this) |
| pud | short for pudding, as in "Christmas Pud" (rhymes with "good") | penis (rhymes with "mud") |
| quite good | mediocre, acceptable | excellent |
| (to) ring | to call (someone) | to make a bell-like sound; you cannot ring people unless they are wearing a bell. (Note: "To give a ring" is to call someone in British English, while in American English it's to give an ornamental band to someone) |
| quart | 2 British (imperial) pints | 2 US pints |
| rubber | eraser | condom |
| rubbish | garbage; trash | understood by Americans as a Britishism unless referring to arguments where bad arguments are called rubbish |
| shag | to copulate, or copulate with | a type of carpet, or a kind of a dance |
| shop | store (retail) | workshop |
| silencer | silences car (automobile) | silences firearm |
| skillet | (regional dialect) a frying pan, as well as a type of stir-fried food item | a frying pan, often cast iron. Also a long-handled stewing pan or saucepan, often having legs |
| spunk | semen (though also sometimes used for courage, sauciness) | courage, sauciness (though also sometimes used for semen) |
| suspenders | elasticated support for stockings | elasticated support for trousers (i.e. braces) |
| tap | faucet | device for dispensing beer from a keg |
| tea |
A beverage, usually taken hot with milk; and variously an afternoon snack or an evening meal | a beverage, in some regions usually taken cold with lemon and sugar |
| tramp | a homeless person | a loose woman (sometimes a homeless person) |
| vest | equivalent of an undershirt in US | equivalent of waistcoat in the UK |
| wash up | wash the dishes (more generally, to clean after eating food) | wash your hands (more generally, to clean before eating food) |