I know for instance, between Japanese & Mandarin there are a few words that are written the same despite them being pronounced differently along with having different meanings altogether:
| Word | Japanese Definition | Mandarin Definition |
|---|---|---|
| 手紙 | Letter (mail) | Toilet Paper |
| 先生 | Teacher | Mister (Mr.) |
| 天井 | Ceiling | Atrium |
| 説話 | Folktale | To Speak |
| 新聞 | Newspaper | News (media) |
| 約束 | Promise | Constrain |
| 文句 | Complain | Phrase |
| 怪我 | Injury | Blame me |
| 白鳥 | Swan | White Bird |
| 皮肉 | Irony | Skin & Flesh |
| 王妃 | Queen | Princess |
| 中古 | Used Product | Medieval Times |
| 氷箱 | Ice Box | Refrigerator |
| 手袋 | Gloves | Handbag |
| 邪魔 | Hinderance | Devil |
| 湯 | Hot Water | Soup |
| 猪 | Boar | Pig |
| 腕 | Arm | Wrist |
| 走 | Run | Walk |
| 棚 | Shelf | Shed |
| 首 | Neck | Head |
| 床 | Floor | Bed |
| 吃 | Scold | To Eat |
| 机 | Desk (Furniture) | Machinery |
| 娘 | Daughter | Mother |
In hindsight: if you are bilingual, do you know any false friends between two languages (i.e. English & French) or (i.e. Spanish & Portuguese) that are spelled the same but have different definitions across both languages?
mare:
P.S the word for what you’re describing is either homonym (spelled the same, sounds the same) or a heteronym (spelled the same, sounds different). Wiktionary has a good table
No, what they’re describing is a False Friend. A very specific type of homophone/graph/nym. They work across languages. And in many cases (though not a hard rule) have close enough meaning/usage that would confuse non-native speakers trying to comprehend things via context.
E.g. A German telling his English friend, “I’ll meet you at the gymnasium”. The sentence is correct, and makes perfect sense to both. But they’ll end up at two different places.
OP wrote (emphasis mine)
Definitions of a heteronym
wikipedia
dictionary.com
That’s within the same language. If it’s across languages, the term doesn’t apply.
“I’ll eventually meet you at the gymnasium.”