Glass

Meaning: Actually means 'ice cream'. En glass = an ice cream. For a glass (vessel), say ett glas.

Looks like: Glass (drinking vessel)

Origin: An everyday joy for Swedish children encountering English speakers.

More Swedish false friends

Semester Actually means 'holiday' or 'vacation'. A school semester is en termin.
Barn Actually means 'child'. A barn is en lada.
Sex Actually means 'six'. Klockan sex = six o'clock.
Bord Actually means 'table'. Ett bord för två = a table for two.
Rar Actually means 'sweet' or 'kind'. En rar person is a lovely person. (In Norwegian, rar me…
Grind Actually means 'gate' — the garden or field kind. To grind is mala.

Tricky phrases to practice out loud, from languages around the world.

Flyg, fula fluga, flyg! Och den fula flugan flög. An 'fl' cluster repeated through three different vowels — y, u and ö, all of them front r…
Sex laxar i en laxask. A short 'x/lax/ks' crunch — Swedish's 'x' sounds like 'ks', which doubles the trap.
Sju sjösjuka sjömän skötte sjuttiosju sjösjuka sjölejon på skeppet Shanghai. An unstoppable 'sj/sk/sh' onslaught — the Swedish sj-sound (a unique voiceless fricative)…

Keep exploring