A familiar spelling can misleadSourced
Not region-specific · English meaning
Gift changes meaning across the language boundary
English gift means a present, while German Gift means poison. This is a false-friend pairing: similar-looking words in different languages do not share the expected meaning. Recognizing the spelling does not remove the need to recognize the language.
The word looks familiar but belongs to a different meaning.
Summary / translation: Unbubly · CC BY-SA 4.0
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False friend · Wikimedia contributors
Adapted, summarized and translated from the source. Adapted text is also available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Reviewed: 2026-10-05