# Bilingual anagrams **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 13, 2026, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bilingual-anagrams/1030867 "2026-06-13T07:56:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2026, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bilingual-anagrams/1030867/1 "2026-06-13T07:56:46Z")
I’ve noticed a handful of bilingual anagrams where **the words mean the same thing**. Note that the words have to be spelled differently in the two languages but with the same set of letters. So the fact that every language on Earth† has the word _covid_ with the same meaning is not sufficient. Since it’s always spelled the same, it does not qualify for this question. Anyway, here’s the handful of examples: - German: mein, English: mine - Spanish: capitán, English: captain - German: Rhein, English: Rhine OK, the Spanish example is imperfect because of the accent mark, but I’m going with it just because I know of so few. Can anyone come up with any others? †Well, every language that uses the Latin alphabet. Although I’ve seen Chinese writing with “COVID” embedded in it, so maybe some others too. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2026, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bilingual-anagrams/1030867/2 "2026-06-13T08:27:08Z")
In all three of your examples the words are cognates. I think it would be even more interesting to find examples where the words are completely unrelated. The only example I can think of is English “evil” and French “vile”. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2026, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bilingual-anagrams/1030867/3 "2026-06-13T13:16:18Z")
I found one: “and” in Malay is “dan.” (I didn’t cheat by asking Google for an example, but I did look through basic vocabulary lists of three languages I have some exposure to.) ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2026, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bilingual-anagrams/1030867/4 "2026-06-13T13:56:51Z")
I thought of one: “het” in Dutch can be translated to either “it” or “the” depending on the exact context. So the second one is an anagram and probably not a cognate. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2026, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bilingual-anagrams/1030867/5 "2026-06-13T14:20:20Z")
Good one. You’re right — they aren’t cognates. “Het” (like English “that”) is ultimately from PIE “ke-,” while English “the” is from PIE “so-.” ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2026, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bilingual-anagrams/1030867/6 "2026-06-13T14:23:27Z")
French “Etats” is English “state”, backwards. Not quite a perfect one, since it’s a French plural to the English singular, but close. Pretty sure that’s a cognate, though. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2026, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bilingual-anagrams/1030867/7 "2026-06-13T14:41:39Z")
The Spanish masculine singular word for “the” ( **el** ) is an anagram of the equivalent word in French ( **le** ). ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2026, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bilingual-anagrams/1030867/8 "2026-06-14T02:04:08Z")
Rein is a word in German (pure), French (kidney) and obviously in English. Totally unrelated and non-cognate. Only example I know (except for obvious borrowings like sport) and you don’t even have to anagram them. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2026, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bilingual-anagrams/1030867/9 "2026-06-14T06:35:45Z")
The OP is asking for words that have the same meaning. So “rein” doesn’t qualify. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2026, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bilingual-anagrams/1030867/10 "2026-06-14T07:32:54Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > So “rein” doesn’t qualify. But it was an interesting bit of trivia. So maybe start a different thread for words that have different meanings in three or more languages. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2026, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bilingual-anagrams/1030867/11 "2026-06-14T11:48:00Z")
Oh, there will be many. Look up any short word, and there’s a good chance Wiktionary will have a list of languages – sometimes ten or more – with a definition for that word. Usually most of them are indeed borrowings, but quite often at least a few of them are not. The “rein” example is interesting because the three unrelated meanings are from _big, Western European_ languages. But with over six thousand languages in the world, such coincidences can’t be rare. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2026, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bilingual-anagrams/1030867/12 "2026-06-15T23:40:04Z")
Here’s a pretty boring one: theater in (American) English and theatre in French. Also center and centre. Probably lots like that. Of course, these are direct borrowings. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2026, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bilingual-anagrams/1030867/13 "2026-06-16T00:38:56Z")
Yeah there’s a lot like that: blue/bleu, saber/sabre, meter/metre, liter/litre and I’m sure a whole lot more. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2026, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bilingual-anagrams/1030867/14 "2026-06-16T01:38:45Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > Here’s a pretty boring one: theater in (American) English and theatre in French. I had planned on excluding these in the OP, but then forgot when I actually wrote it. There’s around 20 or so -er/-re variants between American and British spellings, and I expect all of them are direct borrowings from French as modified by Noah Webster. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2026, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bilingual-anagrams/1030867/15 "2026-06-21T17:51:26Z")
These are cognates; they both derive from the Latin pronoun _ille_ (as does Italian _il_). ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2026, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bilingual-anagrams/1030867/16 "2026-06-21T17:54:03Z")
> [@Schnitte](#): > > These are cognates I just want to say, as the originator of this thread, I have no problem with cognates. Except for the -er/-re ones I meant to exclude. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2026, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bilingual-anagrams/1030867/17 "2026-06-21T17:56:34Z")
Then I’m throwing in the interesting example of English _standstill_, German _Stillstand_. Same meaning, in both languages a compound of two monosyllabic words, and each of the two words has the same meaning in both languages, but the order is reversed. (And in German, the noun is capitalised, because all nouns are.) ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2026, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bilingual-anagrams/1030867/18 "2026-06-21T18:15:40Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > So maybe start a different thread for words that have different meanings in three or more languages. Friends and former colleagues of mine have put up a page with Spanish / English false friends, which comes close to what you say. Only in two languages though, and only in one direction, but it’s a start: > **[False Friends English-Spanish Dictionary](https://dictionary.falsefriends.app/en)** > > False Friends - Falsos Amigos. Contains all those English terms and expressions that can lead to confusion in Spanish Somewhere hidden in that list there are probably also some bilingual anagrams with different meanings. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2026, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bilingual-anagrams/1030867/19 "2026-06-29T14:12:15Z")
But the e (accented) in French is a replacement of “es”, so Etats is really estats. SSSo again you get your anagram but for a different reason.