Dutch vs French: 300 Words That Are Nearly Identical

Dutch vs French: 300 Words That Are Nearly Identical: the list

Tips

• Watch the verb endings: Dutch infinitives end in -en and French ones in -er, and many French verbs turn up in Dutch with -eren, as in arriveren / arriver and excuseren / excuser; others are a straight swap, as in stoppen / stopper and dansen / danser.
• For nouns on Latin roots, Dutch -eem often corresponds to French -ème: probleem / problème and systeem / système follow the same pattern, so spotting one form helps you predict the other.
• French usually keeps accents where Dutch writes none: compare interessant / intéressant and idee / idée, and note that énorme also adds a final -e next to Dutch enorm.
• Shared modern loanwords such as baby, cool and bar are written the same in both languages, which makes them the safest items to guess in either direction.
• A matching form does not guarantee matching usage: pairs like orde / ordre and partij / parti share a root and a core meaning, but set phrases and everyday connotations can differ, so check a new word in a sentence before relying on it.
• When you drill these on Vocab Voyage you type the Dutch word for an English prompt and accents are forgiven, but letter differences still count — so practise the Dutch spelling (probleem, systeem, appartement) rather than the French one.

Frequently asked questions

Why do Dutch and French share so many similar words?

Many of these pairs go back to the same Latin-based or international vocabulary that both languages took on over time, joined by more recent loanwords such as baby and cool, which is why forms like probleem / problème and idee / idée line up so closely.

If a Dutch and a French word look the same, can I assume they are used the same way?

The core meaning usually lines up, since that is how these pairs were selected, but differences in spelling details and everyday usage can remain, as with orde / ordre or partij / parti, so it is worth checking a word in context instead of assuming a perfect one-to-one match.

How does Vocab Voyage help me learn these words?

You type the Dutch word for an English prompt, with accents forgiven, and spaced repetition brings each item back shortly before you are likely to forget it, so the pairs that trip you up come round more often while the easy ones move to longer intervals.

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