Dutch vs Italian: 300 Words That Are Nearly Identical

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

Tips

• Dutch often lacks the final vowel that Italian keeps: compare moment/momento, punt/punto, dollar/dollaro, and telefoon/telefono. Spotting this pattern lets you guess one form from the other by trimming or adding that last vowel.
• With nouns for people and roles, Italian typically adds a final vowel to a very similar Dutch stem: agent/agente, president/presidente, commandant/comandante, professor/professore. Learn one side and the other becomes much easier to spell.
• Verbs are systematic too: Dutch infinitives in -eren often match Italian infinitives in -are, as in presenteren/presentare, interesseren/interessare, and arresteren/arrestare. Memorise that ending swap once and it pays off repeatedly.
• Adjectives follow their own habits: Dutch -isch can correspond to Italian -ico (fantastisch/fantastico), while short Dutch forms often gain a vowel in Italian (enorm/enorme, interessant/interessante, attent/attento).
• Double consonants do not always match: controle has one l in Dutch but controllo has two in Italian. Because these words look so close, check the exact spelling and the exact sense of each new pair rather than assuming it transfers.
• Start with the pairs that are identical or nearly so — foto/foto, auto/auto, programma/programma, detective/detective, band/banda — for quick wins before tackling the pairs with bigger spelling shifts.

Frequently asked questions

Are these Dutch and Italian words actually the same word?

Not identical, but closely related. Most pairs here share a Latin or international root and the same English meaning, with spelling that differs by nothing, one letter, or a small, predictable ending change — like moment in Dutch versus momento in Italian.

If I already know Italian, will this make Dutch vocabulary easier?

For this set of words, yes. Once you notice recurring patterns, such as Dutch -eren matching Italian -are, you can use the word you already know in one language to predict and remember the form in the other.

How do I actually practise these pairs?

Vocab Voyage shows an English prompt and has you type the Dutch word, using spaced repetition so the pairs you find tricky come back more often. Accents are forgiven, so you can focus on the word itself rather than on marks like the one in scène.

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