Indonesian vs Swahili: 150 Words That Are Nearly Identical

Indonesian vs Swahili: 150 Words That Are Nearly Identical: the list

Tips

• Notice how Swahili often adds a final -u where Indonesian ends in a consonant: tim/timu (team), bom/bomu (bomb), salam/salamu (greeting), hakim/hakimu (judge). Spotting this one habit explains a whole cluster of pairs at once.
• A parallel pattern adds a final -i instead: bos/bosi (boss), hotel/hoteli (hotel), tiket/tiketi (ticket), virus/virusi (virus), kapten/kapteni (captain). Swahili words typically end in a vowel, so borrowed forms tend to pick one up.
• Some pairs differ by a single letter inside the word: meja/meza (table), radio/redio (radio), klub/club (club), resmi/rasmi (official). Read these slowly instead of assuming an exact match — the difference is small but real.
• The change can also run the other way, with Swahili shorter than Indonesian: dolar/dola (dollar) and malaikat/malaika (angel) both lose a final consonant. Don't assume Swahili always adds letters; check each pair.
• Bank the pairs that are spelled identically first — dunia (world), polisi (police), kamera (camera), ahli (expert), hewan (animal), mil (mile), bar (bar). They cost almost no extra memory work, so clear them before tackling the pairs with spelling shifts.
• Because you type the Indonesian form when you practise, drill the endings deliberately so the Swahili versions don't leak in: it's tim, not timu, and bos, not bosi.

Frequently asked questions

Why do Indonesian and Swahili share so many similar words if the languages aren't related?

They aren't related — Indonesian is Austronesian and Swahili is Bantu — but both have borrowed heavily from the same outside sources, above all Arabic and English. That is why words such as polisi (police) and kamera (camera) turn up in both vocabularies with the same meaning and nearly the same shape.

If a word looks the same in both languages, does it always mean the same thing?

Every pair on this page was selected because the two forms share the same English meaning. Outside a checked list like this one, though, resemblance guarantees nothing, so confirm meaning and usage before assuming that a familiar-looking word matches.

How do I actually learn these words instead of just reading them?

Reading the pairs helps you spot the patterns, but retention comes from active recall. Sign up for Vocab Voyage with an email — no card, no password — and practise typing the Indonesian word for each English prompt; the spaced-repetition schedule brings each item back just before you would forget it.

More Indonesian

Learn Indonesian · Words · Nouns · Verbs · Adjectives · Adverbs · Catalan vs Indonesian: nearly identical words · Czech vs Indonesian: nearly identical words · Danish vs Indonesian: nearly identical words · Dutch vs Indonesian: nearly identical words · Finnish vs Indonesian: nearly identical words · French vs Indonesian: nearly identical words · German vs Indonesian: nearly identical words · How many Indonesian words do you need? · Indonesian words you already know · Indonesian City & Places vocabulary · Indonesian Talking & Communication vocabulary · Indonesian Art & Culture vocabulary · Indonesian Describing Things vocabulary · Indonesian Emotions & Personality vocabulary · Indonesian Family & People vocabulary · Indonesian Food & Drink vocabulary · Indonesian Health & the Body vocabulary · Indonesian Home & Daily Life vocabulary · Indonesian Money & Finance vocabulary · Indonesian Nature & Animals vocabulary · Indonesian Numbers & Quantities vocabulary · Indonesian School & Learning vocabulary · Indonesian Shopping & Clothes vocabulary · Indonesian Politics, Law & Society vocabulary · Indonesian Sport & Leisure vocabulary · Indonesian Technology & Media vocabulary · Indonesian Time, Weather & Seasons vocabulary · Indonesian Travel & Transport vocabulary · Indonesian Work & Business vocabulary · Indonesian vs Spanish: nearly identical words