At a German wedding last year, a guest made a brief comment to me about her Kugel. I couldn’t see ice cream anywhere, so I just smiled politely then later asked my boyfriend if I’d heard right.
I had not. A Kugel is not just a scoop of ice cream, it can be a ball, a baby bump (that’s what she meant!) and even a bullet…
You know you’ve reached a new era in your language learning when you start asking the question “I thought that meant [X],” which is inevitably met with “it does, but it also means Y.”
It’s easy to lose hope here, thinking, why the hell would a language use the same word for a baby bump and a bullet? and how am I supposed to learn all of this?
But you’re actually sitting on hidden treasure. German is littered with homonyms – words that look the same but have multiple meanings. Learn 60 words from this list, and increase your vocabulary by 160+.
Let’s go!
Sports and fitness
I started making this list after the 500th time my Bodypump instructor yelled the word Scheibe. I thought: I hear this word everywhere – what’s the deal?
Hours of googling later, this list was born. And it seemed fitting to start with sports and fitness:
| German word | Meaning 1 | Further meanings |
| Die Stange | barbell | rod (curtain rod) |
| Die Scheibe | (gym) weight | slice (of bread, cheese, etc.) / windowpane / dartboard / target / disc (i.e. vinyl record) |
| Das Kugel | ball | bullet / scoop (of ice cream) / baby bump / globe (Weltkugel) |
| Der Boden | floor | soil / ground |
| Die Bank | workout bench | bank |
Shopping and food
Germans like naming things for their shape. That’s why fruit peel, an eggshell and a bowl are all called Schale. They all share a curved shape.
Shape also explains why a lightbulb is called a glowing pear (Glühbirne).
But this logic doesn’t appear to explain Birne as a slang word for head, something I learnt whilst watching Hot Fuzz with German subtitles last weekend.
I much prefer the English “melon,” which seems more true to form…
| German word | Meaning 1 | Further meanings |
| Die Kasse | checkout / till | cash register |
| Die Schale | bowl | peel / shell (e.g. Bananenschale, Eierschale) |
| Die Tafel | bar (of chocolate) | chalkboard / dining table (charity food bank: Tafel) |
| Das Glas | glass (drinking) | glass (material) / jar |
| Die Dose | can (of beans) | box / tupperware, electrical socket (Steckdose) |
| Der Becher | cup / mug | plastic tub (of yogurt, ice cream) |
| Der Karton | cardboard box | carton (of milk, eggs, etc.) |
| Der Laden | shop | shutter (Fensterladen / Rollladen) |
| Die Birne | pear | lightbulb (Glühbirne), head (as the English say: “use your melon!”, the Germans say benutz deine Birne!) |
| Der Kasten | crate (of beer or bottles) | box / case |
| Die Klinge | blade (of a knife) | bell / chime |
Home and daily life
A friend of mine has a sign above her toilet that reads Kacken unterm Schimmel-Himmel: “pooping under a mouldy sky,” a sign made by the previous tenants who suffered a pipe leak from the upstairs flat. Said sign remains in situ to this day for its comedic value.
But this expression could also read: “pooping under a white horse heaven.” That’s German for you!
| German word | Meaning 1 | Further meanings |
| Das Schloss | lock | castle |
| Der Schlüssel | key | wrench / secret (figurative “key”) e.g. der Schlüssel zum Erfolg |
| Der Leiter | ladder | leader |
| Der Schimmel | mould | white horse |
| Der Stock | stick | floor / storey |
| Das Blatt | leaf (plant) | sheet of paper / newspaper / hand of cards (e.g. ein gutes Blatt haben) |
| Das Tor | goal (in football) | gate / large door |
| Die / Das Steuer | tax (die Steuer) | steering wheel (das Steuer) |
| Die Decke | blanket | ceiling |
| Die Stelle | place / spot | job / passage (in a text) |
Nature and travel
Two summers ago I took a quiz from Zeit Wissen magazine called Was ist ihre Kraftquelle? whilst relaxing at the local lake, sans phone. With barely B1 German, I didn’t know what Kraftquelle meant, having only ever seen the word in the context of thermal springs: Thermalquelle.
Powering on in the hope of discovering what I was being tested on, I scored equally on relationships and retreat, which seemed a little contradictory… Turns out the quiz was asking “what is your source of strength?”
| German word | Meaning 1 | Further meanings |
| Der / Die See | lake (der See) | sea (die See) |
| Die Quelle | spring (water source) | source (of information) |
| Die Mauer | wall (outdoor) | figurative “barrier” (eine Mauer zwischen uns) |
| Das Feld | field (agriculture) | academic / work field (im medizinischen Feld) |
| Der Hafen | harbour | figurative “safe haven” (mein Hafen) |
| Die Welle | wave (sea) | wave (trend / movement) |
| Der Kanal | canal / channel (water) | media channel (TV, YouTube) |
| Der Ton | clay | tone / sound |
| Der Flügel | wing (bird or plane) | piano (grand piano) / building wing |
| Die Feder | feather | spring (mechanical e.g. in a clock) / nib (of a pen) |
| Der Stein | stone / rock | precious gem / fruit pit |
Bonus: words with 3+ common meanings
My first year in Germany I bought pair of jeans from Only on a whim. Having changed my mind by the time I got home, I returned to the store a day later with the receipt and labels intact. I requested my money back at the counter, but was offered only a Gutschein.
I’d never heard the word but got the gist. My German was too poor to argue that such a policy was nowhere stated and consumer rights – hello? So I left the store without accepting the damn Gutschein.
Convinced it was because I was foreign, I dragged my boyfriend in a week later to seal the deal. He had a brief back and forth, then confirmed to me that it was the only option. “But I don’t want a fucking Guteschein!” I protested.
To this day a 50€ Only voucher remains in my wallet and the fictitious word Guteschein has become a hilarious joke amongst my boyfriend’s family.
| German word | Meanings (English) |
|---|---|
| Der Schein | light/shine (sunshine: Sonnenschein, candlelight: Kerzenschein) / parking ticket (Parkschein) / banknote (Geldschein) / driving licence (Führerschein) / public transport ticket (Fahrschein) / voucher (Gutschein) |
| Der / die / das Band | das Band: ribbon / tape, die Band: music group, der Band: book volume |
| Die Note | grade / mark / musical note |
| Die Mutter | mother / nut (hardware) / source/origin (Die Mutter aller Probleme: “the mother of all our problems”) |
| Das Gericht | court / judgement / dish (meal) |
| Der Ball | ball (sport) / formal dance / round object |
Context-critical homonyms
I took the Leben in Deutschland test last year, and got stuck on a question referencing Staatsgewalt.
Something about state violence? Wrong!
Turns out, the word Gewalt can mean both “violence” e.g. Gewalt gegen Frauen = violence against women – a word I learnt the meaning of from women’s public toilets – and “authority” e.g. Staatsgewalt = state authority/power.
Quite disturbing, and very important to distinguish between to avoid ending up in a pickle. Here are some more to steer you out of confusion or worse, trouble:
| German word | Meaning 1 (neutral / literal) | Other meanings (serious, figurative, or abstract) | Example(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gewalt | force / power / authority | violence (häusliche Gewalt, Gewalt anwenden) | Die Staatsgewalt sorgt für Ordnung. / Die Polizei hat mit Gewalt eingegriffen. |
| Macht | power / ability | political control, dominance | Die Macht des Staates. / Er hat Macht über sie. |
| Verhältnis | proportion / condition | relationship, affair, social situation | Das Verhältnis von Männern zu Frauen… / Er hat ein Verhältnis mit seiner Kollegin. |
| Anschlag | notice / poster | violent attack / assault | Ein Anschlag am Schwarzen Brett. / Ein terroristischer Anschlag. |
| Schlag | hit / beat | blow / stroke (medical) / type | Ein Schlag mit dem Hammer. / Er hatte einen Schlaganfall. / Er ist ein ganz besonderer Schlag Mensch. |
| Opfer | victim | person who sacrifices / gives | Das Opfer des Unfalls. / Er bringt ein Opfer für seine Familie. |
| Schuld | debt | guilt, blame | Ich habe Schulden bei der Bank. / Es ist meine Schuld. |
| Urteil | judgement (legal) | opinion / assessment / pass judgement | Das Gericht hat ein Urteil gefällt. / Sie hat ein Urteil über ihre Mitbewohner gefällt. |
| Widerstand | resistance (physical) | political resistance / rebellion | Elektrischer Widerstand. / Der Widerstand gegen das Regime. |
| Kampf | fight (physical) | struggle, campaign | Der Kampf im Ring. / Der Kampf gegen Armut. |
| Zucht | breeding (animals, plants) | discipline (archaic or moral tone) | Pferdezucht, Blumenzucht. / Zucht und Ordnung. |
| Pflicht | duty (job, responsibility) | moral or legal obligation | Die Steuerpflicht. / Es ist meine Pflicht, zu helfen. |
| Recht | right (correctness) | law, legal right | Du hast recht. / Das Recht auf Bildung. |
| Ordnung | order (tidiness) | societal / moral order | Die Bücher sind in Ordnung. / Die öffentliche Ordnung wahren. |
| Führer | guide / leader (neutral compound) | political leader (highly sensitive alone) | Reiseführer, Stadtführer. / Der Führer (historical taboo). |
| Ziel | goal / target | aim, purpose | Das Ziel des Spiels. / Das Ziel meines Lebens. |
| Streit | argument | conflict, legal dispute | Ein Streit unter Freunden. / Ein Rechtsstreit. |
| Dienst | service (work duty) | religious service / military service | Kundendienst, Bereitschaftsdienst. / Er leistet seinen Dienst in der Kirche. |
Final thoughts
If you stuck around long enough to get to the bottom of this post, one thing will have become clear to you:
I never learn vocabulary by memorising lists of words. They cement in my brain when I encounter them in the world, through the stories that form around them.
This isn’t an ideal method for everybody, and can be hard to achieve if you’re not living in a German-speaking country, but not impossible.
You can channel this method by watching German series, listening to German podcasts and reading in German.
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