British and American Word Differences

Guess these words that have different meanings in American and British English.

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Last updated: July 6, 2013

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First submitted	June 4, 2013
Times taken	42,940
Average score	45.5%
Rating	2.59

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American meaning	British meaning	Word
Gridiron	Soccer	Football
Angry	Drunk	Pissed
Fruit preserve	Gelatin	Jelly
Car silencer	Scarf	Muffler
Trousers	Underwear	Pants
Vomit	Car storage compartment	Boot
Vegetable patch	Yard	Garden
[]	()	Brackets
Hobo	Bottom	Bum
Old West bar	Two-doored Car	Saloon
Leather cowboy leggings	Guys	Chaps

American meaning	British meaning	Word
Condom	Eraser	Rubber
Janitor	Goalkeeper	Custodian
Non-payer of debts	Exhausted	Deadbeat
Pancake	Granola bar	Flapjack
16 fluid ounces	20 fluid ounces	Pint
Derogatory term for an old person	Gangster	Geezer
Ugly	Cozy	Homely
Road surface	Sidewalk	Pavement
To catch a fly ball in baseball	To copulate	Shag
Salesperson	Type of lawyer	Solicitor
Underground railroad	Pedestrian underpass	Subway

Level 28

Jul 6, 2013

A geezer is an old, generally creepy, guy.

A flapjack is a baked, generally oats, square held together by honey. It is not just any old granola bar.

And pissed can mean both angry and drunk.

That's in the British view, by the way.

Level 44

Jul 6, 2013

Also, I thought a saloon car was a sedan, the four door. I thought that both Brits and Americans used coupe for two door, just pronounced differently.

Level 80

Nov 26, 2014

Agreed, saloon in Britain does not mean a two door car. Typically a saloon in Britain will have a boot (trunk) as opposed to being a hatchback or estate (station wagon) but it could be two or four door.

Level 76

Sep 21, 2017

Technically, by definition a two-door car can be a saloon if it seats at least four people, but it's not used as such by either the motorcar media or general public. A two-door car is a coupe (pronounced in the French manner) whilst a four-door car is a saloon. This is why the equivalent in many other languages (including American English) for saloon is sedan, typically if not strictly referring to a four-door car.

Level 79

Apr 18, 2023

+1 -- it's a four-door. A coupe is a coupe, so "saloon" makes more sense as "sedan," especially since you sometimes see "two-door sedan" in US English.

+11

Level 46

Jul 6, 2013

Yeah, I don't think in all my life in America I've ever heard the word "boot" used to mean "vomit."

Level 77

Jul 6, 2013

I have to agree with all the rest, I've never "booted" in my life! (from New England)

Level 51

Nov 8, 2014

I've lived in Illinois, Utah, and Florida, all vastly different regions of the US and cultures, and have not heard boot once to mean vomit

Level 47

May 29, 2016

Pennsylvania native, and I have never heard that.

Level 66

Nov 10, 2017

I've never heard it either.

Level 62

Dec 26, 2017

I've lived in the deep south and in the northeast US. In neither of these areas is "boot" used to mean vomit

Level 82

May 5, 2019

Seems like everyone is in agreement on this. Why not just change the clue to clamp placed on an illegally parked car? I think that's a definition specific to the US.

Level 43

Jul 6, 2013

To catch a fly ball in baseball is not "shag". Shagging is done usually in batting practice and done by coaches hitting from the field lines to players or by pitchers and or ball boys during batting practice and can be fly balls or ground balls being fielded. If you catch a fly ball during a game you do not "shag it".

Level 68

Jan 22, 2017

Totally agree. Shagging is NOT catching a fly ball, it's a general term for retrieving baseballs that were hit. It sort of implies batting practice or at least some drudgery and routine action. One would never describe an outfielder as having shagged a pop fly. If anything, shag applies more to ground balls than flies.

Level 37

Jul 6, 2013

Just to point something out... Pavement doesn't mean just "road surface" in the US, it means anything that is paved. This can be roads, pedestrian walkways, outdoor basketball courts, etc..

Level 82

Jul 7, 2013

True though usually sidewalks in the US are made from concrete and not paved. And basketball courts can be made of all sorts of things.

Level 69

Sep 6, 2016

I see what you mean, because "hitting the pavement" would mean that you fell pretty much on any hard, outdoor, man-made surface, but I disagree with you in that NO ONE calls an outdoor basketball court or a sidewalk "a pavement". They may be *made of* pavement, but they're not called just pavements.

Level 21

Jul 7, 2013

In England Geezer isnt derogatory

Level 45

Jun 16, 2014

It said derogatory on the American side.

Level 35

Apr 16, 2015

I don't think it means "gangster" either - it's just another word for "bloke", but it's associated with those Sarf Landan accents and dialects that tend to be associated with gangs on TV.

Level 79

Apr 18, 2023

+1 Definitely used for non-gangsters.

Level 13

Jul 8, 2013

Thanks to British telly I did well on this quiz. Clues that amount to pound, like, our measurement of 16 oz. and their currency! (:

Level 3

Jul 9, 2013

A saloon is not a two door car, it's the same as a sedan. A four door car.

Level 68

Feb 25, 2018

This

Level 15

Sep 13, 2013

It didn't help that I had no idea what a granola bar was, hence why I didn't get that one

Level 25

Sep 21, 2013

As others have said, geezer doesn't mean gangster. Some of these questions/answers aren't right I'm afraid.

Level 74

Jan 30, 2014

This is true. Also, I've never heard 'deadbeat' used to mean 'exhausted'. 'Dead beat' perhaps, but that's a combination of British and American slang ('dead' meaning 'very' in Brit slang and 'beat' meaning 'tired' in American slang).

Level 67

Dec 8, 2018

my thought exactly ! (not english or american myself though)

I paused a while at that one reading the answer. And was thinking, really? Is this true? felt wrong.

Beat, yes. they could ve done to win from someone else and exhausted maybe

Level 44

May 13, 2014

Isn't a muffler something that keeps your hands warm? Not a scarf?

Nobody says they are dead beat when they are tired, I would say I am "knackered" or " shattered" or " done in"

And a geezer isn't a gangster, it's just another word for bloke, especially if he's a bit of a wide boy!!

Level 55

Jul 29, 2014

I'm British, and have never once said, "Wow, that was a hard day - I'm deadbeat" (it means a loser). I've also never been to a football match and heard, "Sort it out, ref - that custodian's a right wally"... A custodian is a janitor...

Level 37

Aug 24, 2014

"Underground railroad" is the worst clue ever for those of us from the American South--to us, it's the manner in which runaway slaves were helped from safe house to safe house until reaching freedom in the North.

We don't have subway systems in the South, so we won't think of a literal railway underground, we'll think of the historical term first. I used to think the Underground Railroad was an actual railway underground, and was very disappointed when it wasn't.

Just a regional perspective on things.

Level 82

Dec 14, 2019

I'm from the American south. The clue is fine.

Level 79

Jul 23, 2023

Well thank goodness you're here to settle disputes just by referring to your origins!

I also thought of the historical network first, and it's a quick fix to adjust the clue to avoid confusion (underground railway, rail system, etc.). This quiz could use another edit for the bad clues.

Level 69

Sep 12, 2014

I kept waiting for the difference in the meaning of "napkin" to show up. I suppose fanny is too well known to be interesting, but still funny.

Level 59

Sep 17, 2014

I THINK 2 door cars are called Coupes, 4 door cars, our sedans, are called Saloons, and our station wagons are called estates.

Level 40

Oct 29, 2015

Three UK based guys, one from Birmingham, one from Bolton and one from London.... and none of us, have ever, called a goalkeeper a CUSTODIAN......

Level 84

Oct 30, 2015

Yeah, no. In America "boot" is footwear.

Level 75

Nov 6, 2015

I'm American and I've never heard a salesperson referred to as a solicitor. I've seen signs for "no soliciting" but never seen salesmen called solicitors. I do think clerk might work, however.

Level 53

Nov 16, 2015

Pah, you pansy americans and what you call a "pint"!

Level 47

May 26, 2022

but, their fluid ounces are 4% bigger than ours so the difference is less.

Level 77

Jan 31, 2016

Couldn't figure out that bottom means the behind. Now of course it's pretty obvious, but just couldn't think of that. More of something at the bottom. The boot thing still stumps me and.. well.. the rest I might have gotten, maybe. These are fun, but hard for non-natives of either country.

Level 59

Mar 1, 2016

I've never heard boot refer to vomit. And a 2 door is a coupe, not a saloon.

Level 34

Mar 5, 2016

In Britain it's spelt cosy not cozy :)

Level 32

May 10, 2016

Custodian doesn't mean a goalkeeper in English, it means a guardian, steward or keeper (in the sense of a person who manages or looks after something or someone), it wouldn't be used to refer to a Goalkeeper though, also geezer means both and old person and a gangster in English, its used interchangeably

Level 47

Sep 26, 2016

Wow. British people and their Pints....

Level 50

Sep 29, 2016

I'm English, not sure I get the goalkeeper, custodian thing. This whole quiz is a bit confusing so I might be wrong but, Keeper, keep, goalkeeper. I'd never shout for the 'custodian' when playing football.

Level 30

Nov 15, 2016

Geezer just means bloke. Or "person".

Level 58

Nov 24, 2016

WHO, in America, has EVER said "boot" to mean vomit? No one.

Level 81

Nov 26, 2016

Exhausted is "dead beat", two words. A geezer is not a gangster, it's usually a (good) guy. Using "custodian" for goalkeeper is possible but rare and needs to be put in context.

Level 67

Dec 8, 2018

yea, similar to dude right (although dude feels something more used on younger people, you dont say I saw two dudes, when they are 80. well you might...)

Level 28

Dec 8, 2016

Custodian?????? wNo sorry, i'm British and I've never once heard that term used in footballing talk

Level 60

Jan 22, 2017

A nice idea but the quiz is seriously flawed - partly I think because some of the words in the 'British meaning' column are actually American terms not used in that way in the UK (e.g yard and sidewalk). That further confuses the British! Others are just wrong (as has already been pointed out - a geezer is certainly not a gangster - though it's possible that the word gangster means different things in the two countries). Also a flapjack is not a granola bar, though there are some similarities.

Level 60

Jan 22, 2017

Also jelly is not the same as gelatin - gelatine (it's spelt with an 'e' on the end in the UK) is a key ingredient in jelly. Well in Britain anyway - is gelatin a wobbly dessert in the US? Isn't that jell-o?

Level 57

Jan 22, 2017

Pedestrian underpass = tunnel ?

Level 55

Jan 22, 2017

Like doing crosswords, sometimes people don't recognise a particular word because they miss that it's only in certain contexts that the word would be used that way. It's odd so many Americans don't recognise "boot" but I'm sure it's because it's actually the verb form of vomit, not the noun. I've read the phrase "my girlfriend booted all over the back seat of my car", which I understood through context. Muffler is not common in current speech, but as a Sherlockian I know it was used in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Custodian is used as a posh synonym for goalkeeper in newspaper football reports. So people haven't recognised those words, but they have been used for those items in written language.

I thought the pavement discussion was interesting, because in British English, paving something means covering it with paving stones - rectangular concrete slabs. But in American "paving" means "asphalting", which is why the languages don't connect at all on that.

Level 66

Jan 22, 2017

I always thought it odd that Brits say their going on a holiday, when they're just taking a small vacation

Level 82

Jan 3, 2018

A holiday is a vacation, small or large

Level 47

Apr 13, 2017

granola isnt flapjack - this quiz isnt great!!

Level 59

Jul 18, 2019

But a Granola BAR is very like a flapjack if you are trying to come to an approximation.

Level 81

Jul 22, 2017

A saloon can have 2 or 4 doors. It is a sedan in American English.

I've never heard "Geezer" used for gangster, although it does have a number of meanings, the simplest being just "man".

The phrase for "exhausted" in UK English is "dead beat", two words.

Level 28

Oct 14, 2017

You should do a reversed version of this quiz (Where you give us the word, and we have to give you the american and british meanings

Level 82

May 5, 2019

That would be considerably harder as many of these words have multiple meanings.

Level 76

Oct 27, 2017

I'm an American and there are several of these I've never heard.

Level 36

Jan 26, 2018

A custodian is a keeper or guardian, deadbeat does not mean exhausted (though you could make the case for "dead beat," they do not mean the same thing) a Granola bar is not a flapjack and geezer does not mean gangster, it's just a laddish word for man. Though we also use it to mean an old person.

Level 68

Feb 25, 2018

Lots of issues with this quiz.

Saloon is a four-door car in the uk

A geezer is not a gangster, it means dirty bloke or old man etc.

Deadbeat is not a term in the U.K either.

Level 24

Mar 23, 2018

errrr... flapjacks in the UK aren't granola... Unless granola means something different in the US, in the UK, it is syrup and oats

Level 31

Mar 29, 2018

Litbug is right. Granola bars are something different to flapjack.

Level 68

Apr 22, 2018

Can 100% say Geezer does not mean Gangster in the U.K. People would laugh at this if they saw it. Should be removed imo.

Level 73

Oct 3, 2018

Seconded. Geezer can mean a number of things but gangster is most definitely NOT one of them.

Level 73

Oct 3, 2018

The meaning of custodian in common UK parlance is not goalkeeper.

Level 77

Oct 5, 2018

Whoever wrote this quiz doesn't know much about British English.

Level 49

Oct 17, 2018

As a British person, this quiz was insanely hard, and was blatantly written by an american.Let's go:

Jelly doesn't just mean gelatin. It's also used as generic term for what Americans call Jello.

A muffler isn't a scarf. It's a word for an old fashioned winter garment, a bag that you wear around your neck and put your hands in to keep them warm.

A goalkeeper has never been called a custodian, ever.

A flapjack is oats mixed with honey or syrup, not just any old granola bar. It's a specific thing.

No idea where you got geezer meaning gangster from. It's just not a thing.

We spell it 'cosy'.

I've heard pedestrian underpasses called tunnels, but not subways.

I've seen a few Americans complaining about their side of the aisle on this one too, but I'll leave that to them. This quiz was just a bit of a mess.

Level 82

May 5, 2019

Jell-O is gelatin. Your description of a flapjack sounds like a granola bar to me. I've heard geezer used that way in British films and TV shows. You may be right about the other things.

Level 83

Apr 7, 2021

Granola bars are hard, often referred to as cereal bars, last a long time and come in bar form in packets. Flapjack tends to be softer and gooier, often doesn't last as long, and tends to be sold with baked goods/in bakeries.

Level 63

Dec 17, 2018

Worst quiz ever - it doesn't even make sense! The problem is it has been done from an entirely American perspective.

Level 63

Dec 17, 2018

Please delete this quiz entirely - it is really *THAT* bad.

Level 66

Jun 22, 2019

Trust me we do not call goalkeepers custodians

Level 89

Aug 4, 2019

Apart from all of the above :-)

In my experience, we British do not use garden to mean a yard: they are two different things. For example, my house has a back yard, a small concreted area in which we keep pot plants, dustbins (trash cans), etc. We also have (separately - don't ask) a garden, an area of grass, bedding plants, trees, etc. No veg growing for us, but that is because we are lazy. Out neighbours (neighbors :-)) have both veg and non-veg growing areas in their gardens.

Level 67

Mar 2, 2020

I was hoping the answer to "Derogatory term for an old person" would be Boomer. I was disappointed.

Level 76

Aug 6, 2022

lol

Level 27

Mar 30, 2020

Since when does a custodian mean goalkeeper

Level 56

Jul 14, 2020

Jesus , maybe quarter of these have some accuracy , but the rest . ,somebody Is taking mickey with these answers , British terms are unheard of in the main

Level 44

Dec 4, 2020

Never heard of the term muffler used for scarf on the uk

Level 74

Feb 27, 2021

As a Brit who works for Jaguar, a saloon car has 4 doors. A coupe has 2 (French word).

Level 61

Apr 9, 2021

A geezer is bloke, sometimes dodgy but not a gangster.

A goalkeeper could be a number 1, the keeper but never a custodian

A yard is different to a garden; a yard is typically a hard covered outside area without plants / grass whereas a garden will normally have greenery

A saloon will have four doors. Two doors = coupe normally.

No-one would say "deadbeat" meaning exhausted - they would mean a wastrel.

Level 82

Apr 16, 2022

"Yard" for Americans is what Brits call a garden, so in that case anyway the quiz is correct, if poorly worded

Level 64

May 24, 2021

Custodian meaning a goalie?????? Try yelling that at a football match. You'd be carted off in a straitjacket

Level 75

Jan 4, 2022

It is clear the person who set this quiz is American. Some of these words simply are not used in "proper"/British English and even less so in the sense given. The idea is great - the execution is crap! I may not be American but we have to watch all US shows and films without subtitles and I have never heard of the word "boot" to mean puke/vomit/spew up....

Level 62

Jan 28, 2022

vomit=? puke? regurgitate? barf? ralph? spew? heave? retch?

throw up? sick? blow chunks? emesis? chowder? chunder? hurl? void? toss cookies? purge?

Level 76

Aug 6, 2022

a fun one to add would be "quite"-- in america, it means "very", but in britain it means "somewhat"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_words_having_different_meanings_in_American_and_British_English_(M%E2%80%93Z)#Q

Level 73

Sep 2, 2022

In Britain absolutely ANY word ending in '-ed' can mean drunk if used in context

Level 79

Nov 14, 2022

Yep. I was completely xarnacked last night.

Level 59

Dec 6, 2022

Fun Fact: Rubber, in American English, refers to the product of Hevea brasiliensis. Wow. Surprising.

Level 59

Dec 6, 2022

Jello should be accepted for Jelly

Level 66

Mar 8, 2023

As a Brit, there are 3 words that seem incorrect, though I might add custodian/goalkeeper: 1) I would consider deadbeat an American word, as I have not heard it used in British vernacular. From watching US TV programmes, I always thought it referred to a low value husband - eg one who perhaps does not work. Thereon, I have heard US actors say they are "dead beat" as 2 words to mean tired. 2) Old geezer is used for old people commonly in the UK, especially by those from the Thames Estuary area. For a young person, it would not refer to them being a member of a criminal gang (ie gangster), but might refer to someone with low academic skills and of lower class, who either commits very low level crime (eg selling stolen goods or working in cash to avoid taxes) or dates many women with no fidelity to any of them. 3) Homely would refer to a woman who presents characteristic of a good wife and mother, but not necessarily a high maintenance model - eg she might be a good cook, but overweight.

Level 49

Apr 4, 2023

I am an American, and I have never heard the words "boot" and "shag" used the way they're defined in this quiz.

Level 51

Feb 26, 2024

Also American. I've definitely heard baseball players describe fielding as "shagging" balls before, typically in a practice or warm-up. Never heard anyone describe vomit as "boot" though.

Level 80

Apr 18, 2023

Fun quiz, but some of these are just not true. Geezer does not mean "gangster" in the UK; nobody would say "I'm deadbeat" as a way of saying "I'm exhausted"; "rubber" also means condom to British people; and I bet if you asked the entire population of the UK to give you a synonym of "custodian", you would not need more fingers than you already have to count the number of people who said "goalkeeper".

Level 79

Oct 30, 2023

Boot does not mean vomit to Americans. Never heard that in my life.

Level 63

Jan 21, 2024

Don't even know where to start with this...

In Britain;

Jelly doesnt mean Gelatin.

Muffler doesnt mean Scarf.

Garden, Yard, and vegetable patch are all different things.

Saloon isnt a two door car.

Custodian isnt a Goalkeeper?

Deadbeat doesnt mean exhausted.

Flapjack isnt a granola bar.

Geezer doesnt mean gangster

Sidewalk and road surface are different things.

Subway isnt used to mean an underpass.

Please ask an actual Brit or do research.

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