UK vs US Vocabulary

British person: Hi! It’s so good to see you.  Welcome to England. How was the journey? 

American person: Hey it’s great  to see you. It was long! 

British person: Are you tired? American: I am exhausted. I don’t mean  

to be rude but is it ok if I go right to bed? British: Of course! Would you like something  

to eat first?

American:  Maybe just a snack. British: What do you fancy? 

American: Do you have chips? British: Yes, we have some in the freezer.  

They’ll take about 20 minutes in the oven. American: … What? 

Ah, British English versus American  English. It’s the subject of many  

English learning videos and many conversations  between English learners and English speakers.

Hello Everyone, Anna here from  englishlikeanative.com the site which helps you  

to speak English with confidence. And for those  of you who would love to have an English accent,  

you can download my free guide to sounding  British by clicking on the link below.

Ok so UK vs US, We’re so fascinated by  the differences between the two languages  

and how one word can mean something totally  different depending on where in the world you are.  

Most of our vocabulary is the same, but there’s  the odd word which is completely different.  

Those are the words that we’re  going to be learning about today. 

We’re going to be focusing on 25  words which are typically different  

in British vs American English. Maybe I’ll do a  British vs Australian one too. Give the video a  

thumbs up and leave a comment if you’d like to  learn more about Australian English in a future  

video. Anyway, that’s enough chatting. We’ve got  a long list to get through so let’s get started. 

1. The first example is the one in the scene at  the beginning of this video and it’s one that  

you’ve probably already heard of. In Britain,  we would use the word ‘chips’ where in America,  

they would use the word ‘fries’. As with a lot of  examples on this list, ‘fries’ is a word that is  

also seen quite commonly in the UK too nowadays,  but we usually use it to mean thin ‘chips’,  

like the ones you might get at McDonald’s. 2. The second is the British word ‘crisps’ which  

are called ‘potato chips’ or just ‘chips’  in America. Now do you see the confusion? 

3. The third example has also already been  used in this video and that is the word ‘film’.  

In British English, we watch a ‘film’, but  in American English, they watch a ‘movie’. 

4. Similarly, in British English  we would use the word ‘cinema’  

to describe the place where you might go to watch  a film on the big screen. In American English,  

they call that a ‘movie theater’. 5. The fifth example is the word  

‘Autumn’. That’s the word we use in British  English to describe the season where it’s  

beginning to get a little bit colder, the leaves  are turning orange and brown and it’s time to put  

the shorts away and get the coats out of the  cupboard. We call that ‘Autumn’ but in the US,  

they usually call that ‘Fall’. Which word did you  learn? Did you learn ‘Autumn’ first, or ‘Fall’? 

6. I’ve noticed that there are a lot of words  which are to do with transport which vary between  

British and American English so let’s focus  on those for a bit. The first is a ‘Taxi’.  

In British English, we would call a car in  which you pay a driver to drop you at a location  

a ‘taxi’ but in America, they are more likely to  call it a ‘cab’. There is one exception to this,  

which is a specific, traditional kind of  London taxi which is called a ‘black cab’.  

You can’t book a black cab, you just have  to find one on the streets of London which  

is available to take you where you want to go. 7. Number seven is ‘car park’. It makes sense.  

It’s the place where you park your car. In British  English, we would call that a ‘car park’. In  

American English, they say ‘parking lot’. 8. Number eight is the panel at the front  

of the car that lifts up to reveal  the engine et cetera. In the UK,  

we usually call this the ‘bonnet’ but in the  US, they tend to call it the ‘hood’ of the car. 

9. Over to the other end of the car, the bit  in the back where you can store your bags or  

anything else you’re taking with you while you  travel. In the UK, we call this the ‘boot’,  

but in the US, they call it the ‘trunk’. 10. Number ten is quite specific but you  

never know when it might come in handy. In the  UK, we use the word ‘flyover’ to describe a bridge  

which carries one road over another. In  the US, they would call it an ‘overpass’. 

11. The next example is a large, heavy vehicle  used for transporting goods. In Britain, we call  

this a lorry, but in America they call it a truck. 12. Another word which is different in the US  

versus the UK is the word ‘motorbike’.  We use the word ‘motorbike’ in British  

English where in American English,  they would use the word ‘motorcycle’. 

13. A road which is specifically designed for  fast-moving traffic is called a ‘motorway’  

in British English, but in American  English they call it a ‘highway’. 

14. This one is only a subtle difference but  it’s an easy one to get wrong. The row of letters  

and numbers on a plate which is attached to a  car. In the UK, we call this a ‘number plate’  

but in the US, they call it a ‘license plate’.  In the UK, these must be on the front and back  

of the car but I believe in the US, you only have  to have a license plate on the back of the car,  

so there’s another little difference. 15. Moving on, if you are travelling on foot,  

you will walk on the ‘pavement’ in the UK but  in the US, you would walk on the ‘sidewalk’. 

16. If your car is running low on fuel, you could  say you need to get ‘petrol’ or ‘fuel’ or ‘diesel’  

if that’s what your car runs on. We tend to  use the word ‘petrol’ to mean all of those  

things in the UK. In the US, they  use the word ‘gas’ or ‘gasoline’. 

17. Similarly, the place where you go to get  petrol in the UK is the ‘petrol station’.  

The place where you go to get gas  in the US is the ‘gas station’. 

18. If you’re from the UK, you might go on  ‘holiday’ but in the US, they would call that  

a ‘vacation’. ‘Holiday’ in the US means a national  celebration, such as Christmas or 4th July. 

19. The British love to queue. It’s polite  to stand in a queue if there are several  

people waiting for something so  you know that you will all get  

a fair chance. ‘Queue’ has a funny spelling. It’s  Q-U-E-U-E. In the US, they call this a ‘line’. 

20. Our next is right here (hold up a handbag).  In the UK, we call this a handbag. In the US,  

they call it a purse. 21. Similarly, in the UK,  

a ‘purse’ is what a woman typically keeps money  in. The male equivalent is usually called a  

‘wallet’ in British English. However, in American  English, the word ‘wallet’ can be used to refer to  

the money-keeping receptacle for both genders. 22. To wash your hands in the UK, you would  

turn on the tap. However, to wash your  hands in the US, you need to turn on the  

faucet. ‘Tap’ in British English has the  same meaning as ‘faucet’ in American English. 

23. In the UK, we hang our clothes  in a ‘wardrobe’, but in the US  

they hang their clothes in a ‘closet’. 24. Speaking of clothes, we would call this (use  

an example) a ‘zip’ in the UK and it is changed  very slightly in the US; they call it a ‘zipper’.  

Only a tiny difference, that one. Zip vs zipper. 25. Lastly, a word that causes a lot of confusion  

is ‘trousers’ in the UK, which  are called ‘pants’ in the US.  

‘Pants’ actually means underwear in British  English so you can imagine the confusion when  

someone speaking in American English says ‘I  like your pants’ before we realise that they  

actually mean trousers. Panic over. So there we have 25 words  

which are different in British versus American  English. Did you enjoy this video? Let me know  

by clicking the thumbs up button. Did I  miss any? I know I missed a lot, there are  

so many words like this. Share any differences  I didn’t include on this list in the comments  

so we can all learn together and let me know  if you’d like more of these UK vs US videos  

or if you'd like me to look at the difference  between British English and any other versions and  

variations of English happy to do that too let me  know in the comments and I'll see you again soon