магазин Noun
Looks like magazine Really means a shop or store
Magazine (the publication) is списание in Bulgarian.
Some Bulgarian words look like an English word you already know, then mean something completely different. Here are 17 of the most common traps, each with the English word it resembles, what it really means, and how to say the English sense instead.
False friends in Bulgarian are words that look like an English word but mean something completely different. For example, магазин means a shop or store, not magazine, and фамилия means a surname or last name, not family. This free guide lists 17 real Bulgarian false friends: the English word each one resembles, what it truly means, and how to say the English sense correctly.
All 17 Bulgarian false friends.
Looks like magazine Really means a shop or store
Magazine (the publication) is списание in Bulgarian.
Looks like family Really means a surname or last name
Family (the household) is семейство in Bulgarian.
Looks like sympathetic Really means nice, cute, or likable in appearance or manner
Sympathetic (compassionate) is съчувстващ in Bulgarian.
Looks like sympathy Really means a liking or fondness toward someone
Sympathy (compassion for someone's trouble) is съчувствие in Bulgarian.
Looks like actual Really means current, topical, or up to date
Actual (real) is истински or действителен in Bulgarian.
Looks like eventual Really means possible or hypothetical, something that might happen
Eventual (final, at the end) is краен or окончателен in Bulgarian.
Looks like fabric Really means a factory
Fabric (cloth) is плат or текстил in Bulgarian.
Looks like list Really means a leaf, or a sheet of paper
A list of items is списък in Bulgarian.
Looks like costume Really means a suit, such as a business suit
For a costume (fancy dress), say карнавален костюм; костюм alone means a suit.
Looks like gymnasium Really means a high school (secondary school)
A gymnasium for exercise is фитнес зала or спортна зала.
Looks like chef Really means a boss or head of an organization
A professional cook is готвач in Bulgarian.
Looks like artist Really means an actor or performer (stage or screen)
A visual artist, like a painter, is художник in Bulgarian.
Looks like advocate Really means a lawyer or attorney
To advocate for a cause is застъпвам се in Bulgarian.
Looks like patron Really means a cartridge, for a gun or a printer
A patron or sponsor is покровител or спонсор in Bulgarian.
Looks like preservative Really means a condom
A food preservative is консервант in Bulgarian.
Looks like concurrent Really means a competitor or rival
Concurrent (happening at the same time) is едновременен in Bulgarian.
Looks like pension Really means a boarding school, or full board (all meals) at a hotel
A retirement pension is пенсия in Bulgarian.
Data verified as of July 2026.
False friends stick when you meet them inside a real sentence. Lingo7 lets you read real books in Bulgarian with sentence-aligned translation and native-narrated audio, so the true meaning attaches to the story instead of the English lookalike. Save the tricky words and review them later. Free to start.
A false friend is a word that looks or sounds like a word in your language but carries a different meaning. English and Bulgarian overlap heavily because both borrowed from Latin, Greek, and French, or share older roots. The spelling stayed close while the meaning drifted, so Bulgarian магазин still reads like "magazine" to an English eye even though it means "a shop or store".
These slips are common because your brain rewards the shortcut: a familiar-looking word feels safe, so you skip the check. That is fine until магазин or фамилия changes the meaning of a whole sentence. Recognizing the pattern is half the fix. Knowing the handful of high-frequency offenders on this page is the other half.
The durable fix is not memorization but exposure in context. When you read Bulgarian and see one of these words doing its real job in a sentence, with a translation a tap away, the correct meaning wins. That is exactly what reading in Lingo7 is built for.
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False friends are Bulgarian words that look almost identical to an English word but mean something different, like магазин, which looks like "magazine" but means "a shop or store". They exist because both languages inherited or borrowed from shared roots that then drifted apart. The fix is meeting them in real sentences until the true meaning sticks.
No. Bulgarian магазин actually means a shop or store, not magazine. Magazine (the publication) is списание in Bulgarian. This is one of the most common Bulgarian false friends for English speakers, so it is worth learning early.
Memorizing a list helps for a day; context makes it permanent. When you meet Bulgarian words like магазин and пансион inside real sentences, with the translation one tap away, the correct meaning attaches to the situation instead of to the English lookalike. That is how reading in Lingo7 trains them out of you.
Yes. Bulgarian and English share a large amount of vocabulary through Latin, French, and centuries of borrowing, and that overlap is exactly what breeds false friends. This page covers 17 of the most common ones, from магазин (looks like magazine) to пансион (looks like pension). Reading in context is the surest way to keep them straight.