British English vs American English

A while ago, I made a word search game and decided to make my life more difficult by adding two English variants: British and American.

I learnt English mostly from books and American films, so when I moved to the UK, I had to relearn some words and grammar.

To this day, I am having difficulty figuring out which word is used where, so here is a helpful summary of what I managed to note over the years.

Same word, different meaning

Knowing that fries are chips and chips are crisps comes in handy.

British	American	Description
autumn	fall
big wheel	Ferris wheel
bill	check	at the restaurant
biscuit	cookie
bollocks	bullshit / nonsense	offensive
bonnet	hood	part of the car
bumbag	fanny pack / waist pack	in the UK 'fanny' relates to a woman's body part
boot	trunk	part of the car
bootlace	shoelace shoestring
braces	suspenders	clothing
car park	parking lot / garage
caretaker	janitor
cashier	teller	employee of a bank
chips	fries	French fries are called fries in the UK thicker-cut fries from a chip shop are called chips in the UK
cinema	movie theater
cot	crib
crisps	chips	fried potatoes in a plastic bag
dinner jacket	tuxedo
dummy	pacifier	for a baby
estate car	station wagon
film	movie	e.g. shown on TV
flat	apartment	to live in
football	soccer
glasses	eyeglasses
holiday	vacation	relax & travel time
horse riding	horseback riding
jumper	sweater	e.g. Christmas jumper
knickers	panties
lift	elevator
lorry	truck
maize	corn
megaphone	bullhorn
motorway	highway / freeway
nappy	diaper
nought	zero
noughts and crosses	tic-tac-toe
underpants or pants	underwear
pavement	sidewalk
pedestrian crossing	crosswalk
petrol fuel	gasoline gas
plaster	band-aid
plasterboard	drywall
post	mail
postman	mailman
queue	line	wait in line
queue up	line up
rubbish	garbage
shop	store	the building with things to buy
tap	faucet
thermionic valve	vacuum tube
tights	pantyhose
(rubbish) tip	dump	a place for large pieces of trash
trolley	cart	in the supermarket
to ring	to call	call is also used in the UK
toilet WC	restroom bathroom
trainers	sneakers	sport shoes
trousers	pants
underground	subway
vest	undershirt
waistcoat	vest
(wastepaper) bin	(wastepaper) basket
wellington	rubber boot
windscreen	windshield

Pronunciation

Pronunciation varies even within the same country.

Below, I've listed a few prominent differences I've noticed.

Word	British	American
adult
advertisement
aluminium (UK) aluminum (US)
aunt
beta (β)
bottle
can't
either
grammar
herb
issue
leisure
lingerie
mobile
neither
oregano
router
schedule
secretary
strawberry
tomato
water
yoghurt / yogurt
z (letter)
zebra

Spelling differences

Words with particular parts are sometimes, but not always, slightly different.

Spelling: -nce -> -nse

I've found only a handful of examples:

British	American	Remarks
defence	defense	link
licence	license	in the UK license is a verb and licence is a noun
offence	offense	link

Most words are the same, e.g. science, insurance, difference, response, expense, and collapse.

Spelling: -re -> -er

Examples:

British	American	Remarks
centre	center
theatre	theater	link
metre	meter	meter in the UK is also used e.g. in the word smart meter
millimetre	millimeter	derivative of metre
lacklustre	lackluster
sombre	somber

Spelling: -our -> -or

Examples:

British	American	Remarks
behaviour	behavior	link
colour	color	link
colourful	colorful	derivative of colour
endeavour	endeavor
favour	favor	link
favourite	favorite	link
flavour	flavor
honour	honor	link
honourable	honorable
humour	humor	link
labour	labor	link
neighbour	neighbor
tumour	tumor
vapour	vapor

Spelling: -ise -> -ize

Examples:

British	American	Remarks
apologise	apologize
capitalise	capitalize
categorise	categorize
colonise	colonize
crystallise	crystallize
emphasise	emphasize
globalise	globalize
hypothesise	hypothesize
legalise	legalize
maximise	maximize
minimise	minimize
neutralise	neutralize
optimise	optimize
organise	organize
privatise	privatize
randomise	randomize
realise	realize	link
recognise	recognize
summarise	summarize
terrorise	terrorize

Spelling: -isation -> -ization

Similar to -ise -> -ize

British	American
capitalisation	capitalization
categorisation	categorization
colonisation	colonization
globalisation	globalization
legalisation	legalization
maximisation	maximization
minimisation	minimization
neutralisation	neutralization
optimisation	optimization
organisation	organization
privatisation	privatization
randomisation	randomization
realisation	realization
summarisation	summarization

Spelling: -ll -> -l

British	American	Remarks
cancelled	canceled	link
channelled	channeled
councillor	councilor
counsellor	counselor
labelled	labeled
modelled / modelling	modeled / modeling	in UK modeling is acceptable, link
travelled / travelling / traveller	traveled / traveling / traveler	link

Spelling: -l -> -ll

British	American	Remarks
enrol	enroll
fulfil / fulfilment	fulfill / fulfillment	link

Spelling: -aemia -> -emia

Used mostly in medical circles and crossword puzzles.

British	American
anaemia	anemia
ischaemia	ischemia
leukaemia	leukemia

Spelling: other oddities

British	American
analyse	analyze
cosy	cozy
cypher	cipher
despatch	dispatch
gaol	jail
grey	gray
has got	has gotten
kinaesthesia	kinesthesia
programme	program
titbit	tidbit
tyres	tires

Date and time

British	American
week starts on Monday	week starts on Sunday
dates are day/month/year (26/06/2023)	dates are month/day/year (6/26/2023)
24h clock (19:40)	12h clock (7:40 PM)

Random differences

British	American
1st floor is above ground floor	does not have ground floor (1st floor is the first)
at the weekend	on the weekend
beat about the bush	beat around the bush
driving licence	driver's license
five thousand three hundred (5300)	fifty three hundred
half nine (9:30)	nine thirty
two thousand and one (2001)	two thousand one