You already know words like hot, broke, and sick in English, right? đ„ But did you know those same words have completely different slang meanings?
- âhotâ doesnât just mean the temperature.
- âbrokeâ isnât only about something snapping in half.
- and âsickâ… might actually be a compliment!
In todayâs video, weâre going to look at 10 common English words with surprising double meanings â the kind native speakers use in slang or informal English conversation all the time. If you want to understand real English in movies, music, and everyday speech â youâll love this one. And you can download todayâs lesson PDF – with a bonus quiz. Give it a try to see if you fully understand all these English words with their hidden meanings.
hot (adjective)
Regular meaning: high temperature; opposite of cold
- Don’t touch the pan; it’s very hot!
- You need hot water to make tea.
Slang meaning: describes a person who is very attractive/sexy
- Wow, that guy is really hot!
- There are a couple of hot girls over there by the bar.
broke (verb)
Regular meaning: past tense of âbreakâ:
- I dropped my phone and it broke.
Slang meaning: having no money
- I canât buy anything this month; Iâm broke.
dump (verb)
Regular meaning: to drop something or let it fall heavily or suddenly, and without being careful
- Please donât dump all your clothes on the bathroom floor; you should put them in the basket.
- At the beach, my son dumped a bucket of sand into my drink.
Slang meaning: to break off a romantic relationship without caring much about the other personâs feelings
- He dumped his girlfriend when she gained a few pounds.
- If your boyfriend cheats on you, then you should dump him.
high (adjective)
Regular meaning: the opposite of low
- Airplanes fly very high in the air.
- There’s a high risk of death with this experimental surgery.
Slang meaning: describes a person who is experiencing the effect of drugs making them mentally excited
- He always gets into fights when he’s high.
- The driver who caused the accident was both drunk and high.
(drunk = intoxicated with alcohol)
dump (verb)
Regular meaning: to drop something or let it fall heavily or suddenly, and without being careful
- Please don’t dump all your clothes on the bathroom floor; you should put them in the basket.
- At the beach, my son dumped a bucket of sand into my drink.
Slang meaning: to break off a romantic relationship without caring much about the other person’s feelings
- He dumped his girlfriend because she wasn’t very ambitious.
- If your boyfriend cheats on you, then you should dump him.
dig (verb)
Regular meaning: to make a hole in the ground by using a shovel or your hands
Slang meaning: to like, enjoy, or appreciate
- You saw Taylor Swift in concert? I really dig her music!
- I’m just not digging my new job. The work isn’t very interesting.
grand (adjective/noun)
Regular meaning: good, excellent, large
- The minister of education has a grand plan to reform all the country’s schools.
- The grand prize in this contest is an all-expenses-paid vacation to Hawaii!
Slang meaning: a thousand dollars
- They sold their house for two hundred grand.
- She makes about sixty grand a year at her job.
beat (verb/adjective)
Regular meaning: to win in a competition, to hit repeatedly
- Italy beat France in the final game of the World Cup.
(beat = win) - He beat his fists against the door.
(beat = hit repeatedly)
(fists = hands closed tightly)
Slang meaning: tired
- I don’t feel like going out tonight; I’m beat.
- After a 30-hour journey, we were totally beat.
joint (noun)
Regular meaning: the place where two bones come together and your body can bend or move. Your knees, elbows, shoulders, wrists, and neck are all joints.
- It can take a while to recover from injuries to your joints.
Slang meaning: a marijuana cigarette
- The teenagers were behind the school, smoking a joint.
sick (adjective)
Regular meaning: describes when a person is not healthy
- My daughter stayed home from school because she was sick.
- I think I’m getting sick. I’m coughing a lot and I have a fever.
Slang meaning: describes something that is very cool, great, awesome
- He did a triple backflip into the water – it was a sick move!
props (noun)
Regular meaning: the objects used by the actors in theater or film productions
- This isn’t a real gun, it’s a prop for a cowboy movie.
- Have you seen the box with all the props for the children’s play?
Slang meaning: respect, recognition, and credit (often used in expressions of gratitude and admiration)
- Props to Katie for throwing this awesome party!
- It was a complicated situation, but I have to give him props for the way he handled it.
Now you know how even easy English words can have multiple meanings â especially in slang! đ The more of these you learn, the more natural and confident your English will sound. Make sure to download the free PDF to review and remember what we learned today.
If you want to keep improving your fluency, check out my online courses at Espresso English. Iâve got clear, practical lessons on grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, speaking, idioms, phrasal verbs, and more â all designed to help you make real progress, even if you only have a few minutes a day to study.
