Abbreviations with multiple meanings

IMHO, omg, PM, TBA, w/o, WA...

Common acronyms, initialisms and other short forms that share the same spelling and pronunciation, and so could cause confusion.

  • A – answer/ absent/ Ampere/ Argon
  • AA – Alcoholics Anonymous/ Automobile Association
  • ABC – Australian Broadcasting Corporation/ American Broadcasting Company/ airway breathing circulation
  • AC/ A/C – alternating current/ air conditioning
  • adv/ Adv – adverb/ advanced
  • Al/ AL – aluminium/ Alabama
  • AM/ AM (radio) – antemeridian (= in the morning)/ amplitude modulation (radio frequency)
  • Amp/ amp – Ampere/ amplifier
  • AR – augmented reality/ Arkansas
  • ASL – American Sign Language/ age sex location
  • ATB – all terrain bike (= mountain bike)/ All the best (email sign off)
  • auto/ auto (parts)– automatic/ automobile
  • AV – audio-visual/ adult video/ autonomous vehicle
  • BC – before Christ/ British Columbia
  • bike – bicycle/ motorbike
  • bio – biography/ biological
  • bull – bull's-eye/ bulls**t
  • c/ C – cent/ century
  • Ca/ CA/ ca – calcium/ California/ circa (meaning “about”)
  • (dash)cam/ CAM – (video) camera/ computer-aided manufacturing/ complementary and alternative medicine
  • cat/ Cat – catalytic convertor/ Catherine
  • cc/ CC – cubic centimetres/ carbon copy (email)
  • cert/ (dead) cert – certificate/ certainty
  • CIO – chief information officer/ chief investment officer
  • CO – carbon monoxide/ commissioning officer
  • co/ CO – company/ Colorado
  • coke – Coca Cola/ cocaine
  • comp – compilation/ comprehensive (school)
  • con/ Con. – convict/ confidence trick/ Conservative (Party)
  • cos – because/ cosine
  • CRT – cathode ray tube/ critical race theory/ cardiac resynchronisation therapy
  • CT (scan)/ CT – computed tomography/ Connecticut
  • d/ D – deci-/ diameter/ Democrat
  • DC – direct current/ (Washington) District of Columbia
  • deb – debutante/ Deborah
  • (high) def/ def./ def(o) – definition/ defender/ definitely
  • DJ – disc jockey/ disk jockey
  • DMs – direct messages/ Doctor Martens
  • doc/ doc(s) – document/ documentary/ doctor/ Dr Martens
  • DVD – digital video disc/ digital versatile disc
  • E/ e- – East/ ecstasy/ energy/ electronic-
  • Ed./ (adult/ special/ co-)ed/ Ed – edition/ education/ Edward
  • EFL – English Football League/ English as a foreign language
  • esp./ ESP – especially/ extra-sensory perception/ English for Specific Purposes/ English for Special Purposes
  • est./ EST – estimated/ established/ Eastern Standard Time
  • estate – council estate/ estate car
  • ET – extra terrestrial/ Eastern Time
  • ex/ Ex.(1) – ex-wife/ ex-husband/ ex-boyfriend/ ex-girlfriend/ example (one)/ exercise (one)
  • ext. – extension/ exterior/ external/ extract
  • F/ (3)F – (degrees) Fahrenheit/ false/ female/ Fluorine/ (third) floor
  • FA/ (sweet) FA – Football Association/ f*** all
  • FE (college)/ Fe – further education (college)/ iron
  • FT/ ft – full time/ Financial Times/ foot/ feet
  • FX/ (S)FX – foreign exchange/ (special) effects
  • FY – financial year/ fiscal year
  • g/ G – gram/ ground floor/ grand (= thousand)
  • GA – general average/ Georgia
  • GM – general manager/ General Motors
  • GP – general practitioner (= family doctor)/ (Formula 1) grand prix
  • H – heroin/ hydrogen
  • HMP – Her Majesty’s Prison/ His Majesty’s Prison (used in prison names)
  • HMS – Her Majesty’s Ship/ His Majesty’s Ship (used in ship names)
  • hockey – field hockey/ ice hockey
  • hon/ hon./ Hon. – honey/ honorary/ honourable
  • hood – hoodlum/ neighbourhood
  • HRH – Her Royal Highness/ His Royal Highness
  • ID – identification/ Idaho
  • IMHO – in my honest opinion/ in my humble opinion
  • imp. – imperial/ imperative/ imperfect
  • inc. – incorporated/ including
  • in/ IN – inch/ Indiana
  • inf. – infinitive/ informal
  • IP – intellectual property/ internet protocol
  • IPA – India Pale Ale/ international phonetic alphabet
  • K – kilobyte/ thousand (dollars)/ kilometre
  • kit/ Kit – drum kit/ sports kit/ Christopher/ Catherine
  • KL – Kuala Lumpur/ cool
  • kW/ KW – kilowatts/ Kuwait
  • L – litre/ left/ large
  • LA – Los Angeles/ Louisiana
  • Lib/ (women’s) lib – Liberal (Party)/ liberation
  • M/ M(1) – million/ medium/ motorway
  • MA – Master of Arts/ Massachusetts
  • Mac – (Apple) Macintosh (computer)/ Mackintosh (raincoat)
  • mason – freemason/ stonemason
  • MD – managing director/ medical doctor/ Maryland
  • med(s)/ (pre-)med – medicine/ medical
  • mg/ MG – milligram/ Morris Garages (sports car company)
  • mi/ MI – mile/ Michigan
  • mike (or mic)/ Mike – microphone/ Michael
  • mil – millimetres/ million (dollars/ pounds)
  • min – minimum/ minute(s)
  • MN/ Mn – Minnesota/ manganese
  • mm/ MM – millimetre(s)/ (two or more) million/ month (written as two digits)
  • MO/ Mo – modus operandi/ Missouri/ molybdenum
  • MP – member of parliament/ military police (officer)
  • MS – multiple sclerosis/ Microsoft/ Mississippi
  • Mt/ MT – mount/ Montana
  • MW – megawatts/ medium wave
  • N/ n – North/ nitrogen/ newton/ nano-/ noun
  • N/A – not applicable/ not available
  • NE/ Ne – Northeast/ Nebraska/ neon
  • nm/ NM – nanometre/ New Mexico
  • ng/ NG – nanogram/ not given (in the IELTS exam)/ no good (in electronics)
  • NI – Northern Ireland/ national insurance
  • omg – oh my goodness/ oh my god
  • op/ OP – operation/ original poster
  • OR – Oregon/ operating room
  • OT – overtime/ occupational therapist
  • p – page/ penny or pence (one hundredth of a pound, like cents are for dollars)
  • PA – public address (system)/ personal assistant/ per annum (= per year)/ Pennsylvania
  • para – paragraph/ paratrooper
  • Pat – Patrick/ Patricia
  • PC – personal computer/ politically correct (language/ expression)/ police constable
  • PD – private detective/ professional development
  • PE/ P/E – physical education/ price/earnings
  • pen./ pen – penalty (goal)/ penitentiary
  • PM – prime minister/ post meridian (= in the afternoon)
  • PO – post office/ purchase order
  • pol/ POL – politician/ Poland
  • pop/ pop. – popular music/ population
  • pp/ PP – per pro (meaning “on behalf of”, used in emails)/ pages (repeated letter to mean plural, from Latin)/ past participle
  • PPP – public private partnership/ presentation practice production
  • PR – public relations/ proportional representation/ Puerto Rico
  • prep – preparation/ preposition
  • PS/ PS(5) – post scriptum (meaning “by the way” at the end of emails)/ PlayStation (5)
  • PT/ pt – part time/ physical training/ point(s)/ pint(s)
  • QE/ QE(II) – quantitative easing/ Queen Elizabeth
  • R/ r – registered trademark/ Republican/ reigned (from… to…)/ radius
  • RA/ Ra – (member of the) Royal Academy/ research assistant/ radium
  • re:/ RE – regarding (meaning “concerning”/ “about” in emails)/ religious education
  • ref/ (my/ our/ your) ref – referee/ (my/ our/ your) reference
  • rep/ (sales) rep – repetition/ reputation/ (sales) representative
  • rev/ Rev- revolution/ reverend
  • RI – religious instruction/ Rhode Island
  • ROM/ Rom – read only memory/ Romania
  • S – South/ small
  • SAM/ Sam – surface to air missile/ Samuel/ Samantha
  • Sat/ sat (nav)/ SAT – Saturday/ satellite navigation/ standard assessment test
  • sec.(1)/ SEC – section (1)/ Securities and Exchange Commission/ section
  • semi – semi-final/ semi-detached house
  • sim/ SIM (card) – simulation/ subscriber identity module
  • SD (card)/ SD – Secure Digital (memory card)/ South Dakota
  • specs – specifications/ spectacles (= glasses)
  • St – street/ saint
  • STD/ std – sexually transmitted disease/ standard
  • sub – substitute (player/ teacher)/ subway (sandwich)/ substitute/ submissive
  • SW – Southwest/ shortwave
  • t/ T – ton/ true/ T-shirt
  • tape – Scotch tape/ Sellotape/ sticky tape/ cassette tape
  • TBA – to be arranged/ to be announced
  • temp – temporary (staff/ worker)/ temperature
  • trans – transgender/ transsexual/ translation
  • TTT – test teach test/ teacher talking time
  • U – you/ unit/ university/ uranium/ upper class
  • V/ v – voltage/ versus/ verb
  • VA – various artists/ Virginia
  • val/ Val – value/ Valerie
  • VC – venture capital/ Victoria Cross
  • VE (Day)/ ’ve – Victory in Europe/ have
  • vet – veterinarian (= animal doctor)/ (war/ Vietnam) veteran
  • VJ/ VJ (Day) – video jockey/ Victory against Japan (Day)
  • W/ w – West/ Watt(s)/ with
  • w/o – without/ word order
  • WA – Western Australia/ Washington
  • WI – Women's Institute/ Wisconsin
  • WY – Wyoming/ Would you?
  • yr – your/ year

Reference and further resources

Alex Case, founder TeflTasticAlex Case is the author of TEFLtastic and the Teaching...: Interactive Classroom Activities series of business and exam skills e-books for teachers. He has been a teacher, teacher trainer, director of studies, and editor in Turkey, Thailand, Spain, Greece, Italy, UK, Korea and now Japan. He has published a book with Macmillan and hundreds of articles, reviews, lesson plans and worksheets with Onestopenglish, Modern English Teacher and many others. In addition to contributing articles and teaching ideas to Tefl.NET, Alex for many years edited Tefl.NET Book Reviews.