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
