One thing I have noticed when I've been teaching over the years in Japan is that my students seem to struggle with the difference between the words interesting, funny, and fun. The reason for this is simple and it’s because in Japanese they can all be expressed by the word 面白い. For example, I often hear sentences such as these.

I watched a comedy last week. It was very interesting. 

We went to Disneyland. It was interesting.

Both of these sound very strange to native English speakers. A comedy would usually be described as funny and going to a theme park such as Disneyland would be fun. 

Interesting: to hold interest or fascination/ to get your attention

Fun-to be enjoyable

Funny- to make you laugh

As you can see these three words are quite different and many situations could not be described as “interesting”. 

Funny

I watched a comedy last week. It was very funny!

Have you ever met Jane’s husband? He’s such a funny guy. 

The expression on my 5-year-old daughter’s face when I told her she had to go to school until she was 18 was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. 

Fun

We went to Disneyland. It was fun. 

Thank you so much for inviting us. We had so much fun.

Have you seen the new “Despicable Me” film? It’s a lot of fun. 

Interesting

I read a very interesting article in Time magazine. 

My university course is so interesting. I’m really enjoying it.

I watched the most interesting documentary about the US civil rights movement on Netflix last night. Have you seen it?

Funny- unusual/ strange/ sick

We can also use funny to describe situations where we think something is unusual, strange or to describe feeling ill. 

Oh no! I think I’m coming down with a stomach bug or something. My stomach feels a bit funny. 

I think I need to buy a new phone soon. It's been acting a bit funny recently. 

That’s funny, I’m sure I left my keys on the table this morning and now I can’t find them anywhere. 

Interesting

Interesting-can be used in a sarcastic manner to describe doubt over something. 

“What did you think of John’s presentation at last week’s meeting?”

“Well, I thought it was umm….interesting.”

“Ah, I see. I kind of thought the same but didn’t want to say anything.”