出口(chū kǒu) - exit, way out; to export in Mandarin

出口 (chū kǒu) is the sign you look for in a station, a car park or a shopping centre: the exit, the opening you leave through. Its opposite is 入口, the way in.

The same two characters carry a second, entirely separate life as the trade verb to export, and that use is everywhere in business and news Chinese: 出口产品, 出口到欧洲. Its opposite there is 进口, to import. Nothing but context tells you which meaning is in play, and in practice context always does.

The trap is 进口 and 入口, which both start with a character meaning to enter but are not interchangeable. 入口 is the physical entrance you walk through; 进口 is imported goods. Put them on a motorway sign the wrong way round and you have sent the traffic into a customs shed.