Among the numerous causes of lymphadenopathy, tuberculosis and lymphoma are both relatively common and potentially curable. The clinical features of tuberculous lymphadenitis overlap with those of lymphoma: some patients with each condition are asymptomatic apart from painless swelling, whereas others are unwell and have systemic symptoms such as fevers, weight loss, or night sweats. Accurate diagnosis depends on confirmation with appropriate pathology tests. We present three patients with lymphoma who were initially misdiagnosed as having tuberculosis. In each case this led to a delay in the treatment of the lymphoma, and in one case, chronic side effects from the unnecessary exposure to tuberculosis treatment compromised the treatment of the lymphoma. Lymph node biopsy and adequate histopathological assessment would have prevented these misdiagnoses and should be mandatory in suspected cases of lymph node tuberculosis when microscopy and cytology of fine needle aspirate does not show alcohol and acid fast bacilli, caseating granuloma, or granuloma with Langerhan’s cells.