If you are learning Spanish and already speak English, you may have noticed that there are many words that are similar or even the same.
This is a good thing because it can often help you figure out what they mean.
However, you have to be careful because there are also many false friends between Spanish and English.
What are false friends in Spanish and English?
False friends (also known as false cognates) are those words that are the same or very similar in both languages, but with a different meaning.
As you can imagine, this can lead to misunderstandings in your Spanish conversations and, sometimes, to an awkward situation.
For this reason, below you will find a list of false friends in Spanish and English that will help you not to make this kind of mistakes and to communicate much better.
List of false friends in Spanish and English
There are a lot of this kind of words but here are the 50 most common false friends between English and Spanish in everyday life.
| Word in Spanish | English translation | Word in English | Spanish translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| actual | current, present-day | actual | real, efectivo |
| americano | person from North or South America | american | estadounidense |
| asistir | to attend, be present at OR to assist | assist | ayudar |
| billón | (US) trillion, (UK) billion | billion (us) | mil millones |
| bizarro | dashing, brave, gallant | bizarre | extraño |
| bombero | firefighter | bomber | bombardero |
| carpeta | folder | carpet | alfombra |
| casualidad | coincidence, chance | casualty | víctima |
| chocar | strike, collide | choke | ahogar |
| codo | elbow | code | código |
| colegio | high school | college | universidad |
| compromiso | obligation, commitment | compromise | componenda |
| condescender | to comply, agree | condescend | dignarse |
| constipado (n.) | a cold | constipated | constipado (adj.) |
| contestar | to answer | contest (v.) | contender |
| corrientemente | fluently, plainly, flatly | currently | actualmente |
| delito | crime | delight | delicia, deleite |
| desgracia | mistake, misfortune | disgrace | vergüenza |
| disgusto | annoyance, worry | disgust | asco, repugnancia |
| destituido | fired, deprived | destitute | indigente |
| dormitorio | bedroom | dormitory | residencia universitaria |
| embarazada | pregnant | embarrassed | avergonzada |
| empresa | business enterprise, company | empress | emperatríz |
| enviar | send | envy (v.) | envidiar |
| estrechar | to narrow, bring closer together | stretch | estirar, alargar |
| estimado | esteemed | estimate | estimacón, presupuesto |
| éxito | success, hit | exit | salida |
| fábrica | factory | fabric | tela |
| grosería | grossness, crudeness | grocery | tienda de comestibles |
| introducir | insert | introduce (someone) | presentar |
| largo | long | large | grande |
| lectura | reading | lecture | conferencia |
| librería | bookstore | library | biblioteca |
| mantel | tablecloth | mantel | manto, mesilla |
| molestar | bother | molest | abusar (sexualmente) |
| noticia | news | notice | notar |
| nudo | knot | nude | desnudo |
| pan | bread | pan | sartén |
| parada | stop, e.g. bus stop | parade | desfile |
| pariente | relative | parent | padre |
| pretender | to attempt, to woo | pretend | fingir |
| preocupado | worried | preoccupied | distraído |
| realizar | to come true | realize | darse cuenta |
| recordar | to remember, remind | record | grabar |
| ropa | clothes | rope | cuerda |
| sano | healthy | sane | cuerdo |
| sopa | soup | soap | jabón |
| soportar | tolerate, put up with | support | apoyar |
| suceso | event | success | éxito |
| tuna | prickly pear | tuna | atún |
| últimamente | recently | ultimately | al final |
| vaso | drinking glass | vase | jarrón, florero |
These are the most important ones but if you want to know even more, click here.
How to identify a false cognate between English and Spanish
Unfortunately, there is no exact rule to know how to differentiate when a word is a false cognate.
In these cases, the best you can do is to know what these words are with lists like the one you have seen above and learn, at least, the most common ones.
But since learning words by heart is a bit boring and even unproductive, I want to tell you how I study this kind of vocabulary.
A tip to study false cognates
The idea is to take a couple of «false cognates» and write two sentences, one with each word.
This way you can memorize the meaning of both and learn with a context.
For example:
It’s easy to confuse the word «long» with «large.» However, «largo» means «long» in English and «large» means «big» in Spanish:
- María tiene el pelo largo (She has long hair).
- New York is a large city (Nueva York es una ciudad grande).
And now one of the most typical ones that I come across when talking to English speakers: «embarazada» and «embarrased».
I know, they are quite similar but their meaning could not be more different.
As you have seen in the list above, «embarazada» means «pregnant» and to say «embarrassed» you should use «avergonzado/a».
More than once I have been told something like «I’m sorry, I can’t speak Spanish well because I’m a little bit pregnant».
At first I didn’t quite understand the relationship between being pregnant and being able to speak a language, until a few moments later I realized that they hadn’t expressed themselves correctly and meant that they were embarrassed to speak Spanish.
Good thing I speak English and am familiar with false cognates in both languages 😅.
Conclusions
Now you know some of the most common false cognates in English and Spanish.
Pay attention the next time you have to use one of these words and use them correctly to avoid any misunderstandings and improve your conversations.
And you, have you ever found yourself in a tricky situation because you misused a false cognate when you were speaking Spanish?
Tell me in the comments!
