You may know them as false cognates, los falso amigos, or even les faux amis, a term coined in 1928 that became so well-known we still use it in English today. False cognates in Spanish look friendly but turn out to be deceiving. They lure you in because they look or sound like a word in English so you become overly confident about using them. In the end, they backfire on you because the meaning is completely different than expected.
To avoid being duped by these words, spend some time learning about false cognates in Spanish. By nailing down the basic concepts and common false cognates, you’ll avoid a little embarrassment (and maybe some laughs!) and instead empower yourself with real knowledge. While self-study can take you far in terms of language learning, the best way to learn Spanish is always with a program designed especially to maximize your innate language skills.
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Understanding cognates
Technically speaking, a cognate is a word that has the same etymology as another word in a different language. “Etymology” is simply a sophisticated word for “origin,” and in this case, a linguistic origin.
Often these words with the same origin also have the same meaning. An example of this would be pan, which in Spanish means “bread,” or pain, which means the same thing in French. The pronunciation and meaning are nearly identical, and their etymology is from the Latin word panis. However, not all similar words in two different languages have the same meaning.
There are lots of Spanish cognate words that can help you to learn the language more easily, but learning about false cognates helps you avoid the assumption that all words that look similar actually mean the same thing.
What is a false cognate?
A false cognate is a word that looks or sounds like another word in a different language, but it has a very different meaning. For instance, grosería in Spanish looks like “grocery,” right? It actually means “vulgarity,” “bad word,” or “insult.” This is a common false cognate in Spanish that could cause some confusion if it’s used out of context. Sometimes false cognates are referred to as “false friends.” While there are some differences about whether the meaning could be similar, these terms are generally used interchangeably.
By the way, there are also English-to-Spanish false cognates such as character (which relates to personaje not carácter), intoxicate (which relates to embriagar not intoxicar), and commodity (which relates to mercancía not comodidad). The challenge of false cognates is that they work both ways between language pairs. Generally, people are quite understanding when you’re learning a new language, so you’ll learn quickly from any mistakes you might make.
For a Spanish speaker, hearing a sentence like this may be momentarily confusing. Instead of imagining a titillating performance by a movie character, they might think of a personality that poisons:
- I became intoxicated by his character. = Me embriagaba su personaje.
Why false cognates in Spanish are important to know
You’ll want to know about falsos amigos (false friends) so that you don’t take any falsos pasos (false steps) and make an embarrassing mistake in your writing or your speech. Although many Spanish speakers will be forgiving if you put your foot in your mouth when you use a false cognate, you probably want to avoid these errors to be better understood. If you rattle off a string of words without really knowing their meaning, you might come off sounding like Mexican comedian Mario Cantinflas, famous for his nonsensical dialogue.
What are some of the most egregious Spanish false cognates?
Speaking of embarrassment, don’t make the common error of thinking embarazado means just that. It actually means “pregnant.” If you use this word incorrectly, you might become “pregnant” with embarrassment.
You also want to avoid saying you are excitado unless you’re with your romantic partner, because it has certain connotations you likely didn’t mean. Use emocionado instead when you want to say you’re excited about something like an upcoming concert.
- ¡Estoy muy emocionado porque voy a ver a Julieta Venegas en concierto! = I’m really excited because I’m going to see Julieta Venegas in concert!
Some false cognates look exactly like words in English but carry an accent. Spanish accent marks can completely change the meaning of a word. So while mamá means “mom,” mama (with the first syllable stressed) means either “breast” or “to nurse” as a verb.
If you’ve had a disagreement with your boyfriend or girlfriend, don’t be tempted to say you had an argumento. You had a desacuerdo. Argumento can be translated as “argument,” but only in the sense of building rational reasons to defend a thesis or point of view.
- Mi novio y yo tuvimos un desacuerdo anoche, pero ya nos hicimos las paces. = My boyfriend and I had a disagreement last night, but we’ve made up.
- La profesora presentó un brillante argumento para apoyar la tesis de su investigación. = The professor presented a brillant argument to support the thesis of her research.
A list of 50 false cognates in Spanish
Now that you’ve learned some about false cognates in Spanish, let’s take a look at this extensive list of common words that could easily be confused. We’ve included the false cognate, the actual meaning, the word you probably wanted to use, along with its meaning.
Some words that have multiple meanings have also been included. Take note that specific meanings may vary from country to country.
| False cognate | English Meaning | Likely Word Choice | English Meaning |
| actual | current | verdadero | true, actual |
| anciano, el | elder | antiguo | ancient |
| argumento | argument (see explanation above) | el desacuerdo, la discusión | disagreement |
| americano, el | any inhabitant of North or South America | el norteamericano | North American from the US |
| aplicación, la | effort, computer application | la solicitud | (job) application |
| arma, el | weapon | el brazo | arm |
| asistir | to attend | ayudar | to help |
| campo, el | countryside | acampar | to camp |
| carpeta, la | folder | el alfombra | carpet |
| colegio, el | boarding school, school in general, college (sometimes) | la universidad | university, college |
| complexión, la | constitution | la tez | complexion |
| compromiso, el | commitment, appointment | el acuerdo, el arreglo | to come to an agreement, arrangement |
| constipado | congested (as with a cold) | estreñido | constipated |
| contestar | to answer | refutar | to contest |
| desierto, el | desert | el postre | dessert |
| discusión, la | disagreement, debate | la plática, la conversación | discussion, talk |
| diversión, la | fun | el desvío | rerouting |
| educado | polite | culto, preparado | educated |
| embarazado | pregnant | avergonzado | embarrassed |
| enviar | to send | tener envidia | to envy |
| éxito | success | la salida | exit |
| fábrica, la | factory | la tela | fabric |
| facilidad, la | ease | la instalación | facility |
| facultad, la | academic department | el personal docente | faculty |
| grande | big, tall, great | majestuoso, impresionante, etc. | grand |
| grapa, la | staple | la uva | grape |
| hindú | East Indian (popularly) | el indio, de la India (preferred term) | from India (East Indian) |
| injuria | insult | la herida, la lesión | cut, lesion |
| introducir | to introduce (a topic), to guide, insert, enter, establish | presentar | to introduce (two people to each other) |
| largo | long | grande | large |
| lectura, la | reading | la conferencia | lecture, conference |
| letra, la | lyrics, single letter of the alphabet | la carta | letter |
| librería, la | book store | la biblioteca | library |
| mama, la | breast | la mamá | mom |
| mano, la | hand | hombre | man |
| mayor | larger, older | alcalde | mayor |
| pan, el | bread | la cacerola | pan |
| pariente, el | relative | los padres | parents |
| pie, el | foot | el pay | pie |
| pretender | to intend, aspire to | fingir | to fake |
| púrpura | deep reddish purple | morado/violeta | purple |
| realizar | to carry out, do | darse cuenta de | to realize |
| red, la | net | rojo | red |
| renta, la | income, rent | alquiler | rent (as noun) |
| remover | to mix | quitar | to remove |
| restar | to subtract | descansar | to rest |
| sentencia, la | sentence (in juridical sense) | la oración | sentence (in grammatical sense) |
| sopa, la | soup, prepared grain, mix | el jabón | soap |
| soportar | to withstand, put up with | apoyar | to support |
| vagón | railway car | el carrito | wagon, cart |
Learn how to pronounce cognates and false cognates with Rosetta Stone
While there might be quite a few Spanish false cognates, Spanish is not hard to learn for English speakers, with one reason being precisely the numerous cognates it shares with English. English shares many similar parts of speech with Spanish, some of which are placed in the same sentence position in both languages.
Whether we are talking about cognates or false cognates in Spanish, you’ll want to make sure your pronunciation is on point. TruAccent can help you learn how to pronounce these familiar-looking words correctly so you can be better understood in Spanish and sound more like a native.
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