Because Spanish and English share a lot of words with Latin roots, it's easy to understand Spanish sentences like, "Seattle aprobó un salario mínimo de $15 la hora." But sometimes words with the same origin take a separate path in each language, or words with different origins resemble each other by coincidence. That can mean trouble. You might want to tell someone you don't want to embarrass her and wind up saying, "I don't want to get you pregnant." For your protection, here's a list of Spanish-English "false friends."

The Spanish words in the first column resemble the English ones in the third column, but have different meanings.

Spanish word English translation English word 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 estimacíon, presupuesto ÉXITO success, hit EXIT salida FÁBRICA factory FABRIC tela GROSERÍA grossness, crudeness GROCERY abarrotería, 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) NUDO knot NUDE desnudo 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

Gracias a Susana Hernández Araico, Ph. D., por comprobar esta lista.