LATIN AMERICAN SPANISH

False friends in Latin American Spanish

81 words that look like an English word and mean something else. Every one of them can turn up in the daily game, sitting next to the right answer and hoping you are in a hurry.

The list

Read a row as: what you want to say, the word that says it, and the trap. Most traps are a word that looks like the English one and means something else. A few are the word another region would use, which is worse, because it is not wrong anywhere except here.

• actually en realidad actualmente = currently
• apartment departamento piso = apartment, in Spain
• argument discusión argumento = a plot or a reasoning
• banana banana plátano = banana, in Spain
• beach playa plaza = a square
• bookshop librería biblioteca = a library
• car carro coche = car, in Spain. Latin America says carro or auto
• carpet alfombra carpeta = a folder
• chicken pollo gallo = a rooster
• clothes ropa cuerda = rope
• computer computadora ordenador = computer, in Spain
• constipated estreñido constipado = having a cold
• currently actualmente en realidad = actually
• deception engaño decepción = disappointment
• dog perro pero = but
• eleven once una vez = once
• embarrassed avergonzado embarazada = pregnant
• exit salida éxito = success
• fabric tela fábrica = a factory
• factory fábrica tela = fabric
• folder carpeta alfombra = a carpet
• foot pie pastel = a cake or pie
• fridge refrigerador nevera = fridge, in Spain
• glass vaso florero = a vase
• glasses lentes gafas = glasses, in Spain
• hair pelo caballo = a horse
• hand mano año = a year
• healthy sano cuerdo = sane
• hill cerro cerdo = a pig
• horse caballo cabello = hair
• hunger hambre hombre = a man
• jacket chamarra chaqueta = jacket, in Spain
• juice jugo zumo = juice, in Spain
• large grande largo = long
• lecture conferencia lectura = reading
• library biblioteca librería = a bookshop
• lift elevador ascensor = lift, in Spain
• long largo grande = big
• man hombre hambre = hunger
• mobile phone celular móvil = mobile phone, in Spain
• mother madre madera = wood
• net red rojo = red
• once una vez once = eleven
• parents padres parientes = relatives
• peach durazno melocotón = peach, in Spain
• pen pluma bolígrafo = pen, in Spain
• pie pay pie = a foot
• pig cerdo cerro = a hill
• potato papa patata = potato, in Spain
• pregnant embarazada avergonzada = embarrassed
• reading lectura conferencia = a lecture
• red rojo red = a net
• relatives parientes padres = parents
• rope cuerda ropa = clothes
• sane cuerdo sano = healthy
• sensible sensato sensible = sensitive
• sensitive sensible sensato = sensible
• soap jabón sopa = soup
• socks medias calcetines = socks, in Spain
• soup sopa jabón = soap
• square plaza playa = a beach
• stamp estampilla sello = stamp, in Spain
• success éxito salida = an exit
• swimming pool alberca piscina = pool, in Spain. Mexico says alberca
• ticket boleto billete = ticket, in Spain
• to advertise anunciar advertir = to warn
• to drive manejar conducir = to drive, in Spain
• to help ayudar asistir = to attend
• to introduce presentar introducir = to insert
• to molest abusar molestar = to bother, nothing worse
• to park estacionar aparcar = to park, in Spain
• to pretend fingir pretender = to intend or claim
• to realise darse cuenta realizar = to carry out
• to record grabar recordar = to remember
• to remember recordar grabar = to record
• to support apoyar soportar = to put up with
• to warn advertir anunciar = to announce or advertise
• vase florero vaso = a drinking glass
• waiter mesero camarero = waiter, in Spain
• wood madera madre = a mother
• year año mano = a hand

How this list was built

These are not scraped. Each pair starts from a dictionary export, gets screened against a corpus frequency table so that nothing obscure survives, and is then read by a person, one row at a time, before it ships. A false friend is only listed once someone has written down what the look-alike actually means, and the app refuses to start if any of them is missing that line.

Everything here targets Latin American Spanish (es-419) specifically. That matters more than it sounds: a word can be perfectly correct in one region and still be the wrong answer here.

The other languages

French false friends, Italian false friends, European Portuguese false friends.

Want to be tested on them instead of reading them? There is a new Spanish game every day, the same one for everyone, and one wrong tap ends it.