English and Spanish have many similarities, but sometimes what could be helpful ends up getting in the way. That’s the case of some words called “false friends”. They are pairs of words from different languages that look or sound similar, but are actually different in meaning. If students rely on the similarity and use the foreign word thinking it has the same meaning as the word in their native language, they can find themselves in awkward, and sometimes embarrassing situations.

Actual: current, at the present time.

Asistir: to attend (also to assist people).

Atender: to pay attention, to serve.

Billón: a trillion (a billion is “mil millones” in Spanish).

Argumento: reasoning used in a discussion, but never an argument.

Cándido: It means “frank,” but it more often means “naively innocent”.

Carpeta: a folder

Conductor: driver

Constipado: suffering from a cold (the word for constipated is “estreñido”).

Criatura: “creature” or “being,” including humans, but it is most commonly used to refer to babies and even to fetuses.

Demandar: As a legal term only, it is similar to the English “sue”, but to demand something in a less formal situation, use “exigir”.

Director (de orquesta): conductor

Embarazada: pregnant. Obviously, never used this word in the masculine form. If you want to say you are embarrased, use “avergonzado/a”.

Excitado: aroused, although it can also be translated as agitated.

Fútbol: soccer

Ganga: a bargain

Largo: long

Miseria: extreme poverty

Molestar: to bother, to annoy

Notorio: in Spanish it doesn’t have the negative connotation and it simply means “well-known”.

Preservativo: a condom. Food preservatives are “conservantes”.

Propaganda: in Spanish it simply means “advertising” and it doesn’t have the negative implications of the English word.

Rape: angler fish

Recordar: to remember, to remind

Sensible: sensitive

Sensato: sensible

Vicioso: depraved or faulty.

Violar, violador: to rape, a rapist.