False cognates are English words that are spelled or pronounced the same as Spanish words but do not have the same meaning. Fortunately, there aren’t too many of these words. For example, embarazada means pregnant in Spanish, but embarrassed means ashamed in English. Note the similar spellings but the different meanings. Below is a list of ten common Spanish words and their English counterparts that are false cognates.

Spanish Word	English Translation	English Word	English Definition
actual	now	actual	real
asistir	attend	assist	help
éxito	success	exit	leave
recordar	remember	record	to make note of
libreria	bookstore	library	a place that loans books
coma	punctuation mark	coma	medical condition
sensible	sensitive	sensible	reasonable
vaso	drinking glass	vase	container for flowers
sopartar	to bear, to stand	support	to hold up
realizar	to do	realize	to gain understanding

If you aren’t sure whether a word is a cognate, look it up in a Spanish-to-English dictionary. You can find an excellent online version at www.spanishdict.com. You will find that your knowledge of cognates in many different languages will enrich your English vocabulary and help you master new languages.