{"id":62590,"date":"2023-06-22T09:03:29","date_gmt":"2023-06-22T07:03:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ihdemu.com\/falsos-amigos\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T11:00:28","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T10:00:28","slug":"false-friends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ihdemu.com\/en\/false-friends\/","title":{"rendered":"False friends"},"content":{"rendered":"

False friends in Spanish are words that sound or are written similarly in another language, but have a different meaning than one might expect.<\/p>\n

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Often, these “false friends” can cause misunderstandings and confusion<\/strong> when learning a new language, especially when used in an inappropriate context. False friends can have different origins<\/strong>, but one of the languages that has had the most influence on Spanish is Latin<\/strong>, since Spanish is a Romance language<\/strong> derived from Latin, just like Italian, French, Portuguese, and Romanian<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Italian false friends<\/h2>\n

\"Instituto<\/p>\n

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Italian, for instance, has a lot of words that look like Spanish, but they have a different meaning<\/strong>. Here are some examples:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

“Attualmente<\/strong>“<\/h4>\n
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It means “currently” in Italian, but it can be confusing because in Spanish “actual” means “of the present” and not “right now”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

“Deludere”<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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In Italian, it means “to disappoint”, while in Spanish, “deludir” does not exist and “decepcionar” or “defraudar” are used instead.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

“Raffinato<\/strong>“<\/h4>\n
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It is translated into Spanish as “refinado”, but its meaning in Italian is more limited and mainly refers to refined food or drink.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

“Fattoria<\/strong>“<\/h4>\n
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In Italian, “fattoria” refers to a farm<\/strong>, while in Spanish “f\u00e1brica” is the correct term for a manufacturing or production plant<\/strong>. Therefore, a Spanish speaker could confuse these terms<\/strong> and ask for a “cheese factory” instead of a “cheese farm” when visiting Italy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

“Camera<\/strong>“<\/h4>\n
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In Italian, “camera” refers to a room<\/strong>, while in Spanish “c\u00e1mara” is used to refer to a camera or video camera<\/strong>. Therefore, a Spanish speaker could confuse these terms and ask for “a camera with ocean views” instead of “a room with ocean views”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\"Instituto<\/p>\n

“Delitto<\/strong>“<\/h4>\n
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“In Italian, “delitto” means “crime”, while in Spanish “delito” is a legal term used to refer to an illegal act. Therefore, if a Spanish speaker uses “delito” in Italian, it may lead to confusion about the severity of the criminal act<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

English false friends<\/h2>\n

\"Instituto<\/h4>\n
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English also has a lot of false friends<\/strong>, some of which can lead to misunderstandings or confusion in specific contexts. Some examples are:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

“Recordar<\/strong>“<\/h4>\n
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In Spanish, “recordar” means “to have something present in memory<\/strong>“, while in English “record” is used to refer to something that is recorded on a storage medium<\/strong> such as a disc or tape.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

“Compromiso<\/strong>“<\/h4>\n
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In Spanish, “compromiso” refers to an obligation or an agreement<\/strong>, while in English “compromise” means reaching a mutual agreement<\/strong> after a negotiation. Therefore, if a Spanish speaker tries to use “compromiso” in English to refer to a negotiation, it could cause confusion.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\"Instituto<\/p>\n

“Carpet<\/strong>“<\/h4>\n
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In English, “carpet” refers to a rug<\/strong>, while in Spanish “carpeta” is used to refer to a folder for files or documents.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

“Actually<\/strong>“<\/h4>\n
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It means “actually” in English, but in Spanish “actualmente” means “currently” or “at present”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

“Embarazada<\/strong>“<\/h4>\n
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It means “pregnant” in Spanish, but “embarrassed” in English means “ashamed” or “humiliated”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

“Sensible<\/strong>“<\/h4>\n
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In English, “sensible” means “reasonable” or “rational”, but in Spanish “sensible” means “sensitive to touch or hearing”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

“Library<\/strong>“<\/h4>\n
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In English, “biblioteca” refers to a “library”, but in Spanish “librer\u00eda” refers to a store that sells books.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\"Instituto<\/p>\n

French false friends<\/h2>\n
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French also has several false friends with Spanish, as both languages share a long history and many similar words. Some examples are:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\"Instituto<\/p>\n

“Actuellement<\/strong>“<\/h4>\n
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It’s translated into Spanish as “actualmente”, but in French it means “right now”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

“Assister<\/strong>“<\/h4>\n
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In French, it means “to attend” in Spanish, but in French, it also means “to observe”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

“Succ\u00e8s<\/strong>“<\/h4>\n
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In French, it means “success” in Spanish, but in French, it is also used to refer to a successful or popular show.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Falsos amigos alemanes<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"Instituto<\/p>\n

“Chef<\/strong>“<\/h4>\n
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In German, it means “success” in Spanish, but in German, it is also used to refer to a successful or popular show.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

“Kamerad”<\/h4>\n
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In German, “Kamerad” means “comrade<\/strong>” or “companion<\/strong>“, while in Spanish, “c\u00e1mara” is used to refer to a camera for taking photos or video. Therefore, a Spanish speaker could confuse these terms and use “c\u00e1mara” instead of “camarada”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\"Instituto<\/p>\n

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False friends in Spanish are words that sound or are written similarly<\/strong> in another language, but they have a different meaning<\/strong> than what one might expect. Although false friends can be a source of confusion<\/strong>, they can also be a useful tool<\/strong> when learning a new language, and they can provide interesting information about the history and evolution of languages.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dive into the world of words that sound similar but carry different meanings in other languages. Discover the tricky linguistic puzzles and the fascinating insights they offer into language evolution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":62477,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[650],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-language"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ihdemu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ihdemu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ihdemu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ihdemu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ihdemu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62590"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ihdemu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62590\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":110038,"href":"https:\/\/ihdemu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62590\/revisions\/110038"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ihdemu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ihdemu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ihdemu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ihdemu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}