One of the best things about learning Spanish from English is that there are hundreds of words you already know.
As an English speaker, you have a huge advantage in learning Spanish compared to say a person trying to learn Spanish with a native language from a country such as Japan or China. You have the advantage of the same alphabet and a mile-long list of cognates. What this means is you effectively start learning Spanish with a vocabulary of almost 1000 words without even trying.
When you find words that are the same in both languages they are referred to as English-Spanish cognates.
The proper definition of cognate is reserved for words that exist in two different languages and have the same root or origin. Since Spanish and English both have Latin roots there are heaps of words that are the same or very close in both languages.
In this article, I’m going to provide a list of perfect cognates and near-perfect cognates for Spanish and English.
There are way more English-Spanish cognates than what I have provided in this article but the cognates that I have focused on are the more useful due to their frequency and practicality in both languages.
I suggest you read through the full list once over and then when you have a good feel for the patterns that start to emerge with the cognates, start to put them in a few Spanish sentences to get a feel for how they sound.
Obviously, they aren’t pronounced the same as in English but once you have the rules down for Spanish pronunciation you are free to communicate away.
Cognates Definition
In this article, I have defined perfect cognates as words that are spelt exactly the same in Spanish and English except for maybe an accent over one letter and they mean the same thing in both languages.
I have defined near perfect cognates as words that have up to 3 letters different. But you will be able to see that there are certain patterns that form with near perfect cognates that allow you to potentially predict when a near cognate is likely to exist if, of course, you don’t have this list handy.
There is also a heap of false cognates or false friends, which will be a topic for another post but note here that they are words that are spelt the same or similar but mean completely different things. For example one of the most famous Spanish-English false friends is ‘embarazada’ which doesn’t mean ‘embarrassed’ it means ‘pregnant’.
Perfect Cognates
Here is the list of perfect English-Spanish cognates that I have selected for their practicality:
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Actor | Actor |
| Admirable | Admirable |
| Agenda | Agenda |
| Alcohol | Alcohol |
| Altar | Altar |
| Animal | Animal |
| Area | Area |
| Artificial | Artificial |
| Auto | Auto |
| Balance | Balance |
| Bar | Bar |
| Base | Base |
| Brutal | Brutal |
| Cable | Cable |
| Canal | Canal |
| Cáncer | Cancer |
| Canon | Canon |
| Capital | Capital |
| Carbón | Carbon |
| Cartón | Carton |
| Central | Central |
| Cerebral | Cerebral |
| Cheque | Cheque |
| Chocolate | Chocolate |
| Circular | Circular |
| Civil | Civil |
| Club | Club |
| Collar | Collar |
| Colonial | Colonial |
| Coma | Coma |
| Combustión | Combustion |
| Conclusión | Conclusion |
| Conductor | Conductor |
| Confusión | Confusion |
| Considerable | Considerable |
| Control | Control |
| Cordial | Cordial |
| Criminal | Criminal |
| Crisis | Crisis |
| Cultural | Cultural |
| Debate | Debate |
| Decisión | Decision |
| Diagonal | Diagonal |
| Dimensión | Dimension |
| Director | Director |
| Disco | Disco |
| División | Division |
| Doctor | Doctor |
| Drama | Drama |
| Durable | Durable |
| Editorial | Editorial |
| Electoral | Electoral |
| Elemental | Elemental |
| Enigma | Enigma |
| Error | Error |
| Exclusive | Exclusive |
| Excursión | Excursion |
| Experimental | Experimental |
| Explosión | Explosion |
| Expulsión | Expulsion |
| Extensión | Extension |
| Exterior | Exterior |
| Factor | Factor |
| Familiar | Familiar |
| Fatal | Fatal |
| Federal | Federal |
| Festival | Festival |
| Final | Final |
| Flexible | Flexible |
| Formal | Formal |
| Fórmula | Formula |
| Frontal | Frontal |
| Fundamental | Fundamental |
| Gala | Gala |
| Gas | Gas |
| General | General |
| Génesis | Genesis |
| Global | Global |
| Grave | Grave |
| Habitual | Habitual |
| Hobby | Hobby |
| Horizontal | Horizontal |
| Horror | Horror |
| Hospital | Hospital |
| Hotel | Hotel |
| Idea | Idea |
| Ideal | Ideal |
| Imperial | Imperial |
| Implacable | Implacable |
| Incursión | Incursion |
| Individual | Individual |
| Industrial | Industrial |
| Inevitable | Inevitable |
| Inferior | Inferior |
| Informal | Informal |
| Inseparable | Inseparable |
| Inspector | Inspector |
| Interminable | Interminable |
| Invasión | Invasion |
| Invisible | Invisible |
| Irregular | Irregular |
| Judicial | Judicial |
| Kilo | Kilo |
| Lateral | Lateral |
| Legal | Legal |
| Liberal | Liberal |
| Literal | Literal |
| Local | Local |
| Macho | Macho |
| Maestro | Maestro |
| Mango | Mango |
| Manía | Mania |
| Manual | Manual |
| Marginal | Marginal |
| Material | Material |
| Matrimonial | Matrimonial |
| Medieval | Medieval |
| Mediocre | Mediocre |
| Melón | Melon |
| Mental | Mental |
| Menú | Menu |
| Metal | Metal |
| Miserable | Miserable |
| Moral | Moral |
| Mortal | Mortal |
| Motel | Motel |
| Motor | Motor |
| Múltiple | Multiple |
| Municipal | Municipal |
| Musical | Musical |
| Natural | Natural |
| Noble | Noble |
| Normal | Normal |
| Nostalgia | Nostalgia |
| Ópera | Ópera |
| Oral | Oral |
| Oriental | Oriental |
| Original | Original |
| Panorama | Panorama |
| Particular | Particular |
| Pasta | Pasta |
| Pastor | Pastor |
| Patio | Patio |
| Patrón | Patron |
| Peculiar | Peculiar |
| Penal | Penal |
| Perfume | Perfume |
| Personal | Personal |
| Peseta | Peseta |
| Piano | Piano |
| Plaza | Plaza |
| Plural | Plural |
| Popular | Popular |
| Pretensión | Pretension |
| Principal | Principal |
| Probable | Probable |
| Propaganda | Propaganda |
| Protector | Protector |
| Provincial | Provincial |
| Radical | Radical |
| Radio | Radio |
| Región | Region |
| Regional | Regional |
| Regular | Regular |
| Religión | Religion |
| Reunión | Reunion |
| Revisión | Revision |
| Ritual | Ritual |
| Rural | Rural |
| Secular | Secular |
| Sentimental | Sentimental |
| Serial | Serial |
| Sexual | Sexual |
| Similar | Similar |
| Simple | Simple |
| Singular | Singular |
| Social | Social |
| Solar | Solar |
| Solo | Solo |
| Subversión | Subversion |
| Superficial | Superficial |
| Superior | Superior |
| Taxi | Taxi |
| Televisión | Television |
| Terrible | Terrible |
| Terror | Terror |
| Total | Total |
| Transcendental | Transcendental |
| Triple | Triple |
| Tropical | Tropical |
| Unión | Unión |
| Universal | Universal |
| Usual | Usual |
| Verbal | Verbal |
| Versión | Version |
| Vertical | Vertical |
| Violín | Violin |
| Visible | Visible |
| Visual | Visual |
| Vital | Vital |
| Vulgar | Vulgar |
| Vulnerable | Vulnerable |
Near Perfect Cognates
Here the near perfect cognates are divided into separate lists based on their behaviour:
The following near perfect cognates follow the rule for nouns ending ‘tion’ in English can be converted to Spanish by replacing with a ‘ción’.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Abstracción | Abstraction |
| Acción | Action |
| Acusación | Accusation |
| Adaptación | Adaptation |
| Admiración | Admiration |
| Aplicación | Application |
| Apreciación | Appreciation |
| Asociación | Association |
| Aspiración | Aspiration |
| Atención | Attention |
| Atracción | Attraction |
| Autorización | Authorization |
| Celebración | Celebration |
| Circulación | Circulation |
| Civilización | Civilization |
| Clasificación | Classification |
| Colaboración | Collaboration |
| Colección | Collection |
| Combinación | Combination |
| Compensación | Compensation |
| Composición | Composition |
| Concentración | Concentration |
| Concepción | Conception |
| Condición | Condition |
| Conservación | Conservation |
| Consideración | Consideration |
| Constitución | Constitution |
| Construcción | Construction |
| Exposición | Exposition |
| Ficción | Fiction |
| Formación | Formation |
| Nación | Nation |
| Simplificación | Simplification |
The following near perfect cognates follow the rule for English nouns ending ‘ary’ can be converted to Spanish by replacing with a ‘ario’.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Adversario | Adversary |
| Aniversario | Anniversary |
| Arbitrario | Arbitrary |
| Comentario | Commentary |
| Complementario | Complementary |
| Contrario | Contrary |
| Diario | Diary |
| Glosario | Glossary |
| Estuario | Estuary |
| Primario | Primary |
| Rosario | Rosary |
| Salario | Salary |
| Secretario | Secretary |
| Solitario | Solitary |
| Vocabulario | Vocabulary |
| Temporario | Temporary |
The following near perfect cognates follow the rule for English adjectives ending ‘ic’ can be converted to Spanish by replacing with a ‘ico’.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Académico | Academic |
| Alcohólico | Alcoholic |
| Artístico | Artistic |
| Auténtico | Authentic |
| Automático | Automatic |
| Básico | Basic |
| Característico | Characteristic |
| Clásico | Classic |
| Cómico | Comic |
| Democrático | Democratic |
| Dinámico | Dynamic |
| Diplomático | Diplomatic |
| Doméstico | Domestic |
| Dramático | Dramatic |
| Económico | Economic |
| Electrónico | Electronic |
| Erótico | Erotic |
| Exótico | Exotic |
| Fantástico | Fantastic |
| Genérico | Generic |
| Genético | Genetic |
| Geométrico | Geometric |
| Heroico | Heroic |
| Irónico | Ironic |
| Mágico | Magic |
| Médico | Medic |
| Mosaico | Mosaic |
| Orgánico | Organic |
| Pánico | Panic |
| Plástico | Plastic |
| Poético | Poetic |
| Público | Public |
| Romántico | Romantic |
| Sistemático | Systematic |
| Trágico | Tragic |
The following near perfect cognates follow the rule for English adjectives ending ‘ous’ can be converted to Spanish by replacing with a ‘oso’.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Curioso | Curious |
| Delicioso | Delicious |
| Glorioso | Glorious |
| Misterioso | Mysterious |
| Numeroso | Numerous |
| Precioso | Precious |
| Religioso | Religious |
| Tedioso | Tedious |
The following near perfect cognates follow the rule for nouns ending ‘ct’ in English can be converted to Spanish by replacing with a ‘cto’.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Abstracto | Abstract |
| Acto | Act |
| Artefacto | Artefact |
| Compacto | Compact |
| Conflicto | Conflict |
| Contacto | Contact |
| Correcto | Correct |
| Exacto | Exact |
| Excepto | Except |
| Insecto | Insect |
| Perfecto | Perfect |
| Producto | Product |
There you have it, not all, but a good summary of the most useful English-Spanish cognates.
If you enjoyed this post then make sure you check out the Spanish Conversation Hacking Guide, in there you will find the 1000 most useful Spanish words based on frequency use in the Spanish language (and that aren’t cognates!).
What have I missed? Can you think of any others?
Dude this is awesome!!! Thank you so much for this article its definitly going to help me when I teach nicaraguans english! I really like the perfect cognates, it makes things very easy.
No worries, I’m glad I could help. Thank you for the kind words. Best of luck teaching in Nicaragua – that sounds so cool!
Likewise, I am teaching English in Peru. I translated the article into Spanish and kept the tables the same. My students love it!
Awesome, I love that!! 🙂 Thanks for sharing Susan!
I taught in Nicaragua for 2 years and this really does help learn new words…thanks
Thanks for the comment Lisa! 🙂
Great list! I also created a list for my class with words that are “similar” like mapa/map.
Thanks Del 🙂
Love it. I’m going to make a cognate-related video teachers can use as a classroom tool. Would anyone be interested in having the link? Thanks again!
Hey Michael, glad you enjoyed it, and it hope it helps if you are using it as a teaching tool.
It is a good learning tool thanks
Yes, I would! Thank you!
Yes, could you send it to me. That would be great.
I find it very useful for my classroom! 4th grade bilingual, thank you.
Thank you Mr. Andrew for the list of Spanish and English similar word. I am from Patna India and learning Spanish for some days.
Muchas gracias!
¡Gracias Aakash! I’m glad you found the post helpful!
Hi Michael! Did you create that video of cognates? If so, would love to check-it out! Thanks!
Hello Michael, can you send me the link thank you in advance.
Hello Andrew,
I would like to quote your defintion of cognates, as well as your list. Can you please give me more infpormation on this article? Where was it published? Name of magazine/joural? Date? I am writing a children’s book of cognates and would like to creedit you, if you so allow.
Much thanks,
DMoon
Hi DM, this post has only been published here, I haven’t published it in a magazine or journal. You are welcome to quote the article in your children’s book, please let me know and share the book with me when it’s done.
Hello Andrew! I’m in the middle of a brainstorming and your article has been of great help.
I’m a spanish native speaker and I wasn’t aware of how many words are shared by spanish and english languages!
Of all of this words, there’s one that I stil have some doubts about. DIARIO and DAIRY. DIARIO for us means DAILY, while DAIRY, as far as I know, is referred to milk products, right?
Once again, thank you! It’s a great and extremely useful article!
¡Hola Rocío! ‘Daily’ and ‘dairy’ are so close, I can see how they would be confusing. And you’re right ‘diario’ looks so much like ‘dairy’. I think the best translation of ‘dairy products’ would be ‘productos lácteos’.
Thanks for your comment, I’m glad the article was useful.
DIARIO and DIARY are the cognates. DIARIO is daily, and DIARY is a daily journal.
diario can also be use for the book where you writte thoughts and feelings “journal”
hallo..hablo un poquito de espanol..I’m Nigerian and a student and i need to improve because there’s no native around here.
Thanks for your help in earnest
That was a great video. Thanks.
It seems that one finds even more Spanish-English cognates in academic and formal English. Academic English is descended from Latin while Formal English is descended from French. Spanish is one of the Romance languages; that is, descended from Latin: Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, & Romanian.
Careful with bridge, it’s the card game, not the structure (which is puente)
Hey there. Very nice article, although you should check your Spanish spelling. You missed a lot of accents on words like carbón, religión, etc.
I have been looking for a comprehensive list of ‘friends’ between Spanish and English. I am going to use this in my course!
Gracias GoneNative, I’m glad you found the list useful!
Se escriben igual pero se pronuncian diferente
Hola Gabriel, tienes razón. Espero que la lista te ayude.
How do you go about memorizing perfect cognates? Seems like a challenge since they’re the same spelling to input into a flashcard app.
mágico sería magical, no?
Hola Ainhoa, yes, you’re right!! “Mágico” can translate to both “magic” and “magical”. For example:
– This is magic book: Este es un libro mágico
– It is a magical place: Es un lugar mágico
Here are some more, both perfect and imperfect cognates:
inexplicable, exculpated, inundated, and incorregible
Thanks for sharing Lissy!! 🙂
It’s the false cognates that get me the most. Estirar means to stretch and estrechar means to narrow or tighten. Asistir and atender are interwoven in counterintuitive ways, too. And I can never tell when to use ‘simple’ or ‘sencillo’ in Spanish. Can you help with that one? This stuff sure keeps the learning interesting. Thanks for this article! Just looking over the list every so often will help me remember lots of them!
It sounds like you have a handle on a number of the false cognates Robin! 🙂 “Simple” and “sencillo” aren’t necessarily false friends, there are a number of situations where they translate well between English and Spanish. You can think of “facil” as “easy”, “sencillo” as “straightforward” or “plain”, and “simple” as “basic”, and keep in mind that part of the problem is that “easy”, “straightforward” and “basic” can all be synonyms in English as well – so this problem also exists in English! Look out for situations where Spanish natives use these words in context, then take note of these contexts and try to commit them to memory.
Thanks for this! I have the same problem with distinto and diferente. I’ll keep my ears open for how others use them, too.
Excellent. This will really help my ESL students, especially the starters. I think you’ve covered most of them. Thanks a lot!
Thanks Jose! Yes, most of the main near-perfect cognates patterns are covered here.
Missing words?
me (myself)
banana (the yellow fruit)
I am only a beginner, so I may have got it wrong!
Hola Paul, there are lots of possible cognates that I have not included. I have selected a lot of useful words for this post that are good for students to practice with.
In some countries, they prefer to use “plátano” but it is possible to hear “banana” as well, it depends where you go in the Spanish-speaking world. In ceratin sentences such as “this interests me” then “me” can act like a cognate, but in sentences like “this plate is for me” we need to say “mí”, so we have to be careful.
Thanks so much, Andrew, great work. Just found you. I’ll be back
Thanks Rajendran 🙂
im a spanish native from argentina, if somebody wants to know something about it, can messenger me, im actually learning english.. and i want to improve it as my second language.
Someone mentioned it, previously, but I didn’t see a response — Are you going to update the list to include accent marks on the Spanish words? If not, why do you feel that it is not necessary? Thanks!
Hola Paul, yes, of course, if you can spot some words that need accents, please let me know.
Hay man, I’m really loving the writings on your blog. They are made clearly, easy to consume and remember, regardless of English being my third language. Cheers.
Thanks for the kind words Charles! I’m glad the articles have helped you 🙂
Anything that makes learning a language easier is worth looking at in my book! Thank you for sharing, Andrew.
I actually teach French and German and always discuss cognates in the first lesson. It helps students to feel that they can learn a new language from the outset, because there are similarities between their native tongue (English, mostly) and the language they are learning. Win-win!
Yes, I agree, early progress and quick wins is so important for confidence! Thanks for the comment Sabina!!
this really helped me with my homework. thank you
You’re welcome Natalie, I’m glad it helped with the homework! Keep up the good work!!
Very helpful article and video sir!
Oh yes, your English accent is lovely!
Thanks for the kind words Kevin!!
I’m impressed he nailed the Spanish accent also! It’s phonetic but I just can’t seem to get my rrs to roll so well!
Thanks for the kind feedback Nicole 🙂
Impecable
Impecable
I didn’t see this one, but this list is really good!
thanks!
Awesome, thanks for sharing Carla!
Andrew, great work, but might I suggest a very important improvement: clarify all of the genders in Spanish.
Remember that we Spanish learners need to learn the genders as well.
Thanks for the suggestion David!! It’s a good idea.
Also, please check out our article on Spanish noun gender, it could help you with this challenge.
Mucho gracias Andrew. Hay cuatro cognates que yo no se antes (IC CT OUS y ARY). Un grupo que tu has olvidado es TY -> DAD. Por ejemplo university universidad
¡Gracias por la sugerencia Chris! 🙂
Thanks you so much!
I am running a Spanish meetup group in Dallas to learn Spanish. Often, many new comers are coming on the meeting to learn Spanish. If you want to explore your horizon in Texas, I will be more than happy to help you.
Regards,
Thanks for the offer Radyan!! Not sure when I will next be in Texas, but you never know. ¡Ya veremos! 🙂
Wow. So very helpful.
Thank you so much!! 🙂
Thanks Lydia, I’m glad you found the article helpful! 🙂
Thank you for this great article so helpful. Can the near-perfect cognates also be identified as similar cognates? – Celine
Yes, I can’t see why not. “Near-perfect” cognates is a just a term I came up with for the article.
Es Perfecto! See I am already talking in Spanish :). This is a brilliant list and so are your videos. I am trying to learn Spanish and your guides are helping me a lot. Gracias! 🙂
Thanks for the feedback Saki. I’m glad you are enjoying the videos! 🙂
Hi, Andrew,
I have 3 questions for you pertaining to the ACCENTED VOWELLS in certain Spanish words that I have not been able to find credible answers to on the internet. My Q’s are as follows:
(1.) What are the RULES for ACCENTED VOWELLS?
For instance, the accent sometimes comes as the first (as in the word, “clasico”), second (as in the word, “artistico”), third (as in “academico”), or fourth (as in “automatico”) vowells in a Spanish word.
There seems to be no pattern as to the location of the accents or obvious reasoning for the accented vowells as far as I can discern.
(2.) Why do some Spanish words have accented vowells (as in some Spanish words ending in ‘”ico”) while others do not?
(3.) Why is it that that several words in your “ico” list (heroico & mosaico) do not have accented vowells?
Thanks so much for your help in understanding!
Hola J, thanks for the question. The rule here, with words ending in ‘-ico’, is that the emphasis needs to come before the last two syllables ‘-i-co’. The accents are there to make this happen. With ‘heroico’ and ‘mosaico’, these are different because of the diphthongs ‘oi’ and ‘ai’, the emphases falls on these syllables and as such, there is no need for an accent.
hey, I love to learn the Spanish language for its diversity. As I am a learner of this language, it helps me a lot.
Would you please make an article on the food name in Spanish? It will be super helpful for me. Either way, thanks for this article.
Thanks Adnan for the feedback and the suggestion! 🙂
Thank you for the article and video! I needed it because I have almost no spanish communicators near, so I forgot the rules of cognates and conjugates. Thanks for the review!
Thank you Josh, I’m glad it helped! 🙂
thanks for your nice awesome pdf
You’re welcome Erwin! 🙂
Very useful for my English third grade class in Jayuya, Puerto Rico. I am learning myself too. Very organized explanation.
Thanks Sandra! 🙂
Heavy respect for making the list!
Also amazing how you still reply to comment 5 years later!
Thank you!
Impressive how you still reply 5 years later!
Thanks! While I write the post 5 years ago, we are still actively running the business!!
You are still coming up with ideas that get better every year
Thanks Talen 🙂
Great help!
Thanks Mateja 🙂
great help
Thanks Nahom 🙂
Durable is another word that is written the same.
Yes, thanks for sharing Crystal 🙂
Unos que me gusta:
asma asthma
caos chaos
eco echo
I wonder why the superfluous letters in English.
Thanks for sharing Stanley!! Yes, English spelling seriously lacks logic at times 🙂
thanks, very interesante
You’re welcome Maria 🙂
excellent article!!! very helpful for my spanish classes!!! thank a lot!!!
Thanks Maryluz 🙂
Hi Andrew, what an amazing article, it’s fantastic for my students to realise how much Spanish they can transfer across from English! Great for helping with pronunciation in the early stages too.
Do you mind if I use this article for the students I teach? Of course I will give them this link as to where I sourced the information.
Great work!
Thanks, Conrad, yes of course, if you provide the link to this original article, then it’s all good!
cool so cool
Thanks, I’m glad you liked the article 🙂
Thanks, This is interesting!!