Spanish and English share thousands of words that look and sound almost identical because both languages borrowed heavily from Latin. These are called cognates, and here is a big list of them, organized so you can scan straight to what you need.

Spanish Words Spelled Exactly Like English

These need no translation. Spell them the same, say them with a Spanish accent, and you are understood.

Nearly Identical Spanish-English Word Pairs

These are one letter or an accent mark away from English.

Words Built From English -tion, Spanish -ción

Attention, nation, and information become atención, nación, and información. The same shift covers:

Acción (action), educación (education), elección (election), situación (situation), población (population), organización (organization), comunicación (communication), conversación (conversation), solución (solution), condición (condition), construcción (construction), definición (definition), dirección (direction), explicación (explanation), generación (generation), imaginación (imagination), información, invitación (invitation), operación (operation), posición (position), preparación (preparation), protección (protection), and selección (selection).

Words Built From English -ty, Spanish -dad

Reality, curiosity, and university become realidad, curiosidad, and universidad. The same shift covers:

Actividad (activity), comunidad (community), identidad (identity), seguridad (security), calidad (quality), posibilidad (possibility), autoridad (authority), diversidad (diversity), generosidad (generosity), and simplicidad (simplicity).

Words Built From English -ic, Spanish -ico

Fantastic, basic, and romantic become fantástico, básico, and romántico. The same shift covers:

Económico (economic), eléctrico (electric), histórico (historic), científico (scientific), específico (specific), plástico (plastic), artístico (artistic), clásico (classic), electrónico (electronic), genético (genetic), and público (public).

Words Built From English -ist, Spanish -ista

Artist, tourist, and optimist become artista, turista, and optimista. The same shift covers:

Dentista (dentist), pianista (pianist), realista (realist), feminista (feminist), and protagonista (protagonist).

Words Built From English -ly, Spanish -mente

Rapidly, normally, and exactly become rápidamente, normalmente, and exactamente. The same shift covers:

Completamente (completely), especialmente (especially), inmediatamente (immediately), obviamente (obviously), personalmente (personally), seriamente (seriously), simplemente (simply), and totalmente (totally).

Words Built From English -ct, Spanish -cto

Perfect, correct, and contact become perfecto, correcto, and contacto. The same shift covers:

Efecto (effect), aspecto (aspect), objeto (object), proyecto (project), instinto (instinct), directo (direct), and exacto (exact).

Spanish Words That Sound Like English But Mean Something Else

These false friends look or sound like an English word but mean something completely different. Good to know before you use one in the wrong sentence.

If you want to search Spanish words by length or by the letters you already have, the Spanish word finder on WordsGallery covers that, and the English word finder handles the other half of the pair.

FAQs

Are Spanish and English actually related languages?

Not directly. English is a Germanic language and Spanish is a Romance language descended from Latin. The overlap in vocabulary comes from English borrowing large numbers of Latin and French-derived words over the centuries, not from the two languages sharing a common family tree.

How many cognates are there between Spanish and English?

There is no single official count, but language resources commonly cite roughly a third of English words as having some related form in Spanish, which puts the number in the thousands once suffix-pattern words like -tion to -cion are included.

Why does embarazada trip up so many English speakers?

It is one of the most cited mix-ups in Spanish because it looks and sounds almost exactly like "embarrassed," yet it means pregnant. The word for embarrassed is avergonzada.

Do false friends exist between English and other languages too?

Yes. The same thing happens between English and French, German, Portuguese, and other language pairs. Spanish just has an unusually large, well-documented list because it also has so many real cognates to begin with.

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