español · B1 · vocabulary · 5 minutes
False friends that change the story
Catch eight familiar-looking words before they produce a completely different sentence.
Understand the choice
False friends are dangerous precisely because they feel obvious. The safest correction is not a translation pair but a short context: asistir a una clase, realizar un proyecto, estar constipado, guardar algo en una carpeta. These frames block the tempting English meaning.
Core rule: Familiar-looking Spanish words may belong to a different meaning than their English look-alikes.
Notice it in context
Actualmente asisto a un curso y realizo un proyecto sobre salud.
I currently attend a course and carry out a health project.
Actualmente means currently; asistir a means attend; realizar means carry out rather than realize.
Mi hijo es muy sensible a las críticas.
My son is very sensitive to criticism.
Sensible means sensitive; sensato means sensible or reasonable.
Estoy constipado y me duele la garganta.
I have a cold and my throat hurts.
Constipado usually describes a cold, not constipation.
Guardé los documentos en una carpeta azul.
I saved the documents in a blue folder.
Carpeta is a folder; alfombra is a carpet.
La campaña tuvo mucho éxito.
The campaign was very successful.
Éxito means success, not an exit.
Está embarazada de seis meses.
She is six months pregnant.
Embarazada means pregnant; avergonzada means embarrassed.
What to remember
- Pair each false friend with its natural partner: asistir a, realizar un proyecto, tener éxito.
- Use de hecho for actually when correcting or strengthening a claim; actualmente is currently.
- When a cognate feels effortless, verify it through the whole sentence rather than its shape.
Common trap: Do not create a memorable but false sentence such as estoy embarazado because you mean I am embarrassed; say estoy avergonzado.