Spanish Cognates: Unlock hundreds of words you already know

One of the fantastic things about learning Spanish as an English speaker is that before you even begin studying the language, there are hundreds of words that you already know. It’s simply a matter of harnessing the power of Spanish cognates!

What are cognates?

A cognate is a word in one language that shares the same origin as a word from another language, making it easy to recognize even if you don’t speak the other language.

Since Spanish and English share Latin roots, many words look very similar in both languages. Fortunately for language learners, their meanings are often similar as well (though not always).

In other words, thanks to these cognates in Spanish, there are hundreds of words that you already know even if you’ve never studied Spanish!

What are the three types of cognates in Spanish?

Now that we’ve established what we mean by cognates, how can we identify them? The key is that cognates tend to look quite similar in both languages, often only differing by the presence of an accent or a word ending that’s more typical in one language or the other.

With this in mind, we can divide our cognates in Spanish and English into three distinct categories: perfect cognates, near-perfect cognates, and false cognates.

Perfect cognates are words that are identical in both English and Spanish, both in spelling and meaning. Perfect cognates in Spanish will still be pronounced differently, and may even take an accent on one of their vowels, but should otherwise be easily recognized by English speakers.

Near-perfect cognates are words that look similar in both languages and mean the same thing, but their spellings are not quite the same. Fortunately for learners, many near-perfect cognates in Spanish follow straightforward rules to convert the words between the English and Spanish cognates.

False cognates, also known as false friends, are words that appear to be similar between the two languages, but which have a completely different meaning in Spanish than in English. False friends are the cognates that are most likely to cause confusion, often leading to awkward situations when used incorrectly.

A common mistake among Spanish students, for example, is to use the Spanish word “embarazada” when they want to say they’re “embarrassed,” when in fact it means “pregnant.” As you can see, the incorrect use of false friends can easily lead to embarrassing situations!

In this video, Mafalda introduces the most important 10 cognates in Spanish that fall into this category. We also have a dedicated post that explains them in more detail, including a list of nearly 200 false friends in Spanish that you should be aware of!

For the rest of today’s post we’ll focus on perfect and near-perfect cognates in Spanish, listing the most common vocabulary for each category. Get ready for hundreds of Spanish words that you essentially already know!

Perfect cognates

Spanish perfect cognates are spelled the same way as their English translation. In short, perfect cognates are the exact same word in both languages. For this reason, they’re also sometimes referred to as exact cognates.

The only difference is that some perfect cognates in Spanish have accent marks, like in the words ópera or conclusión. It’s also important to remember that, even if the spelling resembles an English word you’re familiar with, it needs to be pronounced in Spanish! (Our alphabet post is a good reference, including audio recordings, on how to pronounce each letter in Spanish.)

By learning the Spanish perfect cognates, you can unlock so many new vocabulary words that you already know in English! For perfect cognates examples, take a look at this list with nearly 200 perfect cognates in Spanish and English.

Since they have the exact same spelling and meaning, we don’t even need to provide the English translations! Still, many words in both languages have multiple meanings; our goal in today’s post is not to provide every possible translation of these Spanish and English words, but rather to focus on the meanings that they share as cognates.

Actor	Final	Panorama
Admirable	Flexible	Particular
Agenda	Formal	Pasta
Alcohol	Fórmula	Pastor
Altar	Frontal	Patio
Animal	Fundamental	Patrimonial
Área	Gala	Peculiar
Artificial	Gas	Penal
Auto	General	Perfume
Balance	Génesis	Personal
Bar	Global	Piano
Base	Idea	Plaza
Brutal	Ideal	Plural
Cable	Imperial	Popular
Canal	Implacable	Pretensión
Cáncer	Incursión	Principal
Canon	Individual	Probable
Capital	Industrial	Propaganda
Carbón	Inevitable	Protector
Cartón	Inferior	Provincial
Central	Informal	Radical
Cerebral	Inseparable	Radio
Chocolate	Inspector	Región
Circular	Interminable	Regional
Civil	Invasión	Regular
Club	Invisible	Religión
Collar	Irregular	Reunión
Colonial	Judicial	Revisión
Coma	Kilo	Ritual
Combustión	Lateral	Rural
Conclusión	Legal	Secular
Conductor	Liberal	Sentimental
Confusión	Literal	Serial
Considerable	Local	Sexual
Control	Macho	Similar
Cordial	Maestro	Simple
Criminal	Mango	Singular
Crisis	Manía	Social
Cultural	Manual	Solar
Debate	Marginal	Solo
Decisión	Material	Subversión
Diagonal	Matrimonial	Superficial
Dimensión	Medieval	Superior
Director	Mediocre	Taxi
Disco	Melón	Televisión
División	Mental	Terrible
Doctor	Menú	Terror
Drama	Metal	Total
Editorial	Miserable	Transcendental
Electoral	Moral	Triple
Elemental	Mortal	Tropical
Enigma	Motel	Unión
Error	Motor	Universal
Excursión	Múltiple	Usual
Experimental	Municipal	Verbal
Explosión	Musical	Versión
Expulsión	Natural	Vertical
Extensión	Noble	Violín
Exterior	Normal	Visible
Factor	Nostalgia	Visual
Familiar	Ópera	Vital
Fatal	Oral	Vulgar
Federal	Oriental	Vulnerable
Festival	Original	Vulva

Near-perfect cognates

Near-perfect cognates are words that mean the same thing and can be recognized between the two languages, but which have slightly different spellings. With near-perfect cognates, the common origins of the words are still evident, even as the contemporary spellings have evolved.

In many cases, we can apply simple rules to convert such near-perfect cognates between Spanish and English. We’ll break our next lists of near-perfect cognates examples down into the following rules:

• ‑ic to ‑ico (like basic to básico)
• ‑ous to ‑oso (like curious to curioso)
• ‑ct to ‑cto (like abstract to abstracto)
• ‑tion to ‑ción (like information to información)
• ‑ary to ‑ario (like anniversary to aniversario)
• assorted near-perfect cognates (like abyss to abismo)

‑ic to ‑ico

Here we have a set of Spanish adjectives that are almost perfect cognates, except for the standard Spanish adjective endings of ‑o or ‑a. When you have an English adjective that ends in -ic, all you need to do is add the right ending to get its Spanish translation. Here are the four versions for the translation of the English adjective basic, for example:

basic in Spanish	masculine	feminine
singular	básico	básica
plural	básicos	básicas

This formula of converting ‑ic endings to ‑ico also applies to some nouns, such as medic to médico, or panic to pánico, for example.

English	Spanish
Academic	Académico
Alcoholic	Alcohólico
Artistic	Artístico
Authentic	Auténtico
Automatic	Automático
Basic	Básico
Characteristic	Característico
Classic	Clásico
Comic	Cómico
Democratic	Democrático
Dynamic	Dinámico
Diplomatic	Diplomático
Domestic	Doméstico
Dramatic	Dramático
Economic	Económico
Electronic	Electrónico
Erotic	Erótico
Exotic	Exótico
Fantastic	Fantástico
Generic	Genérico
Genetic	Genético
Geometric	Geométrico
Heroic	Heroico
Ironic	Irónico
Magic	Mágico
Medic	Médico
Mosaic	Mosaico
Organic	Orgánico
Panic	Pánico
Plastic	Plástico
Poetic	Poético
Public	Público
Romantic	Romántico
Systematic	Sistemático
Tragic	Trágico

‑ous to ‑oso

Just like we saw with the previous set of English and Spanish cognates, this next rule applies to a lot of common adjectives. The resulting Spanish adjectives appear quite similar to their English counterparts, and even sound similar when pronounced.

Remember that although we’re listing them here in the singular masculine forms ending in ‑oso, these Spanish adjectives may also end in ‑osa, ‑osos, or ‑osas.

English adjective	Spanish adjective
Curious	Curioso
Delicious	Delicioso
Glorious	Glorioso
Mysterious	Misterioso
Numerous	Numeroso
Precious	Precioso
Religious	Religioso
Tedious	Tedioso

‑ct to ‑cto

Just like the almost-perfect cognates we saw above where the rule was to replace ‑ic with ‑ico, here we have English words that end in ‑ct, along with their Spanish equivalents that simply end in ‑cto.

This rule applies to many Spanish nouns as well as to Spanish adjectives, so the only difference between the two languages is the added ‑o at the end. Let’s start with the nouns.

English noun	Spanish noun
Act	Acto
Artefact	Artefacto
Conflict	Conflicto
Contact	Contacto
Insect	Insecto
Product	Producto

Now let’s see some of our Spanish adjectives that follow this rule of ‑ct to ‑cto. Following Spanish adjective rules, remember to adopt the ending to match the gender and number of the nouns they describe.

English adjective	Spanish adjective
Abstract	Abstracto
Compact	Compacto
Correct	Correcto
Exact	Exacto
Perfect	Perfecto

‑tion to ‑ción

This set of near-perfect cognates applies to a wide variety of intangible nouns. In English your nouns end in ‑tion, while in Spanish the equivalent suffix is ‑ción. In many cases, we have only one consonant earlier in the Spanish word, in contrast to the double consonants in the English versions, as in aplicación vs application.

Regarding pronunciation, the final ‑ción syllable begins with an /s/ sound in Spanish, whereas your English ‑tion is pronounced beginning with a /sh/ sound. Also, remember to place the emphasis on the final accented syllable in the Spanish words, as opposed to emphasizing the second-to-last syllable like you’re used to in their English versions.

English noun	Spanish noun
Abstraction	Abstracción
Action	Acción
Accusation	Acusación
Adaptation	Adaptación
Admiration	Admiración
Application	Aplicación
Appreciation	Apreciación
Association	Asociación
Aspiration	Aspiración
Attention	Atención
Attraction	Atracción
Authorization	Autorización
Celebration	Celebración
Circulation	Circulación
Civilization	Civilización
Classification	Clasificación
Collaboration	Colaboración
Collection	Colección
Combination	Combinación
Compensation	Compensación
Composition	Composición
Concentration	Concentración
Conception	Concepción
Condition	Condición
Conservation	Conservación
Consideration	Consideración
Constitution	Constitución
Construction	Construcción
Exposition	Exposición
Fiction	Ficción
Formation	Formación
Nation	Nación
Simplification	Simplificación

‑ary to ‑ario

Here we have another common rule for converting Spanish and English near-perfect cognates: where your English word ends in ‑ary, the same Spanish word ends in ‑ario. This is common among nouns, while it also applies to a number of adjectives.

Let’s see this list of nouns first, showing the near-perfect cognates examples in English and Spanish.

English noun	Spanish noun
Adversary	Adversario
Anniversary	Aniversario
Commentary	Comentario
Diary	Diario
Glossary	Glosario
Estuary	Estuario
Rosary	Rosario
Salary	Salario
Secretary	Secretario
Vocabulary	Vocabulario

Now let’s see some examples of near-perfect cognates that follow this same ‑ary to ‑ario rule, but with adjectives. Note that we’re showing the base form of the Spanish adjectives here, which corresponds to singular masculine nouns. These ‑o endings need to change form according to standard Spanish adjective rules, so the English ‑ary ending may also be converted to ‑aria, ‑arios, and ‑arias when the adjective describes feminine or plural nouns.

English adjective	Spanish adjective
Arbitrary	Arbitrario
Complementary	Complementario
Contrary	Contrario
Primary	Primario
Solitary	Solitario
Temporary	Temporario

Assorted near-perfect cognates: The best of the rest

So far our lists of near-perfect cognates in Spanish have all focused on specific rules that can be applied regularly across a number of words with similar forms. In addition to those rules, however, there are also plenty of near-perfect cognates in English and Spanish whose differences between the two languages can’t be summed up as easily. We’ll think of these as the best of the rest Spanish cognates!

Take a look at the list we provide here, comparing the two languages. They’re all still pretty similar to each other, right? Many of them exhibit changes that are similar to the rules we saw above, but different enough that we didn’t include them on those lists. Others just seem to follow their own rules, but are still clearly cognates since the words’ common ancestors remain evident in both languages.

These English-Spanish cognate examples fall into several grammatical categories, so we’ll just list them all together.

English cognate	Spanish cognate
Abundant	Abundante
Abyss	Abismo
Accent	Acento
Acid	Ácido
Air	Aire
Annual	Anual
Archaic	Arcaico
Art	Arte
Chimera	Quimera
Decade	Década
Demon	Demonio
Disaster	Desastre
Except	Excepto
Kiosk	Kiosco
Magnificent	Magnífico
Rancid	Rancio
Rare	Raro
Remote	Remoto
Rent	Renta
Rich	Rico
Satire	Sátira
Senate	Senado
Series	Serie
Soldier	Soldado
Solid	Sólido
Subtle	Sutil
Suffer	Sufrir
Used	Usado
Vehicle	Vehículo

Conclusion: Spanish cognates

You’ve just learned over 300 words in Spanish that you essentially already know! This is the power of cognates, where words in two languages are recognizable thanks to a common ancestor.

We started by defining what is a cognate, noting that we can break them down into three main categories according to their similarities in spelling and meaning. The rest of our post focused on Spanish cognates examples, demonstrating how easy it is to learn new vocab through cognates.

Our first list showed nearly 200 perfect cognates that have the same spelling and meaning in both languages. To master perfect cognates, you only need to be aware of how they’re pronounced, and whether the Spanish version takes an accent mark.

Then we got into near-perfect cognates, breaking them down into shorter lists to demonstrate that many of them follow straightforward rules. Near-perfect cognates have minor spelling differences between their English and Spanish versions, but their meanings remain the same.

With over 300 perfect and near-perfect cognates provided throughout this post, you may get the impression that any words that appear the same between English and Spanish have the same meanings. Don’t forget that, unfortunately, this isn’t always the case! Check out our companion post for an exploration of false cognates in Spanish, where we provide a list of over 150 words in Spanish and English that look similar, but whose meanings differ.

To end on a positive note and allow you to see how well you can understand Spanish sentences that are composed of cognates, we’ll leave you with a series of sentences that use many of the vocabulary words we introduced in today’s post. If you can tell what they mean without looking at their translations below, you’re experiencing the beauty of recognizing Spanish cognates!

Cognates in Spanish: Examples

Read through these sentences and see how well you understand their meanings thanks to their use of Spanish cognates.

1. La aspiración de la nación democrática es una economía sólida.

2. La civilización democrática sufrió un desastre económico anual.

3. El salario básico fue un tema central en el debate económico del senado.

4. El comentario irónico sobre la renta pública causó un conflicto político.

5. El soldado solitario admiró la formación compacta de vehículos.

6. El demonio glorioso vive en un abismo remoto y misterioso.

7. La celebración anual incluye una colección gloriosa de arte clásico.

8. La colección artística incluía un rosario magnífico y un mosaico antiguo.

9. La celebración poética fue una combinación fantástica de arte y sátira.

10. La combinación exacta de colores muestra un efecto artístico dramático.

Cognates in English

How did you do? Here are the translations so you can recognize all of the English and Spanish cognates in these examples.

1. The aspiration of the democratic nation is a solid economy.

2. The democratic civilization suffered an annual economic disaster.

3. The basic salary was a central theme in the senate’s economic debate.

4. The ironic comment about public rent caused a political conflict.

5. The solitary soldier admired the compact formation of vehicles.

6. The glorious demon lives in a remote and mysterious abyss.

7. The annual celebration includes a glorious collection of classical art.

8. The artistic collection included a magnificent rosary and an ancient mosaic.

9. The poetic celebration was a fantastic combination of art and satire.

10. The exact combination of colors shows a dramatic artistic effect.