100 Common Spanish Cognates: Nouns (2024)

**Cognates** are words that are similar, or even identical, in two languages. Spanish and English share many of these. For example: capital/capital, banana/banana, restaurant/restaurante, impossible/imposible, etc. Although pronunciation and spelling may vary slightly, knowing a good number of **cognates** can help you communicate more easily and effectively. **English**|**Spanish** :——:|:——: [small][color=grey] accident [/color][/small]|[small][color=grey] accidente[/color][/small] [

Forum>Topic: Spanish>100 common Spanish cognates: …

100 common Spanish cognates: NounsHelpfulDuoCognates are words that are similar, or even identical, in two languages. Spanish and English share many of these. For example: capital/capital, banana/banana, restaurant/restaurante, impossible/imposible, etc.
Although pronunciation and spelling may vary slightly, knowing a good number of cognates can help you communicate more easily and effectively.

English
Spanish

accident
accidente

activities
actividades

adult
adulto

agent
agente

air
aire

alarm
alarma

animal
animal

area
área

artist
artista

atmosphere
atmósfera

attention
atención

banana
banana

blouse
blusa

cabin
cabina

cable
cable

cafeteria
cafetería

camera
cámara

canal
canal

capital
capital

center
centro

cereal
cereal

class
clase

coast
costa

color
color

company
compañía

concert
concierto

construction
construcción

continent
continente

debate
debate

directions
direcciones

director
director

disaster
desastre

distance
distancia

dragon
dragón

elephant
elefante

error
error

explosion
explosion

factor
factor

family
familia

festival
festival

fruit
fruta

funeral
funeral

galaxy
galaxia

group
grupo

helicopter
helicóptero

hippopotamus
hipopótamo

history
historia

hospital
hospital

hotel
hotel

hour
hora

human
humano

idea
idea

identification
identificación

independence
independencia

information
información

insects
insectos

inspection
inspección

intelligence
inteligencia

invitation
invitación

lemon
limón

leopard
leopardo

lesson
lección

line
línea

list
lista

magic
magia

manner
manera

map
mapa

memory
memoria

metal
metal

million
millón

minute
minuto

moment
momento

music
música

object
objeto

observatory
observatorio

occasion
ocasión

ocean
océano

palace
palacio

panic
pánico

park
parque

part
parte

patience
paciencia

perfume
perfume

photo
foto

piano
piano

planet
planeta

plans
planes

plants
plantas

problem
problema

radio
radio

ranch
rancho

restaurant
restaurante

reunion
reunión

series
serie

sofa
sofá

television
televisión

tourist
turista

traffic
tráfico

uniform
uniforme

vegetables
vegetales

Do you know any other English/Spanish cognate? Did you find any of these cognates interesting or specially useful?September 7, 2017

HelpfulDuo

HelpfulDuo

Cognates are words that are similar, or even identical, in two languages. Spanish and English share many of these. For example: capital/capital, banana/banana, restaurant/restaurante, impossible/imposible, etc.
Although pronunciation and spelling may vary slightly, knowing a good number of cognates can help you communicate more easily and effectively.

English
Spanish

accident
accidente

activities
actividades

adult
adulto

agent
agente

air
aire

alarm
alarma

animal
animal

area
área

artist
artista

atmosphere
atmósfera

attention
atención

banana
banana

blouse
blusa

cabin
cabina

cable
cable

cafeteria
cafetería

camera
cámara

canal
canal

capital
capital

center
centro

cereal
cereal

class
clase

coast
costa

color
color

company
compañía

concert
concierto

construction
construcción

continent
continente

debate
debate

directions
direcciones

director
director

disaster
desastre

distance
distancia

dragon
dragón

elephant
elefante

error
error

explosion
explosion

factor
factor

family
familia

festival
festival

fruit
fruta

funeral
funeral

galaxy
galaxia

group
grupo

helicopter
helicóptero

hippopotamus
hipopótamo

history
historia

hospital
hospital

hotel
hotel

hour
hora

human
humano

idea
idea

identification
identificación

independence
independencia

information
información

insects
insectos

inspection
inspección

intelligence
inteligencia

invitation
invitación

lemon
limón

leopard
leopardo

lesson
lección

line
línea

list
lista

magic
magia

manner
manera

map
mapa

memory
memoria

metal
metal

million
millón

minute
minuto

moment
momento

music
música

object
objeto

observatory
observatorio

occasion
ocasión

ocean
océano

palace
palacio

panic
pánico

park
parque

part
parte

patience
paciencia

perfume
perfume

photo
foto

piano
piano

planet
planeta

plans
planes

plants
plantas

problem
problema

radio
radio

ranch
rancho

restaurant
restaurante

reunion
reunión

series
serie

sofa
sofá

television
televisión

tourist
turista

traffic
tráfico

uniform
uniforme

vegetables
vegetales

Do you know any other English/Spanish cognate? Did you find any of these cognates interesting or specially useful?

September 7, 2017

66 CommentsCasanovafamily8In English, elefant is actually spelled elephant. But other than that, these are so cool! :)September 8, 2017owlhellIf anyone is interested in a website with the rules for Spanish cognates here is one (http://spanishcognates.org/cognate-ending). It gives some examples of the rules as well.September 8, 2017Juanpa_92This topic is very interesting!September 8, 2017-Levi.Plus780Shouldn’t explosion have an accent on the o? Explosión in Spanish?September 7, 2017-.Edwin.-Yes: “Explosión”.September 7, 2017Jesus8491232323Is the word “explosion” accented ( Explosión in Spanish) ?
Yes, it is:)
ex-plo-sión
Acute word that is formed by 3 syllables. The prosodic accent with tonic vowel in the second “o” is analyzed.
CONCLUSION
The word explosion, with a tonic vowel in the second “o”, carries accent mark.
Reason:
Sharp words ending in ‘n’, ‘s’ or vowel are accented. consequently “”Explosión”June 23, 2019travel.linguistPlus16Maybe to specify and to avoid future misunderstandings for learners it should be:
Cognates are words that share a common root.September 8, 2017P-CodeHere’s one I happen to know: anesthesia – anestesia
(And, speaking of “-esthesia” words, I also know synesthesia – sinestesia)September 8, 2017Vernunftstimmeall greek or latin words like those you posted are cognates between many languages, not just english and spanish.November 11, 2017Roni.Tidea/ideaSeptember 9, 2017juldatbuena esaSeptember 9, 2017MilenaColQCVery difficult wordSeptember 9, 2017CarolLynnC1Very helpful.September 11, 2017Benjamin.WatsonI agreeSeptember 12, 2017tomviner1i took a spanish course in which the instructor said there were over 2000 words that are similar in spanish and englishSeptember 13, 2017HelpfulDuoThere are! That’s because English and Spanish share some latin roots and nowadays globalization is promoting languages to “borrow” terms from each one another. This is a list of the most common ones.September 14, 2017AlaaRothers: religion religión, professor profesor, computer computador, province provincia , fascinated fascinado, interesting interesante ..etcSeptember 15, 2017HelpfulDuogreat!September 15, 2017GeraldReHi Duo,
you should add that most nouns ending in ‘tion’ can easily be translated to spanish form ‘ción’. With this simple trick you are boosting your vocabulary by a huge amount of words.
option -> opción
situation -> situación
direction -> dirección
education -> educación
etc.September 15, 2017HelpfulDuoGreat contribution, Gerald! ThanksSeptember 15, 2017Ben429172This is because all these English words come from Latin and Spanish is just a modern form of Latin so it has almost all of these words. You might think it’s odd that English pronounces the consonant in question with a /sh/ sound and Spanish a /s/ but also, Iberian Spanish pronounces it with a /th/ so there is quite a range of interpretations!May 4, 2020JoshuaDean108705Lord Help my spanish.September 7, 2017MilenaColQCI can help you ;)September 9, 2017Anna_B_AryaAs beginners, we should help each other :)September 13, 2017MichaelGHenryPlus1392Great list! It gives me some hope that I may be fluent someday.
How about a list of common FALSE cognates or false friends?
These are land mines for English speakers learning Spanish.
The typical example:
“actualmente” in Spanish means “currently” in English,
not “actually” (that’s a real toe popper!).
Then there’s the diabolically symmetrical
“peste” in Spanish means “plague” in English AND
“plaga” in Spanish means “pest” in English.
That’s a real Bouncing Betty.
A list of false cognates would be very helpful!September 9, 2017HelpfulDuoThe list of false friends/cognates is coming soon! :)September 9, 2017MichaelGHenryPlus1392Gracias!September 9, 2017Jesus8491232323I want to share these cognate flashcards with you my friends, thank U 🙂
https://tinycards.duolingo.com/decks/7cb56665-0342-42f2-82c9-25b7856d3ae3September 10, 2017Benjamin.WatsonThxSeptember 12, 2017ethanh575181gracias eso fue muy interesanteSeptember 11, 2017EvanJamesWalters…September 11, 2017Benjamin.WatsonsameSeptember 12, 2017Benjamin.Watsonnice thank for the infoSeptember 12, 2017MaverickMonuThanks / Gracias. Helpful InfoSeptember 12, 2017AChante1992a doubt: I read once that reunion isn´t a synonym of meeting, that is more like when you stopped seeing your school friends for years and then everyone make a party or something to remember old times. Is that true?September 14, 2017MaverickMonuCorrect.. Reunion means meeting of people who have not seen each other for a fairly long time..September 14, 2017AChante1992thank you :)September 17, 2017MaverickMonuyou are welcome, de nada.. :-)September 17, 2017C_R_A_Z-Y1273wow!September 14, 2017somelauw835What somewhat annoys me about Duolingo is that 90% of the time I feel like I’m learning English/Spanish cognates instead of learning words I actually need to remember.September 16, 2017Chak2780712122Considering how many cognates there are, it might be more useful to list the false cognates. ‘el exito’ doesn’t mean ‘the exit’.December 25, 2017CanejitoAgree with you Chak. Some other are confusing when you know French and learning Spanish. For example, ‘contestar’ in Spanish is ‘to answer’. While in English ‘to contest’ is ‘to call to witness, bring action’. The origin on the word is still latin, contestāri to call to witness (in a lawsuit). Con- is with and “together”+ “testārī” to bear witness (noun).
Also, enviar in to send, while in French is to regard (something) with envy. Lot of confusion at the beginning.February 6, 2018Ben429172Enviar makes me think of envoy in English which is like a messenger.May 4, 2020CanejitoHere is a list of ten false cognate:
English word: actually – Spanish word: en realidad
Confused with: actualmente – English translation: currently
English word: assist – Spanish word: ayudar
Confused with: asistir – English translation: to attend
English word: attend – Spanish word: asistir
Confused with: attender – English translation: to attend to
English word: bizarre – Spanish word: extraño
Confused with: bizarre – English translation: gallant
English word: carpet – Spanish word: alfombra
Confused with: carpeta – English translation: folder
English word: choke – Spanish word: estrangular
Confused with: chocar – English translation: to collide
English word: deception – Spanish word: engaño
Confused with: decepción – English translation: disappointment
English word: embarrassed – Spanish word: embarrassed
Confused with: embarazada – English translation: pregnant
English word: exit – Spanish word: salida
Confused with: éxito – English translation: success
English word: idiom – Spanish word: modismo
Confused with: idioma – English translation: idiomaFebruary 6, 2018MichaelEpstein83I was under the impression that
‘lima’ is lemon
and ‘limón’ is lime
Is that incorrect?November 28, 2018Jesus8491232323No, it’s incorrect ‘lima’ is Lime https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lime_(fruit)
And Limón is Lemon. lemon, Citrus limon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LemonNovember 28, 2018David_SpryerPlus213″Una lima” = “a nail file” as well as “a lime”August 1, 2020travelbymichaelGreat stuffJune 23, 2019Jesus8491232323I want to share these cognate app with you my friends, thank U 🙂 https://www.memrise.com/course/1426529/cognados-en-ingles/June 23, 2019marksankHi Guys! I have more Spanish Cognates! they are 1011. I hope this information is useful. https://blania.co/spanish-cognates/December 2, 2019AkashiSenseiWOW! These 100 cognates helped me with my grades in school!May 11, 2020selinamunecaOthers:
vision – visión
violin – violín
tablet – tableta
tornado- tornado
tension – tensión
trumpet – trompeta
program – progama
person- persona
office- oficina
origin – origen
fruit- fruta
sensitive- sensitivo
hurricane- huracánSeptember 7, 2017JossDugganPlusActually, ‘sensitivo’ is an ‘amigo falso’ in Spanish. ‘Sensitive’ (ENG) = ‘Sensible’ (ESP) and to confuse things a little further, ‘Sensible’ (ENG) is ‘Sensato’ (ESP).September 16, 2017HelpfulDuo¡Genial! Gracias. :)September 7, 2017Pugsandpandas111Have simple and simple(in Spanish) and normal and normal( in Spanish) been mentioned?February 28, 2018Sefen7amaybe a seperate tool that lets us practice the words, just like Anki. the Space repetition app. It would expand the whole duolingo package. July 17, 2019MartinMars14meowSeptember 5, 2019David_SpryerPlus213El gato maulla un miau.August 1, 2020WinstonChe10can you give a list of false cognates?
like “sopa”, which means soup, not soap. That’d be helpful. heh.November 22, 2019GregorioCa242726¡Gracias! Esto es útil.December 10, 2019CharlotteW474849This was super helpful! Thanks Duo!December 17, 2019ShachiaGonnice nouns (:March 9, 2020ErfanHadipour!Perfecto!May 5, 2020DiegoAleja756560I did not findSeptember 12, 2020GinetteCar14Plus824Un tour = a tour, un evento = an event, la dirección = the directionOctober 19, 2021Sarah975073PlusTHANK YOU!January 24, 2022

66 Comments

Casanovafamily8In English, elefant is actually spelled elephant. But other than that, these are so cool! :)September 8, 2017owlhellIf anyone is interested in a website with the rules for Spanish cognates here is one (http://spanishcognates.org/cognate-ending). It gives some examples of the rules as well.September 8, 2017Juanpa_92This topic is very interesting!September 8, 2017-Levi.Plus780Shouldn’t explosion have an accent on the o? Explosión in Spanish?September 7, 2017-.Edwin.-Yes: “Explosión”.September 7, 2017Jesus8491232323Is the word “explosion” accented ( Explosión in Spanish) ?
Yes, it is:)
ex-plo-sión
Acute word that is formed by 3 syllables. The prosodic accent with tonic vowel in the second “o” is analyzed.
CONCLUSION
The word explosion, with a tonic vowel in the second “o”, carries accent mark.
Reason:
Sharp words ending in ‘n’, ‘s’ or vowel are accented. consequently “”Explosión”June 23, 2019travel.linguistPlus16Maybe to specify and to avoid future misunderstandings for learners it should be:
Cognates are words that share a common root.September 8, 2017P-CodeHere’s one I happen to know: anesthesia – anestesia
(And, speaking of “-esthesia” words, I also know synesthesia – sinestesia)September 8, 2017Vernunftstimmeall greek or latin words like those you posted are cognates between many languages, not just english and spanish.November 11, 2017Roni.Tidea/ideaSeptember 9, 2017juldatbuena esaSeptember 9, 2017MilenaColQCVery difficult wordSeptember 9, 2017CarolLynnC1Very helpful.September 11, 2017Benjamin.WatsonI agreeSeptember 12, 2017tomviner1i took a spanish course in which the instructor said there were over 2000 words that are similar in spanish and englishSeptember 13, 2017HelpfulDuoThere are! That’s because English and Spanish share some latin roots and nowadays globalization is promoting languages to “borrow” terms from each one another. This is a list of the most common ones.September 14, 2017AlaaRothers: religion religión, professor profesor, computer computador, province provincia , fascinated fascinado, interesting interesante ..etcSeptember 15, 2017HelpfulDuogreat!September 15, 2017GeraldReHi Duo,
you should add that most nouns ending in ‘tion’ can easily be translated to spanish form ‘ción’. With this simple trick you are boosting your vocabulary by a huge amount of words.
option -> opción
situation -> situación
direction -> dirección
education -> educación
etc.September 15, 2017HelpfulDuoGreat contribution, Gerald! ThanksSeptember 15, 2017Ben429172This is because all these English words come from Latin and Spanish is just a modern form of Latin so it has almost all of these words. You might think it’s odd that English pronounces the consonant in question with a /sh/ sound and Spanish a /s/ but also, Iberian Spanish pronounces it with a /th/ so there is quite a range of interpretations!May 4, 2020JoshuaDean108705Lord Help my spanish.September 7, 2017MilenaColQCI can help you ;)September 9, 2017Anna_B_AryaAs beginners, we should help each other :)September 13, 2017MichaelGHenryPlus1392Great list! It gives me some hope that I may be fluent someday.
How about a list of common FALSE cognates or false friends?
These are land mines for English speakers learning Spanish.
The typical example:
“actualmente” in Spanish means “currently” in English,
not “actually” (that’s a real toe popper!).
Then there’s the diabolically symmetrical
“peste” in Spanish means “plague” in English AND
“plaga” in Spanish means “pest” in English.
That’s a real Bouncing Betty.
A list of false cognates would be very helpful!September 9, 2017HelpfulDuoThe list of false friends/cognates is coming soon! :)September 9, 2017MichaelGHenryPlus1392Gracias!September 9, 2017Jesus8491232323I want to share these cognate flashcards with you my friends, thank U 🙂
https://tinycards.duolingo.com/decks/7cb56665-0342-42f2-82c9-25b7856d3ae3September 10, 2017Benjamin.WatsonThxSeptember 12, 2017ethanh575181gracias eso fue muy interesanteSeptember 11, 2017EvanJamesWalters…September 11, 2017Benjamin.WatsonsameSeptember 12, 2017Benjamin.Watsonnice thank for the infoSeptember 12, 2017MaverickMonuThanks / Gracias. Helpful InfoSeptember 12, 2017AChante1992a doubt: I read once that reunion isn´t a synonym of meeting, that is more like when you stopped seeing your school friends for years and then everyone make a party or something to remember old times. Is that true?September 14, 2017MaverickMonuCorrect.. Reunion means meeting of people who have not seen each other for a fairly long time..September 14, 2017AChante1992thank you :)September 17, 2017MaverickMonuyou are welcome, de nada.. :-)September 17, 2017C_R_A_Z-Y1273wow!September 14, 2017somelauw835What somewhat annoys me about Duolingo is that 90% of the time I feel like I’m learning English/Spanish cognates instead of learning words I actually need to remember.September 16, 2017Chak2780712122Considering how many cognates there are, it might be more useful to list the false cognates. ‘el exito’ doesn’t mean ‘the exit’.December 25, 2017CanejitoAgree with you Chak. Some other are confusing when you know French and learning Spanish. For example, ‘contestar’ in Spanish is ‘to answer’. While in English ‘to contest’ is ‘to call to witness, bring action’. The origin on the word is still latin, contestāri to call to witness (in a lawsuit). Con- is with and “together”+ “testārī” to bear witness (noun).
Also, enviar in to send, while in French is to regard (something) with envy. Lot of confusion at the beginning.February 6, 2018Ben429172Enviar makes me think of envoy in English which is like a messenger.May 4, 2020CanejitoHere is a list of ten false cognate:
English word: actually – Spanish word: en realidad
Confused with: actualmente – English translation: currently
English word: assist – Spanish word: ayudar
Confused with: asistir – English translation: to attend
English word: attend – Spanish word: asistir
Confused with: attender – English translation: to attend to
English word: bizarre – Spanish word: extraño
Confused with: bizarre – English translation: gallant
English word: carpet – Spanish word: alfombra
Confused with: carpeta – English translation: folder
English word: choke – Spanish word: estrangular
Confused with: chocar – English translation: to collide
English word: deception – Spanish word: engaño
Confused with: decepción – English translation: disappointment
English word: embarrassed – Spanish word: embarrassed
Confused with: embarazada – English translation: pregnant
English word: exit – Spanish word: salida
Confused with: éxito – English translation: success
English word: idiom – Spanish word: modismo
Confused with: idioma – English translation: idiomaFebruary 6, 2018MichaelEpstein83I was under the impression that
‘lima’ is lemon
and ‘limón’ is lime
Is that incorrect?November 28, 2018Jesus8491232323No, it’s incorrect ‘lima’ is Lime https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lime_(fruit)
And Limón is Lemon. lemon, Citrus limon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LemonNovember 28, 2018David_SpryerPlus213″Una lima” = “a nail file” as well as “a lime”August 1, 2020travelbymichaelGreat stuffJune 23, 2019Jesus8491232323I want to share these cognate app with you my friends, thank U 🙂 https://www.memrise.com/course/1426529/cognados-en-ingles/June 23, 2019marksankHi Guys! I have more Spanish Cognates! they are 1011. I hope this information is useful. https://blania.co/spanish-cognates/December 2, 2019AkashiSenseiWOW! These 100 cognates helped me with my grades in school!May 11, 2020selinamunecaOthers:
vision – visión
violin – violín
tablet – tableta
tornado- tornado
tension – tensión
trumpet – trompeta
program – progama
person- persona
office- oficina
origin – origen
fruit- fruta
sensitive- sensitivo
hurricane- huracánSeptember 7, 2017JossDugganPlusActually, ‘sensitivo’ is an ‘amigo falso’ in Spanish. ‘Sensitive’ (ENG) = ‘Sensible’ (ESP) and to confuse things a little further, ‘Sensible’ (ENG) is ‘Sensato’ (ESP).September 16, 2017HelpfulDuo¡Genial! Gracias. :)September 7, 2017Pugsandpandas111Have simple and simple(in Spanish) and normal and normal( in Spanish) been mentioned?February 28, 2018Sefen7amaybe a seperate tool that lets us practice the words, just like Anki. the Space repetition app. It would expand the whole duolingo package. July 17, 2019MartinMars14meowSeptember 5, 2019David_SpryerPlus213El gato maulla un miau.August 1, 2020WinstonChe10can you give a list of false cognates?
like “sopa”, which means soup, not soap. That’d be helpful. heh.November 22, 2019GregorioCa242726¡Gracias! Esto es útil.December 10, 2019CharlotteW474849This was super helpful! Thanks Duo!December 17, 2019ShachiaGonnice nouns (:March 9, 2020ErfanHadipour!Perfecto!May 5, 2020DiegoAleja756560I did not findSeptember 12, 2020GinetteCar14Plus824Un tour = a tour, un evento = an event, la dirección = the directionOctober 19, 2021Sarah975073PlusTHANK YOU!January 24, 2022

Casanovafamily8In English, elefant is actually spelled elephant. But other than that, these are so cool! :)September 8, 2017

Casanovafamily8

In English, elefant is actually spelled elephant. But other than that, these are so cool! :)September 8, 2017

In English, elefant is actually spelled elephant. But other than that, these are so cool! 🙂

September 8, 2017

September 8, 2017

owlhellIf anyone is interested in a website with the rules for Spanish cognates here is one (http://spanishcognates.org/cognate-ending). It gives some examples of the rules as well.September 8, 2017

If anyone is interested in a website with the rules for Spanish cognates here is one (http://spanishcognates.org/cognate-ending). It gives some examples of the rules as well.

September 8, 2017

September 8, 2017

Juanpa_92This topic is very interesting!September 8, 2017

This topic is very interesting!

September 8, 2017

September 8, 2017

-Levi.Plus780Shouldn’t explosion have an accent on the o? Explosión in Spanish?September 7, 2017

Shouldn’t explosion have an accent on the o? Explosión in Spanish?

September 7, 2017

September 7, 2017

-.Edwin.-Yes: “Explosión”.September 7, 2017

Yes: “Explosión”.

September 7, 2017

September 7, 2017

Jesus8491232323Is the word “explosion” accented ( Explosión in Spanish) ?
Yes, it is:)
ex-plo-sión
Acute word that is formed by 3 syllables. The prosodic accent with tonic vowel in the second “o” is analyzed.
CONCLUSION
The word explosion, with a tonic vowel in the second “o”, carries accent mark.
Reason:
Sharp words ending in ‘n’, ‘s’ or vowel are accented. consequently “”Explosión”June 23, 2019

Is the word “explosion” accented ( Explosión in Spanish) ?
Yes, it is:)
ex-plo-sión
Acute word that is formed by 3 syllables. The prosodic accent with tonic vowel in the second “o” is analyzed.
CONCLUSION
The word explosion, with a tonic vowel in the second “o”, carries accent mark.
Reason:
Sharp words ending in ‘n’, ‘s’ or vowel are accented. consequently “”Explosión”

June 23, 2019

June 23, 2019

travel.linguistPlus16Maybe to specify and to avoid future misunderstandings for learners it should be:
Cognates are words that share a common root.September 8, 2017

Maybe to specify and to avoid future misunderstandings for learners it should be:
Cognates are words that share a common root.

September 8, 2017