{"id":13243,"date":"2020-02-12T16:53:27","date_gmt":"2020-02-12T21:53:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/?p=13243"},"modified":"2020-02-13T10:58:19","modified_gmt":"2020-02-13T15:58:19","slug":"9-pairs-of-spanish-words-that-are-easily-confused","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/9-pairs-of-spanish-words-that-are-easily-confused\/","title":{"rendered":"9 Pairs of Spanish Words That are Easily Confused"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aprender un idioma no es f\u00e1cil<\/strong> (Learning a language isn’t easy). You have to learn vocabulary, study the grammar, practice the accents, and so much more. I’ve been a language teacher and student for over ten years now and I’m well aware of this! Something that always trips me up is when two or more words sound very similar. In this post, I’ll introduce 9 pairs of Spanish words that are easily confused to help you out.<\/p>\n

Hombre, Hombro y Hambre<\/h2>\n

First up is this trio of words: hombre<\/em> (man), hombro<\/em> (shoulder) and hambre<\/em> (hunger). Go ahead and read them all out loud a few times and you’ll quickly see where the confusion comes from.<\/p>\n

When you’re hungry, you should say “Tengo hambre<\/em>,” which literally means “I have hunger.” Make a simple mistake and say “Tengo hombre<\/em>” and you’re saying “I have a man.” I once made that mistake to my Spanish teacher, who replied “\u00a1Felicidades<\/em>! \u00bfCual es su nombre<\/em>?” (Congratulations! What’s his name?).<\/p>\n

If you accidentally said “Tengo hombro<\/em>,” you’d just be telling someone that you have a shoulder. They might find that a bit odd of you to say and wonder why you don’t have two like everyone else.<\/p>\n

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Mayor y Mejor<\/h2>\n

I don’t know why, but I always confuse mayor<\/em> (older\/bigger) with mejor<\/em> (better). They really don’t sound that similar, but I think the issue is that they are both used to make comparisons. The fact that they both start with m and have two syllables doesn’t help, either…<\/p>\n

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Soy el mejor! Or wait… el mayor!<\/p><\/div>\n

Tengo seis hermanos menores<\/em> (I have six younger siblings), so I always make this mistake when talking about mi familia<\/em>. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve said “Soy el mejor<\/em>” (I’m the best) instead of “Soy el mayor<\/em>” (I’m the oldest). At least I usually get a laugh out of people when I say that!<\/p>\n

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Pap\u00e1 y Papa<\/h2>\n

This next one is a bit funny and it shows the importance of accent marks in Spanish. Pap\u00e1<\/em> means “father” or “dad.” Interestingly, papa<\/em> can mean either “potato” or “pope.” This reminds us the importance of capitalization – la<\/em> papa<\/em> (the potato) vs. El Papa<\/em> (the Pope).<\/p>\n

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El Papa! (Not el papa)…<\/p><\/div>\n

Here’s a funny example that can help you remember these easily confused Spanish words – “El Papa y mi pap\u00e1 comen papas<\/em>” (The Pope and my dad eat potatoes). I have an even more hilarious example coming up after I explain the next one…<\/p>\n

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A\u00f1o y Ano<\/h2>\n

Many gringos get tripped up by the Spanish letters n and \u00f1. That’s not just a funny accent mark there – it’s a whole other letter. Go back and watch my video from the Beginner Spanish course on el alfabeto<\/em> if you need to…<\/p>\n