Tricky Words: Parte Uno

by David

Tricky Words.When learning Spanish we’ve all run into some of these words that resemble English words, but have a completely different meaning. In my years of Spanish study, I’ve come across quite a few of these, and I thought I’d share some of them.

In no particular order:

Receta. This word refers to a medical prescription or a recipe for cooking something. It never means “receipt”, which is better translated recibo, comprobante, nota, or even ticket, an Anglicism.

Ropa. Fortunately, this word is learned early on in your Spanish studies, so you know it means clothes, not rope. Rope would most commonly be soga, cuerda or lazo.

Fábrica. Not this does not mean fabric, it means factory. Fabric would be tela.

Tuna. The Spanish word tuna refers to a small fruit that grows on the top of the nopal cactus, which, as I hear is actually the “prickly pear cactus” in English. Tuna fish would be atún. This one really messed me up the first time I travelled to Mexico.

And the last word for today is:

Éxito. Although it’s very similar to the English “exit”, the meaning is just not there. Éxito means success, exitoso means successful and exitosamente means successfully. If you want out of here, look for the nearest salida.

Tricky Words Series

  1. Tricky Words: Parte Uno
  2. Tricky Words Part 2
  3. Tricky Words Part 3
  4. Tricky Words Part 4

7 Comments  leave one »

  1. Julie
    12 April 2007 9:05 pm

    Thank you. Very interesting, and I’m looking foward to part 2…

  2. tomisimo

    12 April 2007 9:23 pm

    For years now I’ve been using small pocket notebooks to take notes on Spanish, the words I learn etc., the only problem is it’s hard to go back and find certain things I remember writing down. I think I need a new system. Anyway, when I get a chance to go through some more notes, I’ll write parte 2 and maybe even more.

    Here’s to hoping it’s sooner rather than later. :)

  3. tomisimo

    13 April 2007 12:59 pm

    Part 2 has now been posted!

  4. 13 April 2007 9:37 pm

    Ah yes, ropa. I’ve read stories of people confusing that word with the proper word for rope. Doing activities, such as rock climbing, sin ropa

    Thanks again for more great clarifications!

    :)

  5. tomisimo

    14 April 2007 10:19 am

    :) Good one Zach, imagínate escalar una peña sin ropa :D

  6. 14 April 2007 12:45 pm

    Wow David! Great list and series! Thanks a lot for that!!

  7. 20 April 2007 6:06 pm

    [...] Tomísimo Blog recently started a series on these Tricky Words, which sparked my interest. I then found a couple long lists from [...]

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