StoryLearning

Learn A Language Through Stories

Blog • Spanish
Spanish homonyms

20+ Spanish Homonyms To Become The Life Of The Party

Avatar photo by Olly Richards

Spanish homonyms

When you learn Spanish, you soon discover it's crisscrossed with secrets and tricks waiting to be discovered. That's why you always need to be on the lookout to avoid falling into its little traps. 

In this article, you're going to unravel the secret world of Spanish homonyms. These identical-sounding but distinct words are often the punchline of jokes you don’t really get.

With my explanation, not only will you never get left out of the fun, but you’ll be the life of the party! 

Pro Tip

By the way, if you want to learn Spanish fast and have fun while doing it, my top recommendation is Spanish Uncovered which teaches you through StoryLearning®.

With Spanish Uncovered you’ll use my unique StoryLearning® method to learn Spanish naturally through story… not rules. It’s as fun as it is effective.

If you’re ready to get started, click here for a 7-day FREE trial.

Prefer watching videos to reading? Hit play on the video below from the StoryLearning Spanish YouTube channel to watch teacher Beatriz’s video about Spanish homonyms, which includes a long story filled with them! Otherwise, keep scrolling to read the post.

What Are Spanish Homonyms?

Simply put, Spanish homonyms (also called homónimos in Spanish) are words that have different meanings, but are pronounced or spelled the same way.

Let's take como vs cómo as an example. The first word is often translated as “like” or “as” in English. Perhaps you've seen it the expression estar como una cabra (to be off your head/your rocker [lit. as crazy as a goat]). Como can also mean “I eat”.

In contrast, the version with a Spanish accent mark means “how” or sometimes “what” or why”. You've probably seen it in examples like ¿Cómo se llama? (What's your name?).

There are plenty of examples in English too, like “bat”, “rock” and “trunk” as well as pairs like “sea” and “see” or “right” and “write”. 

The Two Types Of Spanish Homonyms

As you may have figured out by now, homonyms in Spanish can also be divided into two different categories: homophones and homographs. Let’s focus on each one in depth.

Spanish Homophones

Homophones (called homófonos in Spanish) are word pairs that sound the same, but are spelled differently (and have different meanings).

One example is orca and horca. An orca is of course an adorable a sea animal whereas horca is an execution device – the gallows!

Because the H is silent in Spanish, these two words are pronounced the same, so they fall into the category of homophones.

In fact, knowing how Spanish pronunciation and also Spanish verb conjugation work will help you understand why some words are considered homophones.

Other examples of homophone words in Spanish are:

HomophonesDifferent meaningsExamples
1) botar | 2) votar1) to throw away/to take out
2) to vote		1) ¿Botaste la basura ayer? (Did you take out the garbage last night?)
2) ¿A qué candidato votaste en las elecciones presidenciales? (Which candidate did you vote for in the presidential elections?)
1) cayo | 2 and 3) callo1) key/islet
2) callus
3) “to shut up” in the first person singular of the present simple tense		1) Este verano viajé a Cayo Cangrejo (This summer I traveled to Crab Key)
2) Tengo un callo en el talón (I have a callus on my heel)
3) Yo no me callo cuando alguien dice algo ofensivo (I don’t shut up when someone says something offensive)
1) hierba | 2) hierva1) grass/herb
2) “to boil” in the first person singular of the present subjunctive tense		1) Me encanta el olor a hierba recién cortada (I love the smell of fresh-cut grass)
2) ¿Quieres que hierva los vegetales? (Do you want me to boil the vegetables?)
1) rayo | 2) rallo1) bolt
2) “to grate” in the first person singular of the present simple tense		1) ¡Casi me parte un rayo! (I was almost struck by lightning!)
2) ¿Rallo la zanahoria o la prefieres en cubitos? (Shall I grate the carrot or do you prefer it diced?)
1) baya | 2) valla | 3) vaya1) berry
2) fence
3) “to go” in the first person present subjunctive tense		1) ¿Quieres una baya de mi jardín? (Do you want a berry from my garden?)
2) No podemos pasar por la valla (We can get through because of the fence)
3) Quiero que él se vaya de aquí inmediatamente (I want him to leave immediately)
Spanish homophones chart

Of course we need to take different Spanish varieties into account when defining homophones, because some regions pronounce letters in their own unique way.

For example, in Latin America and some regions of Spain, the S, the C and the Z are pronounced the same way, as opposed to most of Peninsular Spain, where they distinguish the two sounds.

This means that some homophones in one region may not be homophones in another.

This is the case for words like casa (house) and caza (hunting). Because Latin America Spanish speakers don’t tell these two sounds apart, they will consider them homophones, but that’s not the case for most Spaniards. 

Spanish vocab pack

Spanish Homographs

The second category of Spanish homonyms are homographs: words that are both spelled and pronounced the same, but have different meanings.

This means that all homographs are homophones and homonyms, kind of like a Russian doll, with little versions of itself on the inside.

This is what happens with the word río. It can either mean “river” or it can be the first person singular of the verb “to laugh” when conjugated in the present simple tense.

How can we know what it means just by looking at it? Well, we can’t: we have to rely on the context to understand what the person using this word is trying to communicate. 

Here is an example of a homograph in an Argentine comic strip called Gaturro:

In case you didn’t understand the joke, the punchline relies on the homograph vendo.

This word is the first person singular form of both vender (to sell) and vendar (to bandage) when conjugated in the present simple tense. This would be the English translation of the comic strip:

“Do you like my dog?”

“Err, yes…”

“I’ll sell it to you…”

“No, let me…”

“I’ll bandage it up for you…!”

Here is a chart with more examples of homographs for you to learn:

HomographsDifferent meaningsExamples
peso1) weight (noun)
2) “to weigh” in the first person singular of the present simple tense
3) a type of currency used in Latin America		1) No sé el peso exacto de mi gato (I don’t know the exact weight of my cat)
2) Yo peso 62 kilos (I weigh 62 kilos)
3) ¿Tienes 50 pesos para prestarme? (Do you have 50 pesos I could borrow?)
vela1) candle
2) sail of a ship
3) “to look after” in the first person singular of the present simple tense
4) “to mourn” in the first person singular of the present simple tense		1) ¡Se cortó la luz! Enciende una vela (The power went out! Light up a candle)
2) ¡Icen la vela mayor! (Raise the mainsail!)
3) Yo velo por los intereses de mi madre (I look after my mother’s interests)
4) La familia vela al abuelo Luis (The family mourns grandfather Luis)
llama1) the animal “llama”
2) flame
3) “to call” in the third person singular of the present simple tense		1) ¿Has visto una llama alguna vez? (Have you ever seen a llama?)
2) Me quemé con la llama de la cocina (I burned myself with the stove flame)
3) Mi tía me llama cada jueves (My aunt calls me every Thursday)
salsa1) sauce
2) a traditional Caribbean dance		1) ¡Esta salsa de tomate es riquísima! (This tomato sauce is delicious!)
2) Mi hermana baila salsa y bachata (My sister dances salsa and bachata)
cerca1) close
2) fence
3) “to fence off” in the third person singular of the present simple tense		1) ¿El cine está cerca de aquí? (Is the cinema close-by?)
2) La cerca de casa está rota (My house’s fence is broken)
3) El granjero cerca su campo (The farmer fences off his field)
libra1) pound (weight)
2) pound (currency)
3) “to get rid off” in the third person singular of the present simple tense		1) Una libra equivale a 0,45 kilos (One pound equals 0.45 kilos)
2) ¿Tienes una libra para prestarme? (Do you have a pound I could borrow?)
3) Argentina se libra de España en 1810 y en 1816 (Argentina got rid of Spain in 1810 and 1816)
uno1) one (number)
2) impersonal construction
3) “to unite” in the first person singular of the present simple tense		1) La carrera empieza en tres, dos uno… ¡ya! (The race starts in three, two, one… go!)
2) Uno sabe que fumar hace mal (One knows that smoking is bad for you)
3) Yo uno mi pasión por la cocina con mis conocimientos en ciencia (I unite my passion for cooking with my scientific knowledge)
nada1) nothing
2) “to swim” in the third person singular of the present simple tense		1) No quiero nada para comer, gracias (I don’t want anything to eat, thank you)
2) Ella nada todas las mañana (She swims every morning)
pila1) battery (it’s also called batería)
2) pile		1) ¡Mi reloj se quedó sin pila! (My watch ran out of battery!)
2) En mi silla hay una pila de ropa (In my chair there is a pile of clothes)
cola1) tail
2) line/queue
3) glue (it’s also called pegamento)		1) Ese perro tiene la cola peluda (That dog has a fluffy tail)
2) ¡La cola para el cajero automático es eterna! (The queue for the ATM machine is never-ending)
3) ¿Tienes cola? Necesito pegar un papel (Do you have glue? I need to glue a paper)
sal1) salt
2) “get out” in the second person singular in the imperative mood		1) ¿Podrías pasarme la sal, por favor? (Could you pass me the salt, please?)
2) ¡Sal de ahí ahora mismo! (Get out of there right now!)
Spanish homographs chart

Getting Your Head Around Spanish Homonyms With Stories

As you've discovered in this post, when it comes to homonym words in Spanish, context is your friend. So make sure you learn Spanish in context, not with lists of random words or grammar rules.

What's the best context to learn from? In my book (!), it's stories. This is StoryLearning after all. By reading and listening to short stories in Spanish you'll see homonyms over and over, so you'll soon get used to them.

Prefer listening to reading? Tune in to the StoryLearning Spanish Podcast! Each season includes 150 episodes filled with real-life vocabulary in a fun, easygoing story to enjoy while you learn. You can find the podcast on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Olly Richards

Olly Richards

Creator of the StoryLearning® Method

Facebook Instagram Linkedin Youtube

Olly Richards is a renowned polyglot and language learning expert with over 15 years of experience teaching millions through his innovative StoryLearning® method. He is the creator of StoryLearning, one of the world's largest language learning blogs with 500,000+ monthly readers.

Olly has authored 30+ language learning books and courses, including the bestselling "Short Stories" series published by Teach Yourself.

When not developing new teaching methods, Richards practices what he preaches—he speaks 8 languages fluently and continues learning new ones through his own methodology.

×