If you already know some Spanish and are starting to learn Galician, you’ve probably noticed that the two languages share a massive amount of vocabulary.

Because both languages evolved side-by-side from Latin on the Iberian Peninsula, guessing the meaning of Galician words is often quite easy for Spanish speakers.

This close family relationship also creates false friends.

When I first started teaching Galician years ago, I constantly saw my students mixing up these words. They’d try to say they were eating lunch, but end up saying they were eating breakfast!

Here’s everything you need to know about Galician and Spanish false friends, so you can avoid these common mistakes.

What is a false friend?

In language learning, a “false friend” (or falso amigo) is a word in a new language that looks or sounds exactly like a word in your native language, but means something completely different.

If you’re a native English speaker who learned Spanish, you already know the classic example: embarazada. It looks like it should mean “embarrassed” in English, but it actually means “pregnant” in Spanish!

Between Galician and Spanish, there are many false friends. Because the languages are so closely related, it’s very tempting to assume a Galician word means the exact same thing as its Spanish twin.

Common false friends between Galician and Spanish

To help you out, I’ve put together a table of the most common false friends that trip up beginners.

You should definitely memorize these!

Seeing false friends in action

Let’s look at a few of these in context so you can see exactly how confusing they can be if you mix them up.

Almorzo vs almuerzo

In Galician, o almorzo is the very first meal of the day. In Spanish, el desayuno is breakfast, while el almuerzo usually refers to lunch or a mid-morning snack.

If a Spanish speaker hears this and applies Spanish rules, they’ll think you’re eating toast for lunch! (Note: The Galician word for lunch is o xantar).

Cadeira vs cadera

In standard Galician, a cadeira is a piece of furniture you sit on. The Galician word for your actual hip bone is o cadril.

If you confuse this with the Spanish word cadera (hip), your sentence becomes very weird.

Largo vs largo

This is a classic romance language mix-up. In Galician (just like in Portuguese), largo means wide or broad. The Galician word for “long” is actually longo.

In Spanish, larga means long. So if you use this word incorrectly, someone might think a street goes on for miles, rather than just being very wide!

Rato vs rato

In Spanish, “un rato” means a little bit of time (like “espera un rato” - wait a minute). But in Galician, un rato is a physical mouse! The Galician phrase for “a while” is un anaco or un cacho.

If you try to tell a Galician speaker “I’ll be there in a mouse,” you’ll get some very funny looks.

How to stop mixing them up

Because Spanish has such a heavy influence in Galicia, you’ll sometimes hear locals using “Castrapo” (a heavy mix of Spanish and Galician). In Castrapo, people might accidentally use Spanish meanings for Galician words.

However, if your goal is to speak correct, standard Galician, here are a few tips to avoid these mix-ups:

• Learn words in full sentences. Never study a word like almorzo completely alone. Always learn it in a sentence like “I eat cereal for my almorzo in the morning.” Context makes it stick!
• Accept that mistakes are normal. You will eventually tell someone you’re sitting on a hip instead of a chair. Laugh it off! Making funny mistakes is actually one of the fastest ways our brains remember correct vocabulary.
• Don’t assume everything is a direct translation. When you encounter a new Galician word that looks exactly like Spanish, take two seconds to look it up in a dictionary just to double-check its meaning.

Over time, your brain will naturally separate your Spanish vocabulary from your Galician vocabulary.