English - Spanish cognates workbook with activities for the classroom

Language learners turn to words similar to those of their mother tongue because they can expand their vocabulary and improve their fluency by remembering them quickly in conversation. And these similar words are called cognates.

But what is a cognate?

A cognate is a term derived from Latin which literally means “inbred or with the same ancestor”, which means that a cognate is a word in one language that is similar in spelling, pronunciation and meaning to a word in another language, in this booklet we are going to look at cognates between English and Spanish.

Cognates arise from the influence of languages through linguistic borrowings that are positioned and adapted to the language that receives them over time.

There are three types:

True cognates, also known as perfect cognates, are spelled the same, but pronounced differently depending on the language.

Near-perfect cognates are words that look alike in both languages and mean the same thing, but require a simple formula to convert them, in this case from English to Spanish.

False cognates, commonly known as false friends, are spelled the same or similar, but have a completely different meaning.

In this editable and downloadable workbook you will find an introduction to the three types of cognates, a list with the different types and 5 activities with their answers so that you can check your knowledge.