Cognate words are words from different languages that are very similar in spelling and meaning. They have the same root, that is, the same base. For example: student is student (in English), student (in Spanish) and student (in French).
But, you need to be aware of words that are very similar in writing and have different meanings. In this case, they are called false cognates. In English, for example: the meaning of the word actually it is “actually”, despite appearing “actually”. In order not to confuse them, it is important to learn which are actually cognate words.
Examples of cognate words (in alphabetical order)
- accident: accident
- agent: agent
- angel: angel
- ambulance: ambulance
- area: area
- athlete: athlete
- banana: banana
- casual: casual
- chocolate: chocolate
- coffee: coffee
- comedy: comedy
- comic: comic
- competition: competition
- composition: composition
- connect: to connect
- correct: correct
- creation: creation
- dance: dance
- dictionary: dictionary
- different: different
- economy: economy
- elephant: elephant
- electronic: electronic
- emotion: emotion
- example: example
- explanation: explanation
- future: future
- garage: garage
- giraffe: giraffe
- honest: honest
- hour: hour
- human: human
- idea: idea
- important: important
- innocent: innocent
- item: item
- material: stuff
- minute: minute
- mission: mission
- moment: time
- music: music
- musician: musician
- name: name
- normal: normal
- number: number
- object: object
- offensive: offensive
- other: other
- pages: pages
- paint: to paint
- passport: passport
- patient: patient
- persistent: persistent
- planet: planet
- police: police
- pollution: pollution
- positive: positive
- potential: potential
- present: gift
- problem: problem
- reaction: reaction
- regular: regular
- restaurant: restaurant
- simple: simple
- special: Special
- television: television
- team: time
- tomato: tomato
- vegetarian: vegetarian
- video: video
- universe: universe
Read too:
False Friends in English (False Friends)
False Cognates in Spanish (False Friends)
FERNANDES, Marcia. Cognate words in English: what they are and 71 examples.All Matter, [n.d.]. Available in: https://www.todamateria.com.br/palavras-cognatas-em-ingles/. Access at:
See too
- Enem Philosophy Questions
- Languages, codes and their technologies: Enem
- Portuguese in Enem
- Irregular Verbs in Spanish
- Simple Past: commented exercises (medium level)
- Regular and Irregular Verbs in English
- Portuguese mistakes
- Morphology exercises
