Cognates and False Friends
Many words look or sound like words you already know, because languages borrow from each other and share ancestors. Some of those lookalikes mean something else entirely, so a resemblance is a first guess and not an answer.
What a learner can do afterwards
- Guess an unfamiliar word from its likeness to a known one, then check the guess against the sentence
- Give an example of a lookalike word that means something different in the two languages
- Say why a guess from a lookalike still needs checking
1 · Read
Languages borrow from each other. Spanish animal, hospital and idea look like English words. These true friends, called cognates, give you free words.
Bat can mean a flying animal or a stick for balls. Words like this are called homonyms. False friends look the same across languages but mean something else. Looks can trick you.
Treat each lookalike as a guess, not an answer. Read the whole sentence. Ask which meaning fits there. The sentence is your detective kit.
Grow words like a garden, a little each day. Write each new word with the sentence you found it in. Use it aloud. Words you use are words you keep.
Take the free cognates, doubt the lookalikes, and let the sentence decide.
2 · Watch
Take it off screen
Where it sits
Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.