Spanish words 41 to 165

Spanish Vocabulary

Learn 10 Spanish words per day and know 2,500 words after one year!

Many words in Spanish and English are similar, but similar words can have very different meanings, so be careful.

Here are words 41 to 165* to know in Spanish:

m. = masculine noun; f. = feminine noun.

If a grammatical gender is not marked for a noun below, it is because "it's complicated"; for example, the word is masculine in some meanings and feminine in others, or it can be used as a noun but is more commonly used as an adjective, among other possibilities.

acción f. action
actividad f. activity
aire m. air
arte art [usually m. when singular (el arte moderno modern art) and f. when plural (las bellas artes fine arts)]
atención f. attention; service
banco m. bank
Barcelona Barcelona
base f. base
calidad f. quality
capacidad f. capacity
capital capital [economics] m.; capital [city] f.
caso m. case
causa f. cause
central central
centro m. center; downtown
clase f. class
color m. color
comisión f. commission
común common
comunicación f. communication
comunidad f. community
condiciones f. conditions
congreso m. congress
crisis f. crisis; recession
cultura f. culture
Words pronunciation (a to c): 0:53 (53s)
decisión f. decision
defensa f. defense
diferentes different; various
director m. or directora f. director; principal [education]
dólares m. dollars
economía f. economy
económico economic; inexpensive
educación f. education; manners
efecto m. effect
elecciones f. elections
elementos m. elements
energía f. energy
época f. epoch; era
espacio m. space
especial special
estudio m. study
Europa Europe
experiencia f. experience
familia f. family
figura f. figure
final end m.; final [sports] f.
función f. function
futuro m. future
Words pronunciation (d to f): 0:48 (48s)
general general
grupo m. group
historia f. history
idea f. idea
imagen f. image
importante important; major
información f. information
interés m. interest
interior m. interior
internacional international
investigación f. investigation; research
julio July
justicia f. justice
libertad f. liberty
Madrid Madrid
México Mexico; Mexico City
miembros m. members
ministerio m. ministry [government]
ministro m. or ministra f. minister [government]
minutos m. minutes
momento m. moment
movimiento m. movement
música f. music
Words pronunciation (g to m): 0:42 (42s)
nacional national
natural natural
necesario necessary
necesidad f. necessity
número m. number
objetivo m. objective
objeto m. object
opinión f. opinion
organización f. organization
origen m. origin
parte part f.; report m.
persona f. person
personal personal
población f. population
policía the police f.; the police officer m.
política f. politics
político m. or política f. politician
popular popular
posibilidad f. possibility
posible possible
posición f. position
presencia f. presence
presente present
presidente m. or presidenta f. president
principal principal [i.e., main]; principal [economics] m.
principio m. principle; beginning
problema m. problem
proceso m. process; trial, proceedings [law]
producción f. production
productos m. products
programa m. program
público m. public; audience
puntos m. points; stitches [medicine]
Words pronunciation (n to p): 1:09 (69s)
realidad f. reality
relación f. relation; relationship
relaciones f. relations [international, sexual, etc.]
república f. republic
resultados m. results
secretario m. secretary
sector m. sector
seguridad f. security
serie f. series
servicio m. service
silencio m. silence
sistema m. system
situación f. situation
social social
sociedad f. society
superior superior
televisión f. television
total total
unión f. union
universidad f. university
zona f. zone; area
Words pronunciation (r to z): 0:41 (41s)

*These words are "cognates"—words that are the same, or nearly the same, in both Spanish and English. Remember, though, that words can have more than one meaning! For example, the Spanish word 'parte' has many of the same meanings of the English word 'part' (a piece of the whole, some of), and that is the main meaning in both languages. However, the English 'part' can also mean an actor's role in a play or movie, or the line along which someone separates his or her hair, while the Spanish 'parte' can mean an official report. As you can see, even words that share a few meanings in two languages may also have additional meanings that are found only in one language or the other.

It is easy to think, if you have not studied another language for very long, that for every word in your native language, there is one, and only one, word in the other language. This is very far from the truth! It is a mistake to look for this one-to-one, language-to-language, correspondence. It is also a mistake to think that a word that looks like one you are familiar with from your own language has the same meaning in another language. For example, 'crime' is 'delito' (not 'crimen,' which is 'murder'); 'embarrassed' is 'avergonzado' or 'apenado' (not 'embarazada,' which is 'pregnant'); 'intoxicado' is 'suffering from food poisoning' (not 'drunk,' which is 'borracho' or 'ebrio'); 'pretender' is 'to try to' or 'to intend to' (not 'to pretend,' which is 'fingir'). The words mentioned in this paragraph are "false cognates"; they look the same in both languages, but their meanings are not the same at all!

It is important, always, to pay attention to what a word means in its language. On the rare occasions when it means the same as a similar word in your own language, you can celebrate. Otherwise, learn what it really means in the other language, so you can use it correctly, the way native speakers of that language use it and understand it.

Also know that, on these pages, I am not telling you all the meanings of every word; only the main meanings. As you are a beginning student of Spanish, it is better not to overwhelm you. If your goal is to learn Spanish well and accurately, I highly recommend you spend the few extra dollars up front for the best, biggest dictionary you can get. At this moment that would be the Collins Spanish Dictionary:

It is certainly possible to use a smaller dictionary, but then you are susceptible to "small dictionary syndrome," which will have you learning things about Spanish that are neither true nor accurate (and which you will have to unlearn later). It will be easier on you to learn the correct meanings the first time!

URL for this page: http://www.spanishpronto.com/vocabulary_0005.html
More helpful information for learning more Spanish at: Spanish Pronto main page.
Created -- 2017-07-04
Revised -- 2018-11-11