Volume IV Word Lab: False Friends, Sound-Alikes and Other Tricky Twins
Word Search Librito Volume IV is built on cognates, false cognates, homophones and homographs. Play, flip, quiz and sample 20 of its pairs.
Tell someone in Spanish that you’re embarazada because you spilled coffee on your shirt, and you’ve just announced a pregnancy. Ask for pie at a bakery and you’ll get a confused look: pie means foot.
Volume IV: The Linguistic Discernment is built on exactly these traps. It’s the most advanced book in the main series, built for advanced learners and anyone who loves wordplay.
What’s inside
Nine kinds of word relationships, each explained on the book’s How to Use pages:
- Cognates: words that look alike and mean the same (accident = accidente).
- False cognates: they look alike but don’t match (carpet ≠ carpeta, which is a folder).
- Homophones in English (flour / flower) and Spanish (vaca / baca).
- Homographs and homonyms: one spelling, several meanings (bat = bate or murciélago).
- Interlingual homonyms: the same spelling in both languages with different meanings (once = one time, but once = eleven).
All in 17 × 15 grids, with backwards words and accented letters throughout.
Play a puzzle
These seven pairs are interlingual homonyms: words that exist in both languages but mean different things. Watch out: familiar shows up on both sides.
Interlingual homonyms
Drag from the first letter to the last, or tap the first letter and then the last. Find the English and the Spanish words.
- Bigger Mayor
- Eleven Once
- Familiar Conocido
- Foot Pie
- Mayor Alcalde
- Network Red
- Once Una Vez
Keyboard: arrow keys to move, Enter on the first and last letter.
Turn on JavaScript to play online.
Flip cards: don’t get fooled
False friends and double meanings
Say the answer out loud, then tap the card to check.
Quick quiz
Can you spot the trap?
Try it at home or in a group
- Trap or twin? Read a pair aloud; everyone shouts trap! (false cognate) or twin! (cognate).
- Minimal pairs. For homophones, say both words and ask which one you meant: flour or flower?
- Comic strip. Draw a four-panel comic where a false cognate causes chaos. Embarazada is a classic.
Volume IV – The Linguistic Discernment
Best for: Advanced adult learners, bilingual readers, wordplay fans
Vocabulary & topics: Wordplay examples include alcohol (Ale, Wine, Bar), body references (Butt, Pee, Bare) and words with more than one meaning (Stake = to bet, Wound, Mourning).
- Solving
- Challenging
- Vocabulary
- Expert
- Puzzles
- 82
- Grid
- 17 × 15
- Size
- 6 × 9 in
A taste of the vocabulary
20 words from the book
Every word from the book used on this page, grouped by theme. Hide the Spanish and test yourself.
Interlingual Homonyms
- BiggerMayor
- ElevenOnce
- FamiliarConocido
- FootPie
- MayorAlcalde
- NetworkRed
- OnceUna Vez
English-Spanish False Cognates
- AssistAyudar
- AttendAsistir
- CarpetAlfombra
- EmbarrassedAvergonzado
- ExitSalida
- FolderCarpeta
- PregnantEmbarazada
- SuccessÉxito
Spanish Homographs
- BankBanco
- BenchBanco
English Homographs
- BatBate
- BatMurciélago
More words
- AccidentAccidente
Want this in your pocket? Mini IV packs the same idea into a 4 × 6 book.
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