I read a story about a Spanish learner who said something like "estoy caliente" to someone, meaning they were hot, but that really means "I'm horny" or something like that. Are there any other "false friends" like that that someone should really know?
Technically yes, you would not be saying estoy caliente although there are cases where you might be feeling someone's forehead and you might say está caliente which is like "they are hot to the touch". That's more about temperature of the skin; for saying "I am hot" as in "I feel warm" you say tengo calor
There are a few expressions that are like this, some are regionally applicable.
Sometimes there are also words that have more than one meaning so it can get confusing sometimes
1. The big one people will never stop telling you is that embarazada means "pregnant" not "embarrassed"; if you're feeling embarrassed you usually use avergonzado/a "ashamed" or the verb avergonzarse "to be embarrassed"
2. I was told never to use estar excitado/a because it comes out as "to be aroused". I have however heard people use excitado/a as "excited", but it could be both. I was taught to say entusiasmado/a or emocionado/a "excited" or in some cases ansioso/a "anxious"
3. pretender is not really "to pretend"... it means "to claim" or "to go after", but it could be like "to try to obtain" in the sense of a "pretender to the throne" [someone who makes a claim to the throne], or pretendiente is a "suitor" as in someone who is trying to "woo" someone.... The true word for "to pretend" is fingir which is like "to feign"
4. la decepción means "disappointment" and decepcionar is "to deceive"; el engaño is "deceit" or "deception" and engañar is "to deceive"
5. la demanda is often used as a "lawsuit", where demandar is "to file a claim" or "to file a lawsuit". There are times when la demanda can be a "demand" [like oferta y demanda is "supply and demand"] so I guess this is sometimes a false friend, but I'm used to seeing a "demand" as la petición for "request" or something more extreme as la exigencia or exigir which are often "to demand" or "to require"
6. la sentencia means "sentence" usually in the sense of a courtroom like someone handing down a "sentence" for a conviction. A typical "sentence" is often la frase or la oración
7. el acta is not an "act", it's a "certificate" or an "official recording" of something; an "act" is usually la acción or el acto
8. actual means "current" or "present-day"; usually "actual" is real or verdadero/a "true"
9. el campo is a "field" or "campus", while a "camp" is often el campamento
10. This one comes up every so often but bombero/a means "firefighter" where it comes from la bomba which does mean "bomb" but also means "pump", so a bombero/a is someone working a water pump or hydrant; people mistake it for "bomber" which is bombardero/a "a bombardier" literally
11. constipado/a is a common one. In Spanish it means "to have a cold", think "stuffed up". To be "constipated" is estreñido/a which I think of as "strained"
12. sano/a is "healthy", cuerdo/a is "sane"
13. el éxito is "success", la salida is an "exit"
14. la fábrica is a "factory", related to "fabrication"; people mistake it for "fabric" which is la tela
15. realizar means "to accomplish" or "to make a reality"; darse cuenta is "to realize" or "to have a realization"
16. Usually a librería is a "bookstore", and la biblioteca is "library"; the -ería suffix usually means "a place where something is purchased". There are places where la librería is a library but just be aware that it usually is not
17. sensible is "sensitive", and sensato/a is "sensible" or "someone with good sense"
18. la carpeta is a "folder" or something that holds documents, la alfombra is a "carpet"
19. emocionante means "exciting" or "thrilling", and emocionado/a is often "exciting", while emocional is "emotional"; qué emoción is "how exciting" or "how thrilling" sort of like a "wow" interjection or exclamation
20. la cuestión is usually "question" in the sense of "a matter for discussion or thought" or "the issue"... a usual "question" like asking someone something is often la pregunta. I can't say it's a 100% false friend, but just be aware
21. recordar is "to recall" or "to remind" or "to remember"; "to record" something is grabar
22. en absoluto trips me up every time; it means "absolutely not" or "no way", it is inherently a negative response. The idea of "absolutely" as an affirmative is por supuesto or claro or something along those lines, while "absolutely" as an adverb is absolutamente, totalmente or something like that
23. el disgusto is "displeasure" or "something unpleasant" with disgustar meaning "to cause unhappiness" or "to cause displeasure"; el asco is "disgust" and dar asco is "to disgust"
24. soportar is normally "to put up with" or "to tolerate"; to "support someone" is apoyar and as a noun el apoyo "support"
25. el preservativo is "contraception" mostly understood as "condom"; the "preservatives" in food are los conservadores
There are definitely others but 25 is a nice even number and these are the ones that come to mind.
Also a fun annoying thing that happens in Spanish is that SOMETIMES un billón means "billion" and sometimes it means "trillion". There's a weird issue in Spanish counting where a "billion" can also be mil millón ...it's a whole thing, I have complained about it before but it's just one of those things that Spanish doesn't agree on
There are also many MANY words that are partially false friends, or words that might mean different things in different contexts like la demanda or something like la planta which does mean "plant" but can also mean "floor/story" of a building or "bottom of the foot"
Please feel free to comment more you can think of!
