What?

Ok, Pete tells me it isn't that big of a deal that there are so many words in Spanish that are very very similar. After all, in English we have 'picture' and 'pitcher' (say them out loud). But still, it fascinates me how there are so many similar words in Spanish. I frequently mix them up so I thought I'd share some of them with you and you can imagine the funny sentences I might have said mixing up these words....plus you might learn some new Spanish vocab....
Hombro (shoulder)
Hambre (hungry)
Hombre (man)
(in case you're wondering I have actually said, "I am very man." instead of "i am very hungry" and I have also said, "my man hurts" instead of "my shoulder hurts.")
Llover (rain)
Llorar (cry)
Llenar (to fill)
Llevar (to take)
Llegar (to arrive)
Ok I realize that some of these sound similar and some will not sound that similar but...they can mix you up if you're tired.
Sacar (to take)
Secar (to dry)

Pagar (to pay)
Pegar (to fight)....imagine the possibilities... "I would like to fight you this much...." instead of pay

Sentar (to sit)
Sentir (to feel) ..... I have said "he sits sad."

Another common mistake that we make as Americans (I made it when I was in Argentina) is to say "embarazada" for embarrassed. It actually means "pregnant."

Finally the all time low mistake that didn't happen to me fortunately but happened to friend of mine was to use the word "excitada" for excited. The word "exitada" does mean "excited" but in a more, how shall I put it, bedroom-style way. If you ever want to say "I'm excited" use "emocionada" which doesn't mean emotional, but 'excited' in the non-bedroom sense.

As you can see, the thing about Spanish is that not pronouncing a vowel correctly can really mess up what you're trying to say. In English we can say, ‘necessarily’ or ‘necessarily’ and people can easily decipher what we mean. Looking at some of the words I posted above you can see this is not the case with us and Spanish. Thankfully the people here are very forgiving and most of the time they know what we mean, and we are getting better at our pronunciation.