1. curral
   corral
2. cural
   quorral

Many words relating to the Old West come from the Spanish language. This is, in part, because much of present-day New Mexico, Arizona and California once belonged to Mexico.

1. rodeo
   rodo
2. roday
   rodayo

At a rodeo, you can watch cowboys, ranch hands or professional rodeo athletes show off their riding and roping skills. The original pronunciation was "ro-day-o," like the street in Los Angeles.

1. feista
   fiesto
2. fiesta
   fyesta

Do Spanish speakers refer to "fiestando" the same way that we refer to "partying"? Just wondering.

1. macho
   mako
2. matcho
   matcha

In English, the word "macho" implies an aggressive or not entirely convincing attempt at masculinity. Think of Will Ferrell in many of his roles.

1. tomayto
   tomatto
2. tommato
   tomato

It's not a big surprise that quite a few words for food come from Spanish, when they were introduced from the Latin American world. In Spanish, the spelling is a little different: "tomate."

1. lassi
   laso
2. lasso
   lazo

"Lasso" can be a noun or a verb. To "lasso" an animal is to catch it by throwing a looped rope.

1. plata
   platza
2. plazza
   plaza

This word is also related to "piazza" in Italian. "Plata" in Spanish means "silver."

1. mayza
   mesa
2. meso
   mess

You might recognize this from the city of Mesa, Arizona. The word "mesa" means "table" in Spanish.

1. cigar
   ciggar
2. seger
   seegar

You probably knew this one because of cigars' longtime association with Cuba. The Spanish word is "cigarro."

1. adoby
   adobe
2. adobo
   adobey

"Adobe" means "mud brick" and was a common building material in the Old West. Nowadays, it's also the design suite that includes Photoshop.

1. mocito
   mosquina
2. mosquito
   mojito

The Spanish word for fly is "mosca." Oddly, it turns from feminine to masculine in "mosquito."

1. canyon
   canyun
2. kanyon
   caldera

A canyon is a gorge or ravine on a grand scale. Its original Spanish spelling was "canon."

1. senora
   sera
2. cierra
   sierra

You might find this word familiar from the Bogart film, "Treasure of the Sierra Madre." Or from California and Nevada's Sierra Nevada mountain range.

1. temblar
   tembar
2. tembor
   temblor

"Temblor" is Spanish for "shaking" (as a noun, not a verb form). English adopted it as a word for "earthquake," but the more common word for "earthquake," in Spanish, is "terremoto."

1. guerila
   gurilla
2. guerrilla
   guerilla

This word, which is spelled with two r's and two l's, means "little war." It's derived from the idea that a war fought by individuals in small skirmishes is "little" compared to that fought with armies and navies.

1. matadeo
   mattador
2. matador
   mataddore

"Matar" means "to kill" in Spanish. Bullfights often do end with the death of the bull, which is why animal-rights activists oppose them.

1. aficinnado
   aficionado
2. aficionato
   affinato

Fun fact: This word was popularized by Ernest Hemingway, who discovered it when he was fascinated with bullfighting. A person with "aficion" for the sport really *got* bullfighting in a way that other people didn't.

1. padio
   patio
2. pattio
   pata

This can mean "courtyard," "play yard," or "parade ground" in Spanish. In English, it's usually a paved outdoor area just behind a house.

1. vigillante
   wigilante
2. vigilante
   viggilante

In Spanish, "vigilante" is an adjective meaning "vigilant." (It's one of many cognates). A "vigilante nocturno" is a night watchman or guard.

1. flotilla
   flowtilla
2. flottila
   flota

"Flota" alone is Spanish for fleet. "Flotilla" is the diminutive, and is often used loosely in English: "A flotilla of paper airplanes sailed down from the upper balcony."

1. aramdillo
   armadillo
2. armadilo
   armmadillo

Diminutives in Spanish are often formed with "-illo" or "-ito." So "armado," for "armed," turns into "armadillo," or "little armed (thing)."

1. tobako
   tobbaco
2. tobacco
   tobaco

This comes from the Spanish "tabaco." It is entirely a New World crop, introduced to Europe after explorations to Latin America.

1. embarcaderro
   emmbarcadero
2. embarkadero
   embarcadero

This is a tricky one to spell. It might help to be familiar with San Francisco, whose east shoreline is known as the Embarcadero district.

1. carrgo
   kargo
2. cargo
   carggo

This is from the word "cargar," meaning "to load up." Fun fact: A "cargo cult" means a recently-developed religion based on the expectation of material gains. That is, when explorers from advanced nations dropped crates of goods onto beaches, the natives might have developed a cargo cult that sees them as gods.

1. burrito
   burito
2. burritto
   buritoe

This literally means "little burro," which sounds inauspicious to us. "What's in this?" "Oh, a little burro."

1. saulsa
   sallsa
2. salsa
   sauza

This means "sauce," unsurprisingly. One maker uses the slogan, "Es una salsa ... muy salsa!" which means "It's a very saucy sauce!"

1. huricane
   hurricane
2. hurrycane
   hurikane

This comes from the Spanish "huracan." That word is, itself, a borrowing from a South American tribal language, as Spain is not prone to hurricanes.

1. moejito
   mojito
2. mohito
   moheto

Maybe Americans like it for its resemblance to the word "mojo." In Spanish, "mojar" simply means "to moisten."

1. rumba
   ruhmba
2. rumbba
   roomba

The rumba is a slow dance with a lot of hip action. A "Roomba" is the automated vacuum cleaner that cats like to ride.

1. canoe
   canue
2. kanoe
   canoo

This is adapted from the Spanish word "canoa." Spanish explorers first saw Native Americans using these narrow, dugout crafts.

1. bueno
   bueyno
2. bunno
   beuno

It's rare to find an American who doesn't know this one. But they might use it interchangeably with "bien," the adverb for "well."

1. mananna
   manyana
2. manana
   manna

It's spelled like "banana," but is pronounced like "manyana." It helps if you imagine the tilde over the first n.

1. vaya
   peso
2. heso
   hasta

"Hasta" means "until." "Hasta la vista," popularized by its use in the movie "Terminator 2" and an MC Hammer song, is an honorary English phrase by now.

1. Camino
   Cammino
2. Camaro
   Camargo

Though in everyday conversation, Americans don't use "camino" for "road," we've borrowed it a lot for road names, like "El Camino Real," meaning, "The Royal Road." There was also a funny hybrid truck called a Chevy El Camino.

1. chocklate
   chocolate
2. chocolatt
   chalklit

The Spanish adapted this from a Nahuatl word, xocolatl. Both coffee and chocolate were imported to Europe from the New World. It makes you wonder, how did anyone get anything done in pre-exploration Europe?