At this point in your Spanish learning journey, you already know that Spanish words have two grammatical genders, feminine and masculine. However, did you know that some words can take both genders and mean completely different things? Let's learn more about that in this grammatical point.
Words That Change Meaning
We will show you a list of commonly used words that take both genders and what they mean when they are feminine or masculine.
Naranja and naranjo
Rule 1. As you may have guessed from the example, when naranja is used in its feminine form, it refers to the fruit or even the color, but when it is used in its masculine form, it refers to the orange tree.
El orden and la orden
Rule 2. When orden is used in its feminine form, it refers to an order or mandate given by a person. When used in its masculine form, it would be the equivalent of organization or calmness.
El coma and la coma
Rule 3. When coma is used in its feminine form, it refers to the punctuation mark. When it is used in its masculine form, it refers to the state of being unconscious and having minimal brain activity.
El cura and la cura
Rule 4. The feminine form of this word is related to healing, to a cure. The masculine form refers to a priest.
El cometa and la cometa
Rule 5. El cometa refers to a small body orbiting the Sun, but la cometa refers to the toy that kids fly in the sky attached to a string.
El frente and la frente
Rule 6. Finally, la frente refers to the part of the face, while el frente refers to the front line in a war or battle.
Quiz
1/3Una de mis metas este año es plantar ______ para tener un árbol frutal en la casa.