Vocabulary  词汇  Vocabulario

Cognates  – If you speak one of the Romance languages, like Spanish, French, Italian, or Portuguese, cognates offer a powerful shortcut to building your vocabulary. (This is also somewhat true of the Germanic languages.) Cognates are words that are similar in both languages. BUT be careful about FALSE FRIENDS, which are words that look the same in both languages but have different meanings. 

If your native language is not one of the Romance languages, you can use other vocabulary building strategies: 

                          examples:             Roots and Affixes                       Picture Dictionaries                     Flashcards

Using Cognates to Develop Comprehension in English

English Spanish Cognates  Inglés Español Cognates                                                                                                                                                                      www.cognates.org/

Inglés español falsos cognados

English Cognate Words Understandable to Spanish, Portuguese, French and Italian speakers                  

http://spanishcognates.org

English Spanish English Spanish - Colorin Colorado

Near-Perfect Cognates: English To Spanish

French Cognates

5000 Portuguese Words You Already Know

List of German cognates with English