Language & WorldMental model
A look-alike word is a hypothesis, not a translation.
Spanish and English share thousands of cognates: nación/nation, animal/animal, importante/important. That speeds up learning enormously. Still, treat every look-alike as a guess that you verify in context: the great majority are right, but a small remainder are false friends like 'constipado' (having a cold) or 'éxito' (success). Use the resemblance, but don't trust it blindly.
Useful: Spotted a familiar-looking word? Guess, then check the sentence to see if the meaning really fits.
Source: en.wikipedia.org