llevar to take, to carry; to wear. From Latin levare (“to raise”, “to lift”). Cognate with lever, with the root of alleviate, elevate. Imagine the scene of lifting something and carrying it away. Note the Spanish word for “to lift” is levantar, elevar, not llevar. Not to be confused with llegar (“to arrive”). See also levantar.

acercar to approach. Cognate with circa ("near" as in "ca. 1000 A.D."). Phrase acerca de means "about", "concerning".

papa pope (cognate); potato. Etymology won’t help with the second meaning; in fact, it's a different word, from a native American language, that happens to have the same form. How about a mnemonic such as “El Papa come una patata”? (patata is used in Spain while papa in Latin America.) Don’t confuse this word with papá (“dad”) where the stress is on the second syllable.

toro bull. Cognate with Taurus, a constellation (in astronomy) or a zodiac (in astrology). If you don't know the word, make up a story about how the American automobiles Ford Taurus was named after the bull.

sida AIDS. Acronym for síndrome de inmunodeficiencia adquirida. Note in Spanish, acronyms may not be in all capital.

meter to put (especially “to put in”); to introduce; (reflexive) to meddle, to mess. Cognate with the root (meaning “to send”) of admit, commit, emit, permit, submit, transmit. It may be surprising that this seemingly common word has such a low usage frequency. But its sense is mostly restricted to “to put in”, while poner, “to put” in general especially “to put on top of”, is much more common.

casco helmet; downtown; empty bottle; hull (of a boat). Cognate with quash. But the cognation may be too remote, in spelling and meaning (Wearing a helmet, you won't be quashed in an accident). Alternatively, try a mnemonic such as "Wearing a helmet is like putting your head in a casket; it's safe in there." or "Costco sells helmets."

vacuna vaccine (cognate). This word and English vaccine are both related to vaca (“cow”) because early vaccines were extracted from cows. Not to be confused with vacuum (vacío in Spanish).

cohete rocket. From Catalan coet, Catalan cua, Latin cauda. Cognate with queue, doublet with cola (“tail”). A rocket resembles a tail in shape. But it may not be easy to think of queue or cola when you see cohete. As a mnemonic, think of co-heat as if two engines of a multistage rocket would heat up at the same time (although that’s not true), or think of Gothic architecture, a style featuring a sharp-pointed spire that resembles the tip of a rocket.