Spanish Nouns With Two Genders

Nearly all nouns in Spanish are always masculine or always feminine. But there are a few nouns that can be of either gender.

In most cases, those are the nouns describing what people do for a living, and the gender varies with the person the word stands for. Thus, for example, el dentista refers to a male dentist, while la dentista refers to a female dentist. Un artista is a male artist, while una artista is a female artist. Most of the occupational words that follow this pattern end in -ista. One common exception is atleta: un atleta is a male athlete, while una atleta is a female athlete.

When Gender Affects Meaning

But there are a few nouns where the matter of gender is more complicated. Those are the nouns whose meanings vary depending on the gender of articles or adjectives used with them. Here is a list of the most common such words; only the basic or most usual meanings are included here.

• batería: el batería = male drummer; la batería = battery, female drummer
• busca: el busca = pager (electronic device); la busca = search
• cabeza: el cabeza = male in charge; la cabeza = head (body part), female in charge
• calavera: el calavera = excessively hedonistic man; la calavera = skull
• capital: el capital = investment; la capital = capital city, capital letter
• circular: el circular = pie chart; la circular = circular (printed notice)
• cólera: el cólera = cholera; la cólera = anger
• coma: el coma = coma; la coma = comma
• cometa: el cometa = comet; la cometa = kite
• consonante: el consonante = rhyme; la consonante = consonant
• contra: el contra = drawback or organ pedal; la contra = opposing attitude or an antidote
• corte: el corte = cut, blade; la corte = court (law)
• cura: el cura = Catholic priest; la cura = cure
• delta: el delta = delta (of a river); la delta = delta (Greek letter)
• doblez: el doblez = fold, crease; la doblez = double dealing
• editorial: el editorial = editorial (opinion article); la editorial = publishing business
• escucha: el escucha = male sentry or guard; la escucha = female sentry or guard, the act of listening
• final: el final = end; la final = championship game in a tournament
• frente: el frente = front; la frente = forehead
• guardia: el guardia = policeman; la guardia = protection, custody, guard, police force, policewoman
• guía: el guía = male guide; la guía = guidebook, female guide
• haz: el haz = bundle or light beam; la haz = face or surface (La haz is an exception to the rule about using el with feminine nouns beginning with a stressed a sound.)
• mañana: el mañana = future; la mañana = morning
• margen: el margen = margin; la margen = bank (as of a river)
• moral: el moral = blackberry bush; la moral = morale, morality
• orden: el orden = order (opposite of chaos); la orden = religious order
• ordenanza: el ordenanza = order (opposite of chaos); la ordenanza = orderly
• papa: el papa = pope; la papa = potato
• parte: el parte = document; la parte = portion
• pendiente: el pendiente = earring; la pendiente = slope
• pez: el pez = fish; la pez = tar or pitch
• policía: el policía = policeman; la policía = police force, policewoman
• radio: el radio = radius, radium; la radio = radio (In some areas, radio is masculine in all uses.)
• tema: el tema = subject; la tema = obsession (traditionally feminine for this meaning, although in modern usage tema is usually masculine for all uses)
• terminal: el terminal = electrical terminal; la terminal = shipping terminal
• trompeta: el trompeta = male trumpeter; la trompeta = trumpet, female trumpeter
• vista: el vista = male customs officer; la vista = view, female customs officer
• vocal: el vocal = male committee member; la vocal = vowel, female committee member

Why Some Nouns Have Two Genders

The reasons some of the nouns in this list have two genders is lost in history, but in a few cases the dual gender is a matter of etymology: The masculine noun and feminine are separate words that only coincidentally have the same sound and spelling, making them homographs.

Among the homograph pairs on this list are:

• El papa comes from Latin, which is common for words related to Catholicism, but la papa comes from Quechua, an indigenous South America language.
• Both el haz and la haz come from Latin. The former comes from fascis, the latter from facies.
• El coma comes from a Greek word referring to a deep sleep. While la coma has Greek origins, it came directly to Spanish from Latin.
• El pez comes from the Latin piscis, while la pez comes from the Latin pix or picis.