Calor and caliente are often confused by Spanish learners since they both mean hot. However, they’re not interchangeable! This short quiz will test your knowledge of using these two words correctly in various contexts.
La sopa está _____.
The soup is hot.
- A caliente
- B calor
Explanation: Caliente means ‘hot’, but it’s only applied as an adjective. In other words, it describes the temperature of something or someone.
Hoy está haciendo mucho _____.
Today is very hot.
- A calor
- B caliente
Explanation: When using hot to refer to talk about the weather, you must use ‘calor’. As an extra tip, mucho is a quantitative adjective that works with nouns.
¡Cuidado, las tazas están muy ______!
Careful, the cups are very hot!
- A calores
- B calientes
Explanation: In this example, we’re trying to describe what the temperature of the cups is. To do this, we need the adjective ‘caliente’. ‘Calor’ is a singular noun that cannot be pluralized.
Vamos por un helado, tengo _______.
Let’s go for an ice cream, I’m hot.
- A caliente
- B calor
Explanation: ‘Calor’ also refers to the physical feelings the weather causes on someone. Because in this example I’m saying how the weather makes me feel, the correct answer is ‘calor’.
¿Hace _____ en México?
Is it hot in Mexico?
- A caliente
- B calor
Explanation: Calor is a noun that we use in Spanish to talk about the weather of a certain place.
No hay agua _____.
There’s no hot water.
- A calientes
- B caliente
Explanation: Caliente is an adjective, meaning that it expresses the quality of a noun. In this case, that noun is water and ‘caliente’ describes its temperature.
¿Prefieres el _____ o el frío?
Do you prefer the warmth of the cold?
- A calor
- B caliente
Explanation: Calor is a noun related to the weather. For that reason, it can be preceded by a verb or an article.
Tómate este té. El _____ te va a ayudar.
Drink this tea. The heat is going to help you.
- A caliente
- B calor
Explanation: As a noun, calor is always preceded by a verb or an article. This example is not providing the quality of a noun. For that reason, we cannot use ‘caliente’.
¡Qué _____ hace!
It’s so hot.
- A calor
- B caliente
Explanation: Although ‘calor’ and ‘caliente’ mean ‘hot’, you must use calor when describing or talking about the weather.
Estos son los meses más _____ del año.
These are the hottest months of the year.
- A calor
- B calientes
Explanation: This sentence is explaining how the temperature of these months are. Calientes is the right answer because it’s a descriptive adjective. Notice that ‘meses’ is plural, so the adjective must reflect this information.
Quiz Results
| Question | Answer Given | Correct Answer | |
|---|---|---|---|
| La sopa está _____. | |||
| Hoy está haciendo mucho _____. | |||
| ¡Cuidado, las tazas están muy ______! | |||
| Vamos por un helado, tengo _______. | |||
| ¿Hace _____ en México? | |||
| No hay agua _____. | |||
| ¿Prefieres el _____ o el frío? | |||
| Tómate este té. El _____ te va a ayudar. | |||
| ¡Qué _____ hace! | |||
| Estos son los meses más _____ del año. |