False cognates are pairs of words that seem to be cognates because of similar sounds and meaning, but have different etymologies; they can be within the same language or from different languages, even within the same family. For example, the English word "dog" and the Mbabaram word "dog" have exactly the same meaning and very similar pronunciations, but by complete coincidence. Likewise, English ' and Spanish ' came by their similar meanings via completely different Proto-Indo-European roots. This is different from false friends, which are similar-sounding words with different meanings, but which may in fact be etymologically related.