The Gringo's Guide to Confusing, Quasi-Homophones

In order to spare you from some blunders I have already stumbled upon, may I present:
The Gringo's Guide to Confusing, Quasi-Homophones.

In this installment:
-how to talk about hair, onions, and horses, and know which one you are talking about
-the subtle differences between your father, the potatoes, and the Pope

Now the Spanish words for hair, onion, and horse are very similar in spelling.

hair = cabello
onion = cebolla
horse = caballo

For obvious reasons, conversations mixing and matching any of those three words can quickly rise above my head.

Por ejemplo, I am being told a recipe, but then I think I hear something about hair.
I wonder, does this soup really require hair?
If so, hair from which animal?
From the horse?
Should I also add eye of newt?

Thus, when in doubt, I propose charades.
For hair, rub your head (and pat your tummy, if you are so coordinated).
Want to talk about onions?
Call forth the tears.
Horses?
Whinny or neigh, according to preference.

It's as simple as that.

Now, onto the matter of "papas."
The Spanish words for father, potato, and Pope all hail from the same word, "papa."

el papá = father
la papa = potato
el Papa = the Pope

As you can imagine, dinnertime conversations can involve all three of these words, perhaps even in the same sentence.
What if you need to ask your father whether or not he thinks the Pope would be able to stomach mom's potatoes and mayonnaise combination?

Charades will definitely help here, too.
Just be careful not to call the Pope "the big baked potato" or something less than sacred.

That's all for now.

May you have a great cabello-day, may your food be spiced nicely with cebolla, may the caballo-cop leave you to nap in peace in the park, may your dad serve you potatoes, and may the Pope lend all non-native speakers a bit of grace.

Good luck, gringos! May you ride on swift onions!