How do you say “Open a can of worms” in Spanish?
The closest natural Spanish equivalent is abrir la caja de Pandora, which literally means “to open Pandora's box”. English speakers use open a can of worms to mean to start dealing with something that creates further difficult problems. Works for a chain of trouble, but can sound rather dramatic. Register: neutral. Usage frequency: common.
Closest natural Spanish
abrir la caja de Pandora
/aˈβɾiɾ la ˈkaxa ðe panˈdoɾa/
- Literal meaning
- “to open Pandora's box”
- Register
- neutral
- How often it's used
- common
- Equivalence
Near-exact equivalent
91 out of 100
What a native Spanish speaker would actually say
The Spanish box contains unwelcome consequences rather than worms. Opening it suggests that one action may release problems that are hard to contain.
For a smaller mess, “complicar las cosas” is lighter. It says things became more difficult without suggesting a major chain of disasters.
How close is the meaning?
- Meaning5 out of 5
- Tone4 out of 5
- Context4 out of 5
- Literal similarity2 out of 5
These ratings are editorial approximations, not measurements.
What are other ways to say it in Spanish?
complicar las cosas
Literally: “to complicate things”
Use for a smaller, less dramatic set of difficulties.
In context
English
Reopening the inheritance dispute opened a can of worms.
Spanish
Reabrir la disputa por la herencia abrió la caja de Pandora.
English
That investigation could open a can of worms.
Spanish
Esa investigación podría abrir la caja de Pandora.
Related expressions
- What “Open a can of worms” means in English
- The tip of the iceberg, A small visible part of a much bigger problem.
Last updated 2026-09-19