Is Catalan the same as Spanish?

As a result of lexical evolution over the centuries, Catalan and Spanish have developed distinct vocabularies, despite sharing common roots. While many words may be similar, others can differ drastically. For example, the word for "table" in Catalan is "taula," while in Spanish, it is "mesa." In addition, Catalan has adopted numerous loanwords from other languages, such as Arabic, while Spanish vocabulary has been heavily influenced by the Americas.