A list of similar-looking Japanese kanjis, such as 犬 (inu, "dog") and 大 ("big"), 人 (hito, "person") and 入 ("enter"), and 本 (hon, "book") and 木 ("tree")Read More

This post introduces confusing Japanese kanji words that have two different readings and meanings. For each word, there is a unique example sentence that contains both usages in the same context. When you encounter these words in a text, make sure you always take the context into account to confirm their meaning/reading. 辛い Reading/Meaning からい, “hot, spicy” つらい, “tough, hard, painful” Example 辛（から）い食べ物だけを１時間食べ続けるなんて、私には辛（つら）すぎる。 It is too painful for me to keep eating only spicy food for one hour. Additional Note For some people, eating spicy (からい) food can be quite painful (つらい). Furthermore, there is also a similar-looking kanji “幸”, which means “happiness” as in 幸 （しあわ）せ and 幸福（こうふく）. 空く/空いている…Read More