This topic mostly for fun. I was doing some reading today and happened to see つらい (difficult) written in kanji (辛い), which is rare. I felt like I was going crazy for thinking it looked exactly like からい (辛い) (spicy), and decided to finally look them up to remember what the difference was. Turns out there isn’t one. They really do share the same kanji, and accompanying kana, and the pronunciation/meaning only differs based on context.
In daily reading this isn’t really a problem, since つらい is written in kana 90 percent of the time, and the other 10 percent you have context, but I’m pretty sure this is a unique case among the words I’ve actually studied so far. There are plenty of cases where multiple kanji can be used for one word (often with slightly different nuance), but I can’t think of any others where the same kanji and kana are used for different words.
But I’m sure it’s not unique within the language, so what are some others? Higher-level speakers/learners especially, what other “pronunciation/meaning only determined by context” vocab have you encountered? And are any pairs like this still in regular use without one usually being written in kana?
The multiple readings for 開く never even occurred to me, though I’ve certainly encountered both. I think, like からい and づらい, my brain just figured there was some minor difference I’d figure out with more vocab study.
I also only knew 額 from its “price” meaning, so I didn’t realize it had two readings as a stand-alone word. (Though in this case it’s apparently an onyomi vs. kunyomi thing.)
I’ve been going through the Core 10k anki deck and one of the early examples is 陸（りく）and 陸（おか）. Different readings, but the same kanji and the same context for usage, pretty much. And in a SRS format, I always have to say the two readings since I have no way of knowing which one the program wants at that moment.
The first example that comes to mind is 行く (いく) and 行う (おこなう). When conjugated in te-form or past tense, they both become 行って and 行った, so you need to differentiate by context (which is usually easy). Interesting thing is, apparently there is an alternative spelling for 行う as 行なう. I came across this one in a novel and thought it was nice to be able to tell them apart, but I don’t think that’s the most common spelling.
よける refers to avoiding a THING (物). If you have a fight with a friend and are trying to avoid them because it’s awkward, that’s よける. You can よける a friend.
さける refers to avoiding a MATTER (事). If you refrain from making a negative comment to your friend to avoid starting a fight, you are さける. You can さける a fight. However, if you are walking away from two people punching each other, you are よける.
@gabweeb From my experience, 丘 replaces 陸 when the reading おか is used unless you’re playing Mahjong, where 陸符 is typically used.
Can we agree to exclude names from this post? I have enough trauma from having students with the same kanji but different names to last the rest of life.
Oh, yeah. Names don’t count. Name kanji are just whatever and the same name will even use different phonetic kanji based on the region (and time of day, and alignment of the planets, and…).
柄
In wk this means pattern and is read がら or え. But you can also read it as つか and then it means the handle of the sword (at least the handle of the katana… i don’t know about rapiers and longswords and such).
縁
In wk means edge and is read ふち. In the context sentence 縁が無い眼鏡 is rimless glasses. But if you read it えにし it mean karma or turn of fate or something along those lines. Considering this it makes more sense to me why 縁談 is marriage proposal.
