# 同音異義語 homophones?

**URL:** <https://community.wanikani.com/t/%E5%90%8C%E9%9F%B3%E7%95%B0%E7%BE%A9%E8%AA%9E-homophones/67364>\
**Category:** Japanese Language\
**Created:** [September 25, 2024, 5:11pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/%E5%90%8C%E9%9F%B3%E7%95%B0%E7%BE%A9%E8%AA%9E-homophones/67364 "2024-09-25T17:11:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![mweitzel3](https://cdck-file-uploads-global.s3.dualstack.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/wanikanicommunity/original/3X/f/d/fd4c154120954695f788402f3bcf4e616499bc2d.png) [@mweitzel3](https://community.wanikani.com/u/mweitzel3)\
**Post date:** [September 25, 2024, 5:11pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/%E5%90%8C%E9%9F%B3%E7%95%B0%E7%BE%A9%E8%AA%9E-homophones/67364/1 "2024-09-25T17:11:27Z")

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Japanese doesn’t have many sounds, so obviously it’s going to have a lot of homophones. Ever since I came across the word 同音異義語 in wanikani, I’ve been giving it a lot more thought. What is 同音異義語? Obviously 橋 and 箸 are, same syllables, different meaning (although different intonation…). But then you have words like 掛ける and 懸ける. Those have different meanings… Sort of. But they’re also sort of the exact same word. They both mean “to hang”. Are those 同音異義語? If not, what are they considered?

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**Author:** ![meagstudies](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/meagstudies/32/632481_2.png) [@meagstudies](https://community.wanikani.com/u/meagstudies)\
**Post date:** [September 25, 2024, 6:02pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/%E5%90%8C%E9%9F%B3%E7%95%B0%E7%BE%A9%E8%AA%9E-homophones/67364/2 "2024-09-25T18:02:00Z")

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I looked into this and yes it seems like they’re considered homophones. But they would be 同訓 (same _kun_) not 同音 (same _on_). [This Japanese website (Kanjipedia)](https://www.kanjipedia.jp/sakuin/doukunigi/items/0000942800) lists all versions of かける as 同訓異義語

And here’s a [wikpipedia](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%90%8C%E8%A8%93%E7%95%B0%E5%AD%97) article on it. According to this, there are three situations where it would be considered 同訓異義語:

> 同訓異字となる漢字の組み合わせには次の3つの場合がある。
> 
> 1. 字義がほぼ同じで、同様の使い方ができる漢字
> 2. 字義が類似しているが、違いがあり、書き分けられる漢字
> 3. 字義がまるで異なるが、たまたま訓では同じ読みをする漢字

1. Kanji that have similar meanings, similar usage, and are pronounced the same
2. Kanji that are somewhat similar in meaning but do have differences, so they are distinguished in writing
3. Kanji meanings that are completely different and have different usage, but are still pronounced the same by chance

掛ける, 懸ける, etc would be situation 2 I think?

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/original/4X/6/2/a/62a8b0f4c59ff2c5b6651ffcf43531480b3e5297.png) [@system](https://community.wanikani.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 6:02pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/%E5%90%8C%E9%9F%B3%E7%95%B0%E7%BE%A9%E8%AA%9E-homophones/67364/3 "2025-09-25T18:02:59Z")

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