# Homographs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Feedback\ **Created:** [December 13, 2023, 5:30am UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/homographs/64099 "2023-12-13T05:30:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![escargotagile](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/escargotagile/32/663332_2.png) [@escargotagile](https://community.wanikani.com/u/escargotagile)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2023, 5:30am UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/homographs/64099/1 "2023-12-13T05:30:28Z")
I hope this is the right place to post this question. It’s about a specific word, but there will probably be more cases like it. On level 4 there’s this vocabulary: 早々. The meaning is “As Soon As, Just After, Immediately After, Quickly, Early”, and it has two readings. When I look it up on renshuu, it seems to show that the meaning depends on the reading: はやばや (adverb) early, quickly, promptly そうそう (adverb) 1. as soon as…, just after…, immediately after… 2. hurriedly, in haste, quickly, promptly, early So, when used as “as soon as, immediately after”, is そうそう the only reading? Does wanikani have any way of showing this? And what about the collocation examples? Is there any way of knowing which reading I should use in each word combination? ---
**Author:** ![MikeyDC65](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/mikeydc65/32/656222_2.png) [@MikeyDC65](https://community.wanikani.com/u/MikeyDC65)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2023, 5:46am UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/homographs/64099/2 "2023-12-13T05:46:06Z")
I had this same question not long ago and found [an answer on the Japanese stack exchange](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/51902/how-should-i-read-%E6%97%A9%E3%80%85-as-%E3%81%9D%E3%81%86%E3%81%9D%E3%81%86-or-%E3%81%AF%E3%82%84%E3%81%B0%E3%82%84) which itself sources 例文.jp. While it’s not an exact match by any means, it seems to be quite reminiscent of fast vs quickly in English. Notably, fast and quickly are quite similar, but have distinct definitions and uses. ---
**Author:** ![YanagiPablo](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/yanagipablo/32/303421_2.png) [@YanagiPablo](https://community.wanikani.com/u/YanagiPablo)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2023, 7:48am UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/homographs/64099/3 "2023-12-13T07:48:40Z")
Another striking exemple is 何人 なんにん is how many people (possible reply 三人) ~~なん~~ なにじん is which nationality (possible reply 中国人) ---
**Author:** ![TofuguNico](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/tofugunico/32/616825_2.png) [@TofuguNico](https://community.wanikani.com/u/TofuguNico)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2023, 9:25am UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/homographs/64099/4 "2023-12-13T09:25:20Z")
> [@escargotagile](#): > > So, when used as “as soon as, immediately after”, is そうそう the only reading? Does wanikani have any way of showing this? > > And what about the collocation examples? Is there any way of knowing which reading I should use in each word combination? Thanks for bringing this up! I’ll report back to the team and let you know what they say. ---
**Author:** ![Myria](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/myria/32/140296_2.png) [@Myria](https://community.wanikani.com/u/Myria)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2023, 8:43am UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/homographs/64099/5 "2023-12-14T08:43:45Z")
> [@YanagiPablo](#): > > なんじん is which nationality Small correction: this is read なにじん The „as soon as, immediately after“ meaning for そうそう is often used as a suffix. My dictionary lists examples like 入社早々, 開始早々, 新年早々. Also, the other meaning for そうそう „quickly, promptly“ is often used in the form of そうそうに (仕事を早々に切り上げる), while はやばや (with the same meaning) is more likely to be followed by と (早々と投票を済ます). A hint from my 明鏡 dictionary explains this quite clearly: > 「早々と」は「はやばや」と読む。「新年早々・着任早々」など名詞に付く場合や「早々に」 「早々から」 「早々の」などは「そうそう」と読む。 You can see the difference in meaning quite clearly in the examples I think. The 新年早々 etc only make sense with the „immediately after“ meaning. ---
**Author:** ![YanagiPablo](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/yanagipablo/32/303421_2.png) [@YanagiPablo](https://community.wanikani.com/u/YanagiPablo)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2023, 7:26pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/homographs/64099/6 "2023-12-14T19:26:11Z")
> [@Myria](#): > > Small correction: this is read なにじん Oops, thanks for the correction ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/original/4X/6/2/a/62a8b0f4c59ff2c5b6651ffcf43531480b3e5297.png) [@system](https://community.wanikani.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2024, 7:26pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/homographs/64099/7 "2024-12-13T19:26:34Z")
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