Kanji synonyms

I came across this blog post which I found quite enlightening

About halfway down the article, the author gives examples and explanations of pairs of words which have different kanji but sound the same, and have a common meaning but also subtle differences e.g. 丸い vs 円い、生まれる vs 産まれる, 町 vs 街

He also gives recommendations for online (and physical) kanji synonym dictionaries. I like the look of the first of these in particular.

http://www.kanjipedia.jp/sakuin/doukunigi/あ

http://www.nihonjiten.com/nihongo/doukun/

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without getting into mammoth synonym groups that include multiple jōyō and non-jōyō characters such as おそれる (ten characters) or とる (six characters).

gets PTSD flashback from N1 question “Pick the correct kanji writing”
恐れ 怖れ 畏れ 虞

Edit:

舟を漕ぐ (ふね を こぐ)
To row a boat

100% relevant to the beginner book club.

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Hmm.


He maybe should’ve proofread that.

Minor typo aside, that was really interesting! I’d just read a sentence with 超える earlier tonight, and was surprised to realize it shared a similar reading and meaning with 越える when I looked it up. And lo and behold! You find this cool article talking about that same concept.

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