# The common beginner confusion with onyomi/kunyomi (Question)
**URL:** https://community.wanikani.com/t/the-common-beginner-confusion-with-onyomikunyomi-question/60642
**Category:** Kanji
**Created:** [February 22, 2023, 7:21am UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/the-common-beginner-confusion-with-onyomikunyomi-question/60642 "2023-02-22T07:21:38Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@HARRi](https://community.wanikani.com/u/HARRi)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2023, 7:21am UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/the-common-beginner-confusion-with-onyomikunyomi-question/60642/1 "2023-02-22T07:21:38Z")
Im going nuts.
Isn’t WaniKani almost always first teaching the on’yomi reading of a kanji?
If so, why does the hint state
“When hiragana is attached to a kanji, you can usually assume that that kanji is going to be read using the **kun’yomi** reading, which is exactly what’s going on with this word as well. **By learning this word’s kanji you’ve also learned the reading for this word**.”
Isn’t this implicating that WaniKani first teaches the kun’yomi reading?
I think this is what caused me so much confusion when it comes to remembering if I better try for kunyomi or onyomi.
I am sure I’m messing up again, but please someone help me. Also could not find a real good basic cheat sheet regarding this, while failing to create one myself due to the cards causing me confusion.
Thanks everybody.
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### Author:  [@DIO-Berry](https://community.wanikani.com/u/DIO-Berry)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2023, 7:34am UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/the-common-beginner-confusion-with-onyomikunyomi-question/60642/2 "2023-02-22T07:34:40Z")
WaniKani teaches whichever the admin considers to be the most useful reading. It doesn’t strictly stick to kun or on. Personally, I like this better than trying to memorize 5+ readings of a kanji at once. You’ll learn other readings primarily through vocab and reading offsite.
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### Author:  [@HaseebYousfani](https://community.wanikani.com/u/HaseebYousfani)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2023, 7:41am UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/the-common-beginner-confusion-with-onyomikunyomi-question/60642/3 "2023-02-22T07:41:43Z")
I found it’s best to forget about what is on and what is kun, you’ll naturally know which reading to use when you encounter something in due time.
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### Author:  [@polv](https://community.wanikani.com/u/polv)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2023, 9:39am UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/the-common-beginner-confusion-with-onyomikunyomi-question/60642/4 "2023-02-22T09:39:03Z")
Practically, I remember Kun reading as a full vocabulary with one Kanji.
I think it is best to not only forget about Kun-On, but also to forget that there may be multiple Kun and On readings. Just remember one first, regardless of what it is called.
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### Author:  [@WeebPotato](https://community.wanikani.com/u/WeebPotato)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2023, 10:04am UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/the-common-beginner-confusion-with-onyomikunyomi-question/60642/5 "2023-02-22T10:04:15Z")
@HARRi unless you mean a specific case of a kanji and/or word where it’s confusing, the hints do make sense.
However, WaniKani doesn’t necessarily always teach the on’yomi reading of a kanji. It depends on assumed frequency and/or usefulness of each reading. There are outliers, of course, like teaching the ‘jou’ on’yomi reading of 縄, even though it’s used in only 1 fairly common word and the kun’yomi reading is far more prevalent.
It’s safe to report such outliers 🙂 .
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### Author:  [@system](https://community.wanikani.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2024, 10:04am UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/the-common-beginner-confusion-with-onyomikunyomi-question/60642/6 "2024-02-22T10:04:26Z")
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