Hello everyone!
Summer is just around the corner, at least in the northern hemisphere, which means greener trees, warmer weather, and new subjects in WaniKani! 
From Wednesday, June 10, 2026 to Wednesday, July 1, 2026, we’ll be updating WaniKani content with another round of additions and movements. Like before, the updates are designed to make your learning experience better. We’ve considered factors like how common a word is, how hard it is to learn, whether it reinforces under-supported kanji readings, and how easily it can be confused with similar items.
This time, the updates include
- New additions of kanji and vocabulary
- Level movements to improve scaffolding
There will be no downtime for these updates. You won’t need to do anything to see them, and anything you’ve started learning stays right where it is.
The full list of updates is below, along with brief explanations of our reasoning. We’ve spread the updates over four batches this time, and tried to space things out so you won’t see too many similar items all at once.
Happy reviewing! And as always, thank you for continuing to study with WaniKani 
1. Wed, June 10, 2026 (5 additions, 11 movements) - Published
New Items
- 腹痛 (vocab) - adding to level 24
- 空腹 (vocab) - adding to level 24
- 頭脳 (vocab) - adding to level 24
- 支払う (vocab) - adding to level 15
- 懐 (vocab) - adding to level 32
Level Changes
- Level 18: 木曜日 (vocab) - moving up to level 19
- Level 18: 水曜日 (vocab) - moving up to level 19
- Level 51: Stomach/胃 (radical) - moving down to level 31
- Level 27: 胃 (kanji) - moving up to level 31
- Level 27: 胃 (vocab) - moving up to level 31
- Level 27: 胃痛 (vocab) - moving up to level 31
- Level 27: 腹 (kanji) - moving down to level 24
- Level 27: 腹 (vocab) - moving up to level 29
- Level 29: 腹切り (vocab) - moving up to level 30
- Level 27: 痛 (kanji) - moving down to level 23
- Level 27: 頭痛 (vocab) - moving down to level 23
Content Changes
- Radical Stomach/胃 and kanji 胃 are moving to the same level, so the radical components and mnemonics for the kanji will be updated accordingly.
Reasoning
- Adding 腹痛 and 空腹 will mean more reinforcement for the primary ふく reading that’s taught with kanji 腹, which until now has only had 切腹. Related 腹 movements will also allow us to better separate and scaffold the different readings for that kanji, so that ふく can be consolidated first, followed by なか, then はら, with minimal interference.
- Kanji 痛 and 頭痛 are moving down to facilitate the 腹 movements, and to better reflect their own frequency and usefulness. Meanwhile, 胃 subjects are moving up to prevent interference with similar 腹 subjects, and to reflect their somewhat advanced contexts and lower frequency relative to 腹 vocab.
- 頭脳 will be added as a second word to consolidate the ず reading for kanji 頭.
- The single-kanji vocab 懐 will be added to teach the kanji’s kun’yomi reading ふところ, as well as to provide more context for why 懐 appears in words like 懐中電灯 (new addition in Batch 3).
- 支払う is being added to bring a common and useful daily-life word to WaniKani.
- Moving up 水曜日 and 木曜日 will help space out the 曜日-related vocabulary words better, as they are currently concentrated in level 18.
2. Wed, June 17, 2026 (6 additions, 9 movements) - Published
New Items
- 空き家 (vocab) - adding to level 14
- 付き合う (vocab) - adding to level 16
- 真面目 (vocab) - adding to level 18
- 頭突き (vocab) - adding to level 25
- 惹 (kanji) - adding to level 43
- 惹く (vocab) - adding to level 43
Level Changes
- Level 29: 街道 (vocab) - moving up to level 44
- Level 13: 空き缶 (vocab) - moving up to level 14
- Level 18: 金曜日 (vocab) - moving down to level 16
- Level 31: 地下街 (vocab) - moving down to level 29
- Level 27: 切腹 (vocab) - moving down to level 25
- Level 48: 灯 (kanji) - moving down to level 30
- Level 48: 電灯 (vocab) - moving down to level 30
- Level 48: 街灯 (vocab) - moving down to level 30
- Level 29: お腹 (vocab) - moving down to level 26
Reasoning
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Two of this round’s additions will focus on consolidating under-represented readings: 頭突き is a fun word that further consolidates the ず reading of 頭, and 空き家 will provide support for the や reading of 家.
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付き合う and 真面目 are being added to bring more common, useful, and long-overdue vocab words to WaniKani. 真面目 also has an unusual reading that makes it particularly worth teaching.
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Though not jōyō, 惹 is a commonly used kanji, so we are adding it along with the relatively high-frequency vocab 惹く.
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Various movements will be carried out to improve level distribution and teaching order: 空き缶 is moving up a level for separation from 空く and to be placed in the same level as 空き家; 金曜日 is moving down to improve the teaching order of 曜日-related vocabulary, which is currently concentrated in level 18; 切腹 and お腹 are moving down as part of 腹-related movements to better order its various readings; 街道 is moving up to reflect its unusual かい reading and relatively lower frequency compared to other 街 vocabulary, while 地下街 is moving down to replace it; and the kanji 灯 and its vocabulary 電灯 and 街灯 are moving down to reflect the frequency and visual simplicity of 灯. 街灯’s movement will also help with reinforcing the がい reading of 街.
3. Wed, June 24, 2026 (8 additions, 7 movements) - Published
New Items
- 大家 (vocab) - adding to level 15
- お腹が空く (vocab) - adding to level 27
- 街 (vocab) - adding to level 31
- 街並み (vocab) - adding to level 31
- 懐中電灯 (vocab) - adding to level 34
- 賜 (kanji) - adding to level 46
- 賜る (vocab) - adding to level 46
- 丹精 (vocab) - adding to level 53
Level Changes
- Level 18: 土曜日 (vocab) - moving down to level 17
- Level 18: 日曜日 (vocab) - moving down to level 17
- Level 46: 庄 (kanji) - moving up to level 60
- Level 46: 庄園 (vocab) - moving up to level 60
- Level 48: 灯り (vocab) - moving down to level 33
- Level 53: 丹誠 (vocab) - moving up to level 55
- Level 54: 荘厳 (vocab) - moving up to level 55
Content Changes
- In light of the 丹精 addition, we’re updating 丹誠 content with an improved explanation and meanings to underscore the difference with 丹精.
Reasoning
- 大家 will be added as a common word that further consolidates the や reading of 家.
- お腹が空く will be added as a useful everyday expression which also introduces the すく reading of 空く.
- The single-kanji vocab 街 will be added to introduce that kanji’s まち reading, and 街並み’s addition will help consolidate this while also providing a second vocab word using 並み (the first being 軒並み, which is already on WaniKani).
- 懐中電灯 will be added to introduce the かい reading for 懐, and further help to consolidate the とう reading of 灯.
- We’re adding the new kanji 賜 and supporting vocab 賜る and (in Batch 4) 賜物. The vocab associated with 賜 are somewhat advanced but common, and 賜 is a jōyō kanji that native speakers learn in junior high school.
- 丹精 is being added as the third word to consolidate kanji 丹. We’re also moving 丹誠 up to separate it from the new 丹精 subject.
- Several other movements will also be carried out to improve level distribution and teaching order: 庄 and 庄園 will move up to reflect their advanced level and lower frequency and prevent interference with 荘 items; 荘厳 will move up to improve the teaching order of 荘 readings; 灯り will move down as part of other downward movements for 灯 subjects; and 土曜日 and 日曜日 will move down to improve the teaching order of the 曜日-related vocabulary words, which are currently concentrated in level 18.
4. Wed, July 1, 2026 (8 additions, 1 movement, 1 item to be removed) - Published
New Items
- 付き合い (vocab) - adding to level 17
- 街角 (vocab) - adding to level 33
- 一軒家 (vocab) - adding to level 36
- 覗 (kanji) - adding to level 38
- 覗く (vocab) - adding to level 38
- 覗き込む (vocab) - adding to level 39
- 惹かれる (vocab) - adding to level 43
- 賜物 (vocab) - adding to level 48
Level Changes
- Level 50: 灯る (vocab) - moving down to level 36
Removal
- Level 48: 紛れ (vocab) - removing this subject
Content Changes
- The existing subject 腹立つ (29) will be updated to the more standard 腹が立つ, and will stay in level 29.
- The existing subject 交互 (35) will be updated to 交互に and remain in level 35. This word is primarily used as an adverb, so we think it will be more beneficial for users to learn it in its adverbial form and focus on that usage.
Reasoning
- 付き合い will be added because it introduces the noun version of 付き合う, and is also a common word in its own right.
- Two additions will be made to consolidate under-represented readings: 街角, to consolidate readings for both 街 and 角, and 一軒家, to consolidate the けん reading of 軒 and round out our list of vocab teaching the や reading of 家.
- Though not jōyō, 覗 is a commonly known kanji, so we’re adding it in order to teach relatively high-frequency vocab like 覗く and 覗き込む.
- 惹かれる is being added for further consolidation of the 惹 kanji added in Batch 2. It’s being added in this batch rather than the earlier one to prevent some users from seeing it together with the other vocab 惹く, allowing them to focus on learning one word at a time.
- 賜物 is being added for further consolidation of the 賜 kanji added in Batch 3. It’s being added in this batch rather than the earlier one to prevent some users from seeing it together with the kanji 賜 and the vocab 賜る, which use a slightly different reading.
- We’ll be removing 紛れ (48) to address feedback that teaching both it and まぐれ (25) was redundant. We opted to remove the kanji form because it is less frequent, and likely to create interference with the verb 紛れる (44), which uses the same kanji with a different (and more common) reading.
. Edit: just looked at the alternatives and except for 丹念 (already on here) the pickings are relatively slim. Maybe just a me problem I’m not encountering it.
