# Weirdly similar kanji **URL:** \ **Category:** Japanese Language\ **Created:** [April 5, 2019, 6:58pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/weirdly-similar-kanji/36003 "2019-04-05T18:58:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mangobango](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/mangobango/32/244320_2.png) [@Mangobango](https://community.wanikani.com/u/Mangobango)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2019, 6:58pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/weirdly-similar-kanji/36003/1 "2019-04-05T18:58:08Z")
Why is this a thing? 未 and 末 I mean I imagine it’s even harder to distinguish when it comes to writing Even the stroke order is the same. So what’s the deal? Is there a reason why they look pretty much the same to someone who isn’t focusing on the details? ---
**Author:** ![seanblue](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/seanblue/32/579844_2.png) [@seanblue](https://community.wanikani.com/u/seanblue)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2019, 7:02pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/weirdly-similar-kanji/36003/2 "2019-04-05T19:02:35Z")
Those kinds of differences become more obvious as you learn and read more Japanese. For example, if you see the word 未来, you know it is 未 and not 末, because 末来 isn’t a word. ---
**Author:** ![Pebblesrockz](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/pebblesrockz/32/228421_2.png) [@Pebblesrockz](https://community.wanikani.com/u/Pebblesrockz)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2019, 7:04pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/weirdly-similar-kanji/36003/3 "2019-04-05T19:04:44Z")
I’m still struggling with these. They have single-handedly driven me to madness and also forced me to slow down significantly when reading kanji. No help here, just commiserating ---
**Author:** ![elli-no-nihongo](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/elli-no-nihongo/32/768657_2.png) [@elli-no-nihongo](https://community.wanikani.com/u/elli-no-nihongo)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2019, 7:10pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/weirdly-similar-kanji/36003/4 "2019-04-05T19:10:49Z")
If you think about it, letters like E and F are almost identical “except for that one squiggle”. Even more so for j and i. In time 末 and 未 come to look very different to you. In the meantime they exist to frustrate us budding wanikanians. ---
**Author:** ![SuperLuxDeluxe](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/superluxdeluxe/32/206314_2.png) [@SuperLuxDeluxe](https://community.wanikani.com/u/SuperLuxDeluxe)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2019, 7:23pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/weirdly-similar-kanji/36003/5 "2019-04-05T19:23:27Z")
Okay, so here’s how I did it. 未 = not yet. The smaller bar is NOT YET to the bottom. 末 = end. The smaller bar is at the END (bottom) now. ---
**Author:** ![Glias](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/glias/32/481441_2.png) [@Glias](https://community.wanikani.com/u/Glias)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2019, 7:33pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/weirdly-similar-kanji/36003/6 "2019-04-05T19:33:30Z")
I remembered these by visualizing a person’s arms in reaction to these meanings. 末 “It’s the end!” = throw your arms up yelling (longer bar is on top) 未 “Not yet…” = dejected half shrug with arms at sides (longer bar is on the bottom) ---
**Author:** ![Mangobango](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/mangobango/32/244320_2.png) [@Mangobango](https://community.wanikani.com/u/Mangobango)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2019, 12:23am UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/weirdly-similar-kanji/36003/7 "2019-04-06T00:23:23Z")
If it helps, the way I taught myself to distinguish these particular two is I say the one that has the second line longer says “not yet” and in my mind it’s trying to extend the line even further. The other one (with the shorter second line) reached the “end” and doesn’t want to extend any longer. ---
**Author:** ![Leebo](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/leebo/32/439476_2.png) [@Leebo](https://community.wanikani.com/u/Leebo)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2019, 12:24am UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/weirdly-similar-kanji/36003/8 "2019-04-06T00:24:56Z")
Can anyone think of a word where it would be possible to confuse these even if you couldn’t tell them apart? Even ignoring the fact that they’d be in a sentence with context if you saw them. Also, in handwriting, line length difference is usually exaggerated more than in fonts. ---
**Author:** ![Mangobango](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/mangobango/32/244320_2.png) [@Mangobango](https://community.wanikani.com/u/Mangobango)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2019, 12:25am UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/weirdly-similar-kanji/36003/9 "2019-04-06T00:25:04Z")
At least E and F don’t look identical from far away! But I see your point; I guess each language has its own quirks. ---
**Author:** ![seanblue](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/seanblue/32/579844_2.png) [@seanblue](https://community.wanikani.com/u/seanblue)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2019, 12:26am UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/weirdly-similar-kanji/36003/10 "2019-04-06T00:26:23Z")
> [@Leebo](#): > > Can anyone think of a word where it would be possible to confuse these even if you couldn’t tell them apart? I couldn’t think of anything off the top of my head, but I don’t have a particularly large vocabulary. ---
**Author:** ![Mangobango](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/mangobango/32/244320_2.png) [@Mangobango](https://community.wanikani.com/u/Mangobango)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2019, 12:30am UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/weirdly-similar-kanji/36003/11 "2019-04-06T00:30:03Z")
I guess I was thinking in terms of “test” setting than actual “distinguish meaning in a sentence” situation. You make a good point! I dunno if it’s just me, but when I write kanji I usually write pretty fast so I don’t want to be worrying about line length. Since they basically have the same stroke order I was thinking damn maybe I’d end up not getting the length right and no one can tell the difference from stroke order XD ---
**Author:** ![Held](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/held/32/420436_2.png) [@Held](https://community.wanikani.com/u/Held)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2019, 12:44am UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/weirdly-similar-kanji/36003/12 "2019-04-06T00:44:25Z")
The worst offenders are ‘O’ and ‘0’ and ‘I’ (capital i) and ‘l’ (lowercase L). In a text, it’s not so much of a problem since you know which is used from the context, but if you try to enter a registration code or captcha, they can be a nightmare. ---
**Author:** ![Astroraptor](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/astroraptor/32/256164_2.png) [@Astroraptor](https://community.wanikani.com/u/Astroraptor)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2019, 12:47am UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/weirdly-similar-kanji/36003/13 "2019-04-06T00:47:34Z")
I always found that “COFFEE” looked weird because of that haha ---
**Author:** ![Mangobango](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/mangobango/32/244320_2.png) [@Mangobango](https://community.wanikani.com/u/Mangobango)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2019, 12:49am UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/weirdly-similar-kanji/36003/14 "2019-04-06T00:49:27Z")
That hits home! the capital I and l have always bothered me so much ---
**Author:** ![Astroraptor](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/astroraptor/32/256164_2.png) [@Astroraptor](https://community.wanikani.com/u/Astroraptor)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2019, 12:52am UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/weirdly-similar-kanji/36003/15 "2019-04-06T00:52:08Z")
“He” in french is “Il” 😂 ---
**Author:** ![solidquartz](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/solidquartz/32/265392_2.png) [@solidquartz](https://community.wanikani.com/u/solidquartz)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2019, 1:15am UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/weirdly-similar-kanji/36003/16 "2019-04-06T01:15:20Z")
nothing will ever be as cruel to me as シ, ツ, ン, and ソ ---
**Author:** ![rokon](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/rokon/32/490870_2.png) [@rokon](https://community.wanikani.com/u/rokon)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2019, 1:20am UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/weirdly-similar-kanji/36003/17 "2019-04-06T01:20:15Z")
Not as bad, but メandナused to bother me so much in my first semester of Japanese because they’re both in my name. As @Leebo said, my sensei always just taught us to exaggerate the differences ---
**Author:** ![nguyenfuku2002](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/nguyenfuku2002/32/251966_2.png) [@nguyenfuku2002](https://community.wanikani.com/u/nguyenfuku2002)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2019, 1:21am UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/weirdly-similar-kanji/36003/18 "2019-04-06T01:21:24Z")
Cow 牛 and noon 午 too! There’s a tiny tiny stroke on the top that makes me stuck at apprentice until now. ---
**Author:** ![medinarze](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/medinarze/32/189824_2.png) [@medinarze](https://community.wanikani.com/u/medinarze)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2019, 1:22am UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/weirdly-similar-kanji/36003/19 "2019-04-06T01:22:21Z")
@Mangobango We are on the same level, I just did my lessons for these. Thanks for pointing this out. It will save me time like when there was 地 and 他, it took me a while to realize they are different when they come up for reviews. 😜 ---
**Author:** ![Sashide](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/sashide/32/229919_2.png) [@Sashide](https://community.wanikani.com/u/Sashide)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2019, 1:24am UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/weirdly-similar-kanji/36003/20 "2019-04-06T01:24:02Z")
Me right now. Trying to remember that cows have an “ear”. [Next page](https://community.wanikani.com/t/weirdly-similar-kanji/36003.md?page=2)