Words Sharing Same Kanji & Hiragana

[slothysloth]

Hi everyone,

I’ve run into a few sets of words in Japanese that have the same kanji + hiragana pair but have different pronunciations (and sometimes meanings). Is there a word for this phenomenon? Similar to how in English we have homophones and homonyms to represent words that are phonetically or semantically ambiguous?

For example, 開く can be ひらく or あく ; 空く can be あく or すく.

Thanks

[seanblue]

Ah that’s an interesting question. I’d also love to know the linguistic term for that.

I found 多音字, but there may be a better way to say what you want.

[OneUp]

I believe the word you’re looking for is homograph.