Japanese homophones – Words with the same pronunciation

The Japanese language is full of words with the same pronunciation, known as Homophones (同音異義語 – Dōon igi-go), this is one of the major difficulties in learning Japanese. Fortunately, a large part of the words that have the same pronunciation have similar meanings.

All of this is due to words borrowed from Chinese and other languages, and since Japanese consists of only 109 syllables, without accentuation or changes in pronunciation, it results in thousands of identical words.

In this article, we will see some of these words with the same pronunciation. Unfortunately, there are many, and to avoid making the article long, we will look at only a few.

Au – あう – 合う vs 会う vs 遭う

Both of the words above are pronounced “Au” but have their differences.

• 会う – means “to meet someone in person or to be present at an event;
• 合う – means “to do something together,” or “to find or encounter something”;
• 遭う – means “to encounter misfortune, unexpectedly.”

These 3 words, besides having similar pronunciation, also have quite similar meanings. The sentences below will help you understand the difference between these 3 words.

渋谷でぱったりと友達に会った	Shibuya de pattari to tomodachi ni atta	I met a friend in Shibuya
集まってそれを話し合いましょう。	Wakai futari wa sugu ni aishiau yō ni natta.	Gathered, let’s discuss the matter.
帰りに、にわか雨に遭いました	Kaeri ni, niwakaame ni aimashita	On the way home, we encountered the rain.

Aka – あか – 赤 vs  紅 vs  朱 vs 緋

• 赤 – Refers to all shades of the color red;
• 紅 – Used for deep red shades like crimson;
• 朱 – is used for orange-reds, like redness;
• 緋 – Used for vivid reds, like scarlet, cardinal, or fire-red;

Ashi – あし – 足 vs 脚 vs 葦

• 足 – refers to the feet
• 脚 – refers to the legs, from the waist down;
• 葦 – phragmites, reed
• アシ – abbreviation of assistant アシスタント
• 悪し – bad, evil

Asakiru – おさまる – 収まる vs 納まる vs 治まる vs 修まる

• 収まる – means “to put inside,” “to unite,” or “to achieve a good result.”
• 納まる – means “to resolve something in its proper place,” “to put an end to something,” or “to finish.”
• 治まる – means “to be at peace,” “to suppress,” or “to decrease”;
• 修まる – means “to be of good character or to perform a splendid action” or “to acquire knowledge or skill.”

Kawaru – かわる – 変わる vs 換わる vs 替わる vs 代わる

• 変わる – means “to change state or condition.”
• 換わ – means “to exchange or swap.”
• 替わる – means “to change to something new.”
• 代わる means “to replace someone, a role” or “to act in place of someone.”

Shi

There are thousands of kanji, or words that are pronounced “shi,” but in most cases, this pronunciation must be present with another kanji, forming more specific words. But it does not change the fact that “shi” and various other pronunciations are present in many different kanji.

シ	from English “she”
史	history
師	teacher
市	market or city
矢	arrow
士	warrior
使	to use
始	to begin
獅子	shishi “lion”

These were some words that have the same pronunciation, I hope this is enough to instruct a bit on this subject. You can find more on the tofugo website.