If you are not careful when writing hiragana, some characters can be easily confused with others. The following are common mistakes.

Confusing hiragana 1

あ and お may become confusing

if あ is written like this OR if お is written like this.
Confusing hiragana 2

い and り may become indistinguishable

if い is written like this OR if り is written like this.
Confusing hiragana 3

う and ら may become indistinguishable

if う is written like thisOR if ら is written like this.
Confusing hiragana 4

す and お may become indistinguishable

if す is written like this ORif お is written like this.
Confusing hiragana 5

お and む may become indistinguishable

if お is written like this OR if む is written like this.
Confusing hiragana 6

わ and れ may become indistinguishable

if わ is written like this ORif れ is written like this.

Confusing hiragana 7

If the ending of the last stroke has a too much/little curl, each character may be confused for another.

Confusing hiragana 8

ち is NOT a mirror image of さ, but they may look like the other if the second stroke of ち is separated into two strokes, OR if さ is flipped horizontally.

Confusing hiragana 9

ま may look like ほ, or or the other way around

if there is an extra vertical stroke in ま ORif the last stroke in ほ crosses the horizontal stroke (ー).
Confusing hiragana 10

よ may look like ま, or or the other way around

if the short horizontal stroke (ー) is crossed by the second stroke in よ OR if one of the horizontal strokes in ま is missing.
Confusing hiragana 11

ほ may become は, or the other way around

if the second stroke is missing from ほ ORif there is an extra horizontal stroke in は.
Confusing hiragana 12

き may become さ, or the other way around

if the one of the horizontal strokes is missing from き OR if there is an extra horizontal stroke in さ.
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