hiragana logo Similar but Different (Hiragana)
 

 

If you are not careful in writing hiragana, some hiragana characters may be confused with other hiragana characters. The following are common mistakes.

a and o

and may become confusing

  • if is written like a-o
    OR
  • if is written like a-o.
i and ri

and may become indistinguishable

  • if is written like i-ri
    OR
  • if is written like i-ri.
u and ra

and may become indistinguishable

  • if is written like u-ra
    OR
  • if is written like u-ra.
su and o

and may become indistinguishable

  • if is written like su-o
    OR
  • if is written like su-o.
o and mu

and may become indistinguishable

  • if is written like o-mu
    OR
  • if is written like o-mu.
wa and re

and may become indistinguishable

  • if is written like wa-re
    OR
  • if is written like wa-re.

nu, me, etc.

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

chi and sa

is NOT a mirror image of strictly speaking, but they may look like the other

  • if the second stroke ofis separated into two strokes,
    OR
  • if is flipped horizontally.
ma and ho

may look like , or or the other way around

  • if there is an extra vertical stroke in
    OR
  • if the last stroke in crosses the horizontal stroke ().
yo and ma

may look like , or or the other way around

  • if the short horizontal stroke () is crossed by the second stroke in
    OR
  • if one of the horizontal strokes in is missing.
ho and ha

may become , or the other way around

  • if the second stroke is missing from
    OR
  • if there is an extra horizontal stroke in .
ki and sa

may become , or the other way around

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