N3 表記: Homophones — the Real Boss of Orthography
At N5/N4, 表記 (6 items at N3) mostly tested look-alike shapes. At N3 the game changes: with 650 kanji in play, Japanese starts hitting you with homophones — different kanji, identical readings, different meanings. はやい: 早い or 速い? あつい: 暑い, 熱い or 厚い? かえる: 帰る, 返る or 変える? The hiragana in the question reads the same either way; only the sentence's meaning chooses the kanji. This chapter catalogs the tested homophone sets, the N3 look-alikes, and the okurigana rules that round out 問題2.
1. The Homophone Method
- Read the sentence and pin the underlined word's exact meaning in this context (temperature? thickness? speed? returning where?).
- Recall each candidate kanji's core image (早 = early clock-time; 速 = fast motion).
- Match meaning to image. Never choose by familiarity — the more common kanji is the bait when the rarer one fits.
2. The Classic Homophone Sets
| Reading | Kanji | Core image | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| あつい | 暑い | hot weather | 今年の夏は暑い。 |
| 熱い | hot to touch; passionate | 熱いお茶／熱い気持ち | |
| 厚い | thick | 厚い本／厚いコート | |
| はやい | 早い | early (time) | 朝早く起きる。 |
| 速い | fast (speed) | 新幹線は速い。 | |
| かえる | 帰る | go home | うちへ帰る。 |
| 返る／返す | be returned / give back | 本を返す。 | |
| 変える | change | 予定を変える。 | |
| なおす | 直す | fix, correct | 間違いを直す。 |
| 治す | cure (illness) | 病気を治す。 | |
| あく | 開く | open | ドアが開く。 |
| 空く | become empty/free | 席が空く。／お腹が空く。 | |
| うつす | 写す | copy; photograph | ノートを写す。 |
| 移す | move, transfer | 机を隣の部屋に移す。 | |
| まわり | 周り | surroundings | 駅の周りに店が多い。 |
| 回り | rotation; route | 遠回り | |
| きく | 聞く | hear; ask | 音楽を聞く。 |
| 効く | be effective | この薬はよく効く。 | |
| やぶれる | 破れる | tear (paper/cloth) | シャツが破れた。 |
| 敗れる | be defeated | 試合に敗れた。 | |
| つとめる | 勤める | work for (company) | 銀行に勤めている。 |
| 努める | strive | サービスの向上に努める。 |
3. Look-alike Kanji, N3 Edition
Visual traps upgrade too — now with denser characters. The tested clusters:
| Cluster | Tell them apart |
|---|---|
| 講・構・購 | 言 talks in 講義 (lecture); 木 builds in 構造 (structure); 貝 pays in 購入 (purchase) |
| 復・複・腹 | 彳 walks back in 復習 (review); 衤 layers cloth in 複雑 (complex); ⺼ is the body in お腹 (belly) |
| 貸・賃・貨 | 貸す lend (代+貝); 家賃 rent (任+貝); 貨物 freight (化+貝) — top component decides |
| 破・被 | 石 breaks in 破れる; 衤 covers in 被害 (damage suffered) |
| 券・巻 | 刀 cuts the 券 (ticket); 巻 rolls (まく) |
| 特・持・待 | 牛 special 特別; 扌 hand holds 持つ; 彳 road waits 待つ (N4 review — still tested) |
| 末・未 | 末 end (top bar LONGER — the branch tip); 未 not-yet (top bar shorter) — 週末 vs 未来 |
| 失・矢・先 | 失う lose; 矢 arrow; 先 ahead |
| 感・盛・成 | 心 feels in 感; 皿 heaps in 盛; 成 achieves |
The component-reading trick doubles here: in 講/構/購 the right side 冓 gives all three the reading コウ — so reading won't separate them, only the semantic component (言/木/貝) will. This is precisely why 表記 questions exist.
4. Okurigana at N3
New adjectives and verbs bring new okurigana decisions — the exam's favorites:
| Reading | Correct | Wrong options |
|---|---|---|
| あぶない | 危ない | 危い ✗ |
| すくない | 少ない | 少い ✗（review — still appears!） |
| おこなう | 行う | 行なう（old-style — not the exam answer） |
| ことわる | 断る | 断わる ✗ |
| たしかめる | 確かめる | 確める ✗ |
| まちがえる | 間違える | 間違る ✗ |
| むかえる | 迎える | 迎る ✗ |
| おぼえる | 覚える | 覚る ✗ |
| はずかしい | 恥ずかしい | 恥かしい ✗ |
| かならず | 必ず | 必らず ✗ |
Working rule (same as N5, still golden): the kanji owns the unchanging root; anything that conjugates must be visible kana. When unsure, conjugate mentally — 危なくない keeps な, so 危ない keeps its な.
5. Katakana at N3
Loanword spellings stay in play with subtler contrasts: バランス (balance) vs パランス ✗; メッセージ (message — small ッ + long ー); スケジュール (schedule — ジュ not ズ); アンケート (survey — from French!); コミュニケーション (the ミュ and the ー placements). Method unchanged: reconstruct the katakana yourself from the sound, then verify ー・ッ・゛゜ positions against each option.
6. How the Exam Tests This — Worked Examples
会議の時間をかえてもらえませんか。
① 帰て ② 変えて ③ 返て ④ 代えて
Meaning: change the meeting time → ②変えて. ①③ also fail okurigana (帰て✗ should be 帰って) — a double-check gift: wrong-kanji options often carry wrong okurigana too. ④ 代える (substitute) is the sophisticated decoy; "change the time" is 変える.
この薬はよくきくと母が言っていた。
① 聞く ② 効く ③ 利く ④ 気く
Medicine "works" → ②効く. ① is the frequency bait (everyone knows 聞く); ③ 利く exists (気が利く) but medicine takes 効; ④ is a fake. Meaning beats familiarity.
7. Study Routine
- Drill homophones as contrast cards: front = はやい＋two sentences; back = which kanji in each. Contrast is the unit of learning here, not the single word.
- When learning any new kanji, ask: "does another kanji share this reading?" If yes, make the pair-card immediately.
- Handwrite the look-alike clusters once a week — the hand notices 末/未's bar lengths faster than the eye.
Summary & Key Takeaways
- N3 表記 = homophone discrimination (same sound, different kanji) + denser look-alikes + okurigana precision.
- Homophone method: pin the contextual meaning → recall each kanji's core image → match. 暑/熱/厚, 早/速, 帰/返/変, 直/治, 開/空, 効/聞 are the hall of fame.
- Look-alike clusters resolve by semantic component (言/木/貝 in 講/構/購) since readings often match on purpose.
- Okurigana rule: conjugating parts stay kana — 危ない, 確かめる, 必ず.
- Wrong-kanji options frequently smuggle wrong okurigana — one glance can kill two birds.