Learn Kanji N5 & N4: 275 Characters, Readings and the Look-Alike Pairs

Deck WC6831 – Kanji N5 & N4 on Flip It gives you 275 single-kanji cards: the character on the front, the English meaning and its readings on the back. It's a solid first pass through beginner kanji. Before you start, though, you should know where the deck changes gear.

Sample cards

What's inside

• Cards 1–96, the N5 core: numbers 一 to 万 and 円; days of the week 日月火水木金土曜; time words 年 時 分 間 半 今 先 毎 週; people 人 男 女 子 母 父 友; directions 上 下 中 外 右 左 前 後 東 西 南 北; nature 山 川 天 気 雨 空 花; everyday verbs 読 書 聞 話 見 行 来 出 入 食 飲 買 休; adjectives 大 小 高 安 新 古 長 白.
• Cards 97–275, N4 and beyond: food (肉 茶 飯 野菜 料理), health (医者 病院 薬 痛), body (顔 頭 鼻 耳 目 口 歯 手 足), study (漢字 文 意味 質問 試験 勉強 宿題), seasons and weather (春 夏 秋 冬 晴 曇 雪 雲 風), family (兄 弟 姉 妹 夫 妻 祖 孫), antonym pairs (重/軽, 深/浅, 広/狭, 遠/近), and abstract words (必要, 理由, 全部, 特別, 最初).

Three things to know first

The back format switches at card 97. Cards 1–96 write on'yomi in katakana and kun'yomi in hiragana (ニチ nichi · ひ hi). From card 97 the readings are all hiragana and the order varies: 猫 gives only ねこ, while 楽 lists たのしい, がく and らく together. Choose one convention yourself, for example "ON in katakana first", and say every back that way.

The second half isn't all N4. Since 2010 the JLPT has published no official kanji list. Even so, characters like 靴, 帽, 眼, 曇, 際, 然 and 的 show up on N3 or N2 lists in the usual unofficial lists. 午 (午前/午後) is a standard N5 kanji, and it's missing. Add a 午 card yourself, and tag cards 97–275 as "N4+" so you can run them as a separate session. The Kanji N3 article is the natural next step after this deck.

A few backs need a fix. Card 146 (記) reads "write down,記": delete the stray kanji. Card 149 (問) lists とう twice. Card 27 gives なか as the kun reading of 半; the real reading is なかば. Card 92 gives the stem あたら; write 新しい instead. Learning kun'yomi with their okurigana (高い, 安い, 休む) is what actually helps you read.

Study tip: drill the look-alikes side by side

This deck holds several pairs that beginners confuse: 人/入, 木/本, 日/目, 大/犬/太, 体/休 and 右/左. Review each set in the same session, and name the stroke that tells them apart (the dot on 犬, the slash on 入). The deck also has natural opposites: 借/貸, 拾/捨, 有/無, 暑/寒, 兄/弟 and 姉/妹. Learn them in pairs and you get two cards for the effort of one.

For vocabulary built on these characters, see JLPT N5 Vocabulary.