|
The Japanese language has only 101 different possible sounds in its syllabary, which means there are a lot of words that end up sounding the same! This often confounds new students of Japanese, who have difficulties telling the difference between words such as 橋 (hashi, meaning bridge) and 箸 (hashi, meaning chopsticks). We’re often asked which words have the most meanings (or, more accurately, which sounds have the most words corresponding to them). So, without further ado, here is a list of the top ten most common word-sounds in Japanese:
10: しょうし (shoushi, 31 words)
9: こうそう (kousou, 32 words)
8: せいし (seishi, 33 words)
6 (tie): しょうか (shouka, 34 words)
6 (tie): きこう (kikou, 34 words)
5: しこう (shikou, 36 words)
4: こうか (kouka, 39 words)
3: こうこう (koukou, 42 words)
2: こうし (koushi, 44 words)
1: こうしょう (koushou, 47 words)
Of course, it’s usually quite easy to figure out which of the meanings a person intends to use, based on the context.
The astute reader will notice that 8 of the 10 sounds above contain the component ‘kou’. This is because there are a huge number of kanji that can be read as ‘kou’. Jim Breen’s always useful online Japanese dictionary finds all of 303 different kanji characters read as “kou”! Nobody said it was an easy language to read and write!
