Some kana characters trip up every beginner. The good news: they are almost always told apart by the direction of one stroke or the number of strokes, which is exactly what you learn when you practice with proper order. It is one of the strongest reasons to write Japanese by hand instead of just recognizing it.
Katakana
- シ and ツ. In シ the two short strokes are stacked one above the other and the long stroke rises from bottom-left to top-right. In ツ the short strokes sit side by side and the long one falls from top-right to bottom-left.
- ソ and ン. In ソ both strokes go down; the long one falls to the left. In ン the long stroke starts low and rises to the right.
- ク and ワ. The first stroke of ク is a short diagonal; the first stroke of ワ is a short vertical line.
- ウ and ワ. ウ has three strokes (it starts with a short mark on top); ワ has two.
- ノ and メ. ノ is a single stroke; メ is two crossing strokes.
Hiragana
- ぬ and め. ぬ ends with a loop in its tail; め ends without one.
- わ, れ and ね. They share the first stroke. ね ends in a loop, れ in an open tail that kicks outward, and わ in a curve that turns back inward.
- る and ろ. る closes with a loop; ろ does not.
- は and ほ. ほ has one more horizontal line than は.
- さ and き. き has two horizontal lines; さ has just one.
How to practice them
- Group them. Write the pair one next to the other to lock in the difference.
- Watch the direction. Say “rises” or “falls” out loud while you trace シ/ツ and ソ/ン.
- Use stroke order. Each character has a specific order; see the stroke order rules.
- Review them separately from new rows, because they are the ones that get forgotten most.
If you are just starting
If you do not yet know the difference between the two syllabaries, begin with hiragana vs katakana, and follow the plan in learning hiragana by writing.
In Kaku! stroke correction checks order and direction, which is precisely what separates these pairs: a stroke drawn in the wrong direction shows up right away.