On'yomi vs. Kun'yomi Cheat Sheet: When to Use Each Kanji Reading (+ Printable Chart)

Ninja (にん) hitman (ひと) wearing jeans (じん), working at Nintendo... just your typical Japanese person...

The boy hit-o (ひと) his knee and now it’s itchy (いち). Thank God it’s-u (いつ) just one knee.

In a bright sun beam (び), Mr. Hiroki (ひ) can finally see why his “knee is itchy” (にち)! Must be from all the karate (か) and jiu-jitsu (じつ)!

“Ooooo!!” (おお), what a fight! Definitely no tie (たい) today, the big guy will win all the diamonds (だい)...

Ms. Toe-shi (とし), always wearing linen (ねん), makes every year fun for us...

The man pleaded: “I’m exit-ing! Don’t shoots-u (しゅつ)!”... But the dark (だ) evil samurai wanted him dead (で) anyway...

The boy in Hong Kong, is reading a book about Honda (ほん) Motors (もと).

If chewing (ちゅう) gum is all natural calories (なか), then why... cut it in the middle?!!

Just a happy child with his pet sheep (し) eating cold (こ) soup (す)...

When you See Mr. Ken (けん) giving out free samples, scream: “me! me! me! (み)”

For some reason, the coke (こく) country king, has really cool knees (くに)...

Ever since the plant grew above (あ) ground, it’s been way (うえ) too many jokes (じょう)...

The man divided the sacred log, and the city was hit by a typhoon (ふん) of waffle-throwing (わ) baboons (ぶ or ぶん)

The tree of life on the shore (しょう) protects the city from evil (い) kittens (き) in hats (は). All with its light saber (せい) and oolong tea (う).

Just a bunch of gyozas (ぎょう) in coats (こう) eating (い) yuzu (ゆ) screaming “go!”, playing on a slide...

Knee (に) connects Two crucial parts that make your foot (ふた) work.

Ken (けん), the baby sun, is eating candy (かん) in the empty space, while waiting for his eye doctor (あいだ) ma (ま).

In the old Toki-o (とき) Jesus (じ) rang the church bell so you could tell the time...

Samurai won a stack of jewels (じゅう) for the 10/10 sword performance, all done on his toes (とお).

On a (おんな) good day, new (にょ) baby, is the best job (じょ) a woman can have.

Even a mini (み) sandwich (さん) still has three distinct parts.

Front row seats for the zen (ぜん) maestro (まえ) performance.

When entering a new (にゅう) tent with an eagle (い) design, make sure to first say hi (はい)....

The Chief (ちい) Shogun (しょう) was impressed with the intricate details on the small needle.

Nagano City (なが) is all about long-necks, long scarves, and eating nachos (ちょう).

Just a cool dark (くだ) cat (か) in awesome (お) shittake (した) hat drinking from a geyser (げ) deep below the ground...

For some reason, this boy loves studying his gas cooker (がく) manual (まな)...

It takes guts-u (がつ) to get-su (げつ) to the moon and retrieve the tsunami key (つき)...

Cool (く), lucky (き) tourists come from all over Japan, to see the original rice (らい) grain.

Hannah, she (はなし) can't believe she got a waffle (わ) cake and her dream talking cat for birthday!!

If it’s cloudy, drive up the Mountain on your yamaha (やま). There is always sun (さん) at the top.

Don’t dare attack-a (たか) the Tall Koala (こう) Headquarters, they are heavily guarded!!

The Lima (いま) times reported that the con-artist (こん) who changed all the clocks to “Now” has finally been caught.

A girl is writing a very short (しょ) story about kangaroos (か)...

Number five it’s(u) (いつ) actually just a golf (ご) cart.

It’s May (めい) the ninth (な), and you’re about to sign your name on a very important document.

King’s (きん) gold crown rests in a concrete (こん) enclosure with the calm neighbor (かね), Canada (かな).

Last package and the Indian man is done (だん)!! He can go home, eat naan (なん) and his favorite orange tofu cone (おとこ)...

Outside his tent, a chill gay (げ) guy (がい) with a sore toe (と or そと), is doing yoga with his hot cat (ほか)...

The birds were surprised, the sheep (し) is doing another four-second-yawn (よん) again!!

The magnetic (ま) samurai run ahead of everyone, sending (せん) his previous life bye-bye...

A river car-wash (かわ) center (せん)? Why not...

Sun always rises in the east, eating toast (とう), pure heat from galaxy shipment (ひがし).

The man in kimono (き) is listening in on the conversation of a monster (もん) buying a bootleg necklace (ぶん).

If Genghis Khan wants to talk about about overpriced gondola (ご) rides, he first needs to put down his kata-na (かた) and study the english language.

The cool (く) daikon in a tank-top (た) is shocked (しょく) that he may soon become food...

Yaa (や) kids coming out of secret hatches (はち) to play on the forbidden yolo (よう) eight meter slide...

Missou-ri (みず) free water looks super i-nteresting (すい)...

God and his angel llamas (あま) are always waiting on top of the ten (てん) step staircase to heaven.

The tree is mocking (もく) us, it knows we got no keys (き)...

Mr. Six moves (む) rocket-fast! (ろく). Why is he still in the 6th place?

She wrote (しろ) the code to hack-u (はく) the white radish server.

She cheated (しち), and still got only seven percent. That’s bananas! (なな).

Father stays strong by exercising using food (ふ): cheeky peachy (ちち) dumbbells.

Whole crew (ほく) of Akitas (きた) went up north skiing...

Cool, roof-less, Mazda (くるま) car, doing crazy sharp (しゃ) turns...

With mom I’m never bored (ぼ), it’s always a haha (はは) time!!

Of course, Mr. handsome (はん) naturally cut (なか) a bunch of logs perfectly in half!!

Slow-mo motion (もも) Hyacinth Cool (ひゃく) Town is now a hundred years old!!

Toes (と) in the dirt and dog (ど) by his side, the tsunami chief (つち) lives a simple life...

When Japanese travel West, they stay safe (せい) with their niche (にし) special suitcase.

Stop texting yo (よ)! I’m reading my toe (とう) book.

Thousand is just a fancy letter T, made out of a thousand cents (せん), wearing a cheap (ち) hat...

Geeky youths (ゆう) really love the Me Geek (みぎ) restaurant, just right of H&M.