Hiragana vs Katakana: What’s the Difference?

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Hiragana and katakana can look intimidating at first, but the difference between them is practical rather than mysterious.

Both are kana: character sets that represent the sound units of Japanese. They cover many of the same sounds, but Japanese uses them for different jobs.

This guide explains where each script appears, how a kana chart works, and how to practise reading and writing both.

Let’s start with the writing system itself.

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How to Make Sense of Japanese Writing — It’s the Same as English (Well, Almost)

Japanese normally uses three scripts together: kanji, hiragana and katakana. Hiragana and katakana are the two kana sets, and each kana represents a mora, a short rhythm unit in Japanese.

Hiragana and katakana are not the Japanese equivalent of print and cursive. They are separate character sets that often represent the same morae but have different functions.

Hiragana vs Katakana: What’s the Difference?

If you want the quick visual overview first, this video shows how hiragana, katakana and kanji fit together.

The main difference between hiragana and katakana is how Japanese uses them.

Hiragana appears in grammatical endings, particles, many native Japanese words, and readings written above or beside kanji. It’s usually the first Japanese script children and adult learners study.

You can write entirely in hiragana as a beginner, but longer kana-only text is harder to scan because kanji helps readers distinguish words and meanings.

Children’s books often include kanji with small hiragana readings called furigana, rather than avoiding kanji altogether. Some games also let players choose a kana-heavy display.

Hiragana has more rounded shapes than katakana, but its real distinction is its grammatical and everyday role, not a print-versus-cursive relationship.

Katakana has straighter, more angular shapes. It’s used for many foreign loanwords and foreign names, as well as onomatopoeia, emphasis, and the names of some animals and plants.

That makes both scripts important. Hiragana lets you follow the grammar of a sentence, while katakana appears throughout menus, advertising, technology, entertainment and ordinary loanwords.

Reading and Understanding Hiragana vs Katakana

Kana is much more regular than English spelling, but “always read exactly the same” is too strong. The particles は, へ and を are pronounced wa, e and o in those grammatical roles, and real pronunciation also includes long vowels, devoicing and sound changes.

The useful part is that kana gives you a dependable base. Learn each character with audio and real words, then add the common spelling conventions instead of treating the chart as a perfect pronunciation key.

Katakana doesn’t automatically mean a word will be familiar. It covers English loans such as オレンジジュース (orenji jūsu, “orange juice”), loans from other languages such as パン (pan, “bread”), Japanese-made terms, names, sound effects and other categories.

Hiragana vs Katakana Chart

The tables below compare the basic hiragana and katakana sets. The image shows one simple pair, あ and ア, while our full hiragana guide adds stroke order and practice.

HIRAGANA

KATAKANA

How to Read in Japanese: Sounding Out Hiragana and Katakana (With a Breakdown of Sounds)

In a standard gojūon chart, the A, I, U, E and O rows run horizontally, while the consonant series run down the columns. The basic grid also needs the moraic nasal ん/ン, which sits outside the five-vowel pattern.

Take a look at the chart. Each row is a vowel sound (A, I, U, E, O), while each column is a consonant series. The “K” column contains か / カ, き / キ, く / ク, け / ケ, こ / コ (ka, ki, ku, ke, ko). It’s worth memorising this chart because it makes conjugation patterns easier to understand when you get into Japanese grammar.

Let’s break down the sounds:

• あ: “ah”, like “Ahhhhhh,” with an open mouth.
• い: “ee,” like “bee.”
• う: “oo,” like “tooth.”
• え: “eh,” like “medicine.”
• お: “oh,” like the letter “O”

So then the next row reads like:

• か: “kah,” like “cat.”
• き: “kee,” like “key.”
• く: “koo,” like “coo,” the sound a baby makes.
• け: “keh,” like “kettle.”
• こ: “koh,” like “Coca-cola.”

Let’s try it again with the next row:

• さ: “sah.”
• し: “shi.”
• す: “soo”
• せ: “seh”
• そ: “soh”

The romanised pattern changes in a few places: し is shi, ち is chi, つ is tsu, and ふ is usually written fu. Learn these with audio rather than forcing them into English sound rules.

Small ゃ, ゅ and ょ combine with kana from the I column to make sounds such as しゃ (sha), ちゃ (cha), にゃ (nya), ちゅ (chu) and ちょ (cho). The small character is essential: とうきょう is Tōkyō, not to-u-ki-yo-u.

Characters also change with dakuten (ﾞ), two small lines, and handakuten (ﾟ), a small circle. This sounds complicated, but it’s really not. By adding the dakuten and handakuten, it changes the consonant slightly. Let’s take a look:

• か (kah) becomes が (gah)
• し (shi) becomes じ (ji)
• そ (soh) becomes ぞ (zoh)
• つ (tsu) becomes づ (zu)
• て (te) becomes で (de)
• へ (he) becomes べ (be)
• へ (he) becomes ぺ (pe)

In the basic chart, dakuten changes the K, S, T and H series to G, Z, D and B, while handakuten changes H to P. Katakana also uses ヴ for a “v” sound in some loanwords, so “only” needs that modern exception.

With dakuten:

• K → G
• S → Z
• T → D
• H → B

With handakuten:

• H → P

There are a few overlaps in modern standard pronunciation: じ and ぢ are usually both pronounced ji, while ず and づ are usually both pronounced zu. They don’t have the same meaning; the correct spelling depends on the word.

Noodles and Keys! How to Become a Memory Master of Kana

To help memorize the kana, it’s best to use mnemonics — which means seeing each symbol as a picture. A friend once shared the mnemonics she learned in high school with me, and they immediately helped me memorize the kana. I’ve never forgotten them since!

Some examples:

ぬ: “Nu” for “noodle.” It looks like a squiggly pile of noodles!

め: “Me” for “medal.” It looks like a medal with the ribbon around it to hang around your neck

れ: “Re” for “Ret’s get out of here!” Picture Scooby Doo and the Gang running off, because it looks like a person dashing off.

む: “Mu” for “Moooooo,” like a cow. It looks like a cow’s face, with the swirl being its nose! (Especially if you’ve ever seen the cow designs in Animal Crossing.)

あ: “A” for “Ahhhhhhh.” Someone’s mouth is wide open! (Maybe at the dentist.)

き: “Ki” for “Key.” It looks like an old-fashioned key.

け: “Ke” for “Cane.” It looks like a stick-figure old man using his walking cane!

そ: “So” for “Sewing.” It looks like a zig-zag stitch in a sewing pattern.

と: “To” for “Toe.” It looks like a big toe and toenail.

へ: “He” for “Hill.” It looks like a small hill.

に: “Ni” for “Knee.” It looks like your leg and knee!

Yeah, it may be silly. But it helps! And that’s all that matters. Create your own, or try some of these. You’d be surprised how they stick with you. I learned this list nearly 12 years ago!

The more vivid and personal the image, the easier it is to remember. The same idea can help when you move on to kanji.

Tips for Hiragana and Katakana Practice

Honestly, the best tip is to write it out as much as you can. Whenever I was bored (usually in college classes…), I would make a box and mark it vertically with the consonants, and horizontally with the vowels. And then I would fill in all the spots with the right hiragana and katakana. I’d double check them after, but any blank spots let me know which ones I was having trouble with.

You can also practise both modern writing directions: horizontal Japanese runs left to right, while vertical Japanese runs from top to bottom in columns ordered from right to left.

Use easy reading material to practise both scripts. Try the updated NHK News Web Easy site, Kodomo Asahi, or games with a kana-heavy display. Regular reading and writing will make the difference between hiragana and katakana feel natural.

Now Go Out and Kana On!

Don’t let a foreign writing system hold you back! Learn how to practice the four pillars of language learning, and it will get easier. Learning hiragana vs katakana isn’t as bad as it first appears, and I know you can do it!

How are your Japanese studies going? Do you have some great tips or mnemonics to learn hiragana and katakana? I’d love to hear from you in the comments!