Hiragana and Katakana Quiz
Pick hiragana, katakana or both, choose the rows to drill (the 46 basic kana, the dakuten and handakuten rows, and combinations such as きょ), then answer by typing romaji or picking one of four. You choose which romanization counts: Hepburn only, Hepburn + Kunrei, or all three with Nihon-shiki. The page lists every spelling it accepts, and a spelling from a system you did not pick is never marked wrong. A miss is explained: what your answer spells instead, how look-alikes such as さ and ち differ, or what the dakuten or a small ょ changes. A missed kana is asked again later in the session, usually three questions on, when a later question is free for it, and stays on a practice list, kept in this browser, until you answer it right twice in a row.
Preparing a session
- Question
- none yet
- Right
- 0
- Missed
- 0
- Set
- none yet
- both are answered a
- shi and si are right, the two listed on the page; ci is marked wrong
- さ comes back at question 9; the set stays the same 20 kana
Settings
Rows
Both asks the rows you pick in hiragana and in katakana, mixed together. Combinations are a kana with a small ya, yu or yo, such as きょ (kyo).
Every spelling accepted for this set (20 hiragana)
- あ
a - い
i - う
u - え
e - お
o - か
ka - き
ki - く
ku - け
ke - こ
ko - さ
sa - し
shi or si - す
su - せ
se - そ
so - た
ta - ち
chi or ti - つ
tsu or tu - て
te - と
to
Where Hepburn, Kunrei and Nihon-shiki differ
Every kana not listed here is spelled the same way in all three systems. The katakana are spelled like their hiragana.
| Kana | Hepburn | Kunrei | Nihon-shiki |
|---|---|---|---|
| し | shi | si | si |
| ち | chi | ti | ti |
| つ | tsu | tu | tu |
| ふ | fu | hu | hu |
| を | o (wo in traditional Hepburn) | o | wo |
| じ | ji | zi | zi |
| ぢ | ji | zi | di |
| づ | zu | zu | du |
| しゃ | sha | sya | sya |
| しゅ | shu | syu | syu |
| しょ | sho | syo | syo |
| ちゃ | cha | tya | tya |
| ちゅ | chu | tyu | tyu |
| ちょ | cho | tyo | tyo |
| じゃ | ja | zya | zya |
| じゅ | ju | zyu | zyu |
| じょ | jo | zyo | zyo |
Review
No misses in this session so far.
History
Kept in this browser only. Practice list: empty. A kana you miss stays on the list until you answer it right twice in a row, and kana on the list come first in your next session whose rows include them.
No finished sessions yet.
Type the romaji and press Enter to check it, then Enter again for the next kana. Capitals and full-width letters are read as plain letters.
Common questions
- Is si accepted for し, and ti for ち?
- Yes, under Hepburn + Kunrei, the default, and under Hepburn, Kunrei + Nihon-shiki. Under Hepburn only, si is not marked wrong: the page says it is the Kunrei spelling, asks for shi, and the question stays open. The same holds for tu, hu and zi, and for sya, tya and zya in the combinations.
- Is を spelled o or wo?
- Both are accepted in every setting. Modified Hepburn writes を as o; traditional Hepburn and Nihon-shiki write wo. ぢ and づ are ji and zu in Hepburn, zi and zu in Kunrei, and di and du in Nihon-shiki, so di and du count when you pick all three systems, and under the other two settings they are not marked wrong.
- What happens to the kana I get wrong?
- The page shows what your answer spells instead and, where it applies, how the two shapes differ, what a dakuten or handakuten mark changes, or why a small ゃ, ゅ or ょ makes one syllable. The kana is asked again later in the same session, usually three questions on, when a later question is free for it. It also goes on a practice list kept in this browser: kana on the list are asked first in your next session whose rows include them, and each leaves the list after two right answers in a row. When a session ends, Practice the missed asks each kana you missed twice more.
- Why is は marked as ha, not wa?
- As a letter, は is ha; it is read wa only as the topic particle, and へ is read e only as the direction particle. Typing wa for は or e for へ is not marked: the page explains the particle reading and asks for ha or he. Katakana is not used for these particles, so ハ typed as wa is marked wrong, because wa spells ワ.
- Does it give a JLPT level or a score?
- No. It counts right and missed answers in each session and keeps a history of past sessions in this browser. It gives no proficiency level, percentage or test prediction.
- Which kana are included?
- The 46 basic kana from あ to ん, the 25 with a dakuten or handakuten from が to ぽ, and the 33 combinations with a small ya, yu or yo from きゃ to ぴょ, in hiragana, in katakana, or both mixed. Obsolete kana such as ゐ and ゑ, small kana on their own, and extended katakana for loanwords such as ファ are not asked.
- Does it save my progress?
- Your settings, the session in progress, up to 30 past sessions and the practice list are saved in this browser's local storage and nowhere else. Clear history under History removes the history and the practice list, and Start over at the top of the page removes everything the quiz saved.
- Can I use it with only a keyboard?
- Yes. Type the romaji and press Enter to check it, then Enter again for the next kana. In multiple choice, Tab reaches the four answers, Enter or Space picks one, and focus moves to Next.
Recognition practice only: an answer counts as right when it matches a romaji spelling listed for that kana under the system you picked, such as shi or si for し and chi or ti for ち under Hepburn + Kunrei. It gives no proficiency level or test prediction. Kana you miss come back later in the session or in a later one, only from the rows you picked, and your history stays in this browser.