Key Points of Kanji Mistakes Revealed by the 'Types of Kanji Misunderstandings' Published by the Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation [Extra Edition]

Update Date: 2026/08/05

This series, [Commonly Miswritten Characters], introduces characters that middle and high school students often get wrong, as seen by Shime-no, an instructor of essays and compositions, through daily correction and grading, and serves as a warning to students and examinees.

Is the kanji you wrote okay?

Today, we will continue with an 'Extra Edition'.

(Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 'Types of Mistakes' Revealed from Kanji Incorrect Answer Data - Child Kanji Reporters Also Experience Mock Grading: Kyoiku Katei Shimbun)

This is an article from the Kyoiku Katei Shimbun about how the Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, which administers the well-known "Kanji Kentei," held a special project at its headquarters titled "Public Release of the 'Types' of Mistakes Seen from the Answers of 1.2 Million People Annually." It is reported that upper-grade elementary school students participated. Given the timing (as of August 2026), it seems like a project that could also serve as "material" for summer vacation independent research.

What I want to focus on here is the point that "they released the 'types' of mistakes." It is a project where you can learn by type where many children and students make mistakes. Regardless of the subject or content, in addition to teaching "what is correct," pointing out where and how "what is incorrect" is wrong is also important for education and learning. Isn't this a very good project?

While this project seems to target upper-grade elementary school students, there must be "kanji that even middle and high school students, and even adults, have misunderstood and learned." Is the kanji you wrote correct? Let's "review" together while looking at the mistake patterns.

10 Types of Mistakes Indicated by the Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation

Since the article mentioned above only lists some of these misunderstanding types, I have referred back to the original article from the Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation and summarized all the types below.

(Behind the Scenes of the Unknown Test (Mistake "Type" Edition): Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation)

Although I have slightly changed the order and description for convenience, these are said to be the 10 patterns. These are strictly the answer patterns of Kanji Kentei examinees, so they are the "types" of incorrect answers in that context. ① to ⑤ are errors in "reading," and ⑥ to ⑩ are errors in "writing." Since I am writing this article for middle and high school students who write compositions and essays, I will explain the "writing" problems from ⑥ to ⑩.

First, "⑥ Tenkaku Entatsu (parts are not written correctly)." "Entatsu" refers to "parts that are written unnecessarily" and "parts that are missing." Unnecessary extra characters are called "enji," and characters that are needed but missing are called "datsuji." In other words, these are errors such as "an extra stroke is added" or "one dot is missing." These are errors that arise from not accurately understanding the character shape. Representative examples include "writing the inside of the 'shinnyo' radical in '達' as '幸', resulting in one missing horizontal stroke," "the 'ム' inside the 'きにょう' radical of '魅' is missing," and "the top of the inside of '歳' has an extra stroke added, making it look like '示'."

(Writing the inside of the 'shinnyo' radical in '達' as '幸', resulting in one missing horizontal stroke)

(The 'ム' inside the 'きにょう' radical of '魅' is missing)

(The top of the inside of '歳' has an extra stroke added, making it look like '示')

Next, ⑦ Confusing and writing with characters of similar shape (mistakes with characters of similar shape). This is also something we see often. This is a case of confusing it with another kanji that has a similar shape. A typical example is the case of mistaking the 'peki' in 'kanpeki' (perfect) for 'kabe' (sound: heki, meaning: wall).

(Case of mistaking the 'peki' in 'kanpeki' for 'kabe' (sound: heki, meaning: wall))

⑧ Confusing and writing with characters of the same sound (mistakes with characters of the same sound). This is extremely common. It is also often seen as mistakes involving homophones or words with the same reading but different characters. There are countless examples, but to name a few typical ones: 'mistaking the 'ketsu' in 'fukaketsu' (indispensable) for 'ketsu' (decide)', 'mistaking the 'kan' in 'kachikan' (sense of values) for 'kan' (feeling)', and in terms of homophones or words with the same reading but different characters, there is the 'confusion between 'hajime' (beginning) and 'hajime' (start)'.

(Mistake of using 'ketsu' (decide) for the 'ketsu' in 'fukaketsu' (indispensable))

(Mistake of using 'kan' (feeling) for the 'kan' in 'kachikan' (sense of values))

(Confusion between 'hajime' (beginning) and 'hajime' (start))

⑨ Confusing and writing with characters of similar image (mistakes with characters of similar image). This is when you mistake it for a character with a similar meaning or image (concept). In the Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation's article, the mistake of using the kanji 'yaku' (burn) for 'moyasu' (burn) is given as an example, but this might be rare among middle and high school students... (this is my personal feeling). It might be common among elementary school students.

Lastly is ⑩ Poor stroke quality (written sloppily). This is what is known as 'the handwriting is too messy to read'. Because it is written sloppily, the shape of the character is damaged so much that it can no longer be read as that character. There is a certain amount of this as well. As I pointed out in a previous article, this comes down to 'writing characters carefully'.

...Well, did anything come to mind for you as well?

Be careful of typos and write carefully with the correct kanji

It goes without saying, but when writing essays or short papers, it is important to 'be careful of typos and write carefully with the correct kanji'. Having many typos makes it 'difficult to read' for the reader and causes them to 'misread' it. It also becomes a remote cause of undermining the credibility and persuasiveness of the text. No matter how correct what you are saying is, a text full of typos lacks persuasiveness, doesn't it?

Also, as mentioned above, 'write characters carefully'. Whether it is a statement of purpose or an essay/short paper, it is 'something for others to read', so please avoid writing it sloppily as if it is enough for only you to understand. Before the content, writing characters carefully so that they are easy for the reader to read is also important when writing text. Admittedly, at the point where such consideration for the reader regarding characters is lacking, it is highly likely that the content itself is not 'a text that is written with consideration for the reader' can be said.

Furthermore, as I said in another article, as stated in the relevant article by the Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, the principle is that 'if the unique framework (typeface) of the character is clear and can be identified by a third party, it will not be uniformly marked incorrect based solely on the way the details of 'tome, hane, harai' (stops, hooks, and sweeps) are written'. It is safe to assume that this is generally the case for essays and short papers as well. If it is written as a typeface that follows the correct shape of the character and it can be identified by a third party as 'that character', then there is no problem. It is better to have 'beautiful characters', but this is not 'calligraphy', so there is no need to worry about some 'idiosyncratic handwriting'. They do not have to be 'beautiful characters'. However, let's try to write each stroke of the character carefully. Otherwise, it may be read by the reader as a different character. And please be aware that this will lead to the content of the text being misread.

(I am indebted to the following sites for the citations)

Kyoiku Katei Shimbun

Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Official Website (The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation)

For those who are worried about 'how to write a statement of purpose', this 'Shimeno-style template statement of purpose creation method' is recommended!