“Wakareru” (分かれる) or “Wakareru” (別れる)?
Last updated: 2025/11/23
This series, [Commonly Confused Spellings], is where I, Shimeno, an instructor for essays and compositions, introduce spellings that middle and high school students often get wrong based on my daily grading and feedback, and sound an alarm for students and examinees.
Today, we will discuss “wakareru” (分かれる) and “wakareru” (別れる). I often see these kanji spellings confused in essays, compositions, and statements of purpose written by middle and high school students. I will talk about how to distinguish between these two today.
Just the other day, I saw the phrase “iken ga ‘wakareru’ (別れる)” (opinions diverge). The correct spelling is “iken ga ‘wakareru’ (分かれる).” I see cases of this confusion quite often.
Regarding these “two ways of being ‘wakareru’,” dictionaries provide the following entries.
wakareru [分かれる] (intransitive verb, lower bigrade): (1) To become in a divided state. To become separate. “Kohaku ni wakareru (divided into red and white teams).” (2) When one thing becomes several (from that point). “Michi ga wakareru (the road forks), imi ga wakareru (the meaning diverges), iken ga wakareru (opinions diverge).” wakareru [別れる] (intransitive verb, lower bigrade): (1) When people who were together separate and stop meeting. “Tomodachi to wakareru (part ways with a friend), sayonara o itte wakareru (say goodbye and part ways).” (Antonym: meet) (2) When people who were intimate break off their relationship. “Fuufu ga wakareru (a couple separates/divorces) (omitted).”
As is clear from this, “分かれる” means “separation/division” and refers to “a single thing becoming separate states.” On the other hand, “別れる” means “parting/separation” and refers to “people parting from one another.” Therefore, the aforementioned “iken ga ‘wakareru’” should be written with “分かれる” (as shown in the usage examples above).
To be absolutely sure, let’s also check the usage and terminology guide in the “Yomiuri Style Book 2020.”
wakareru = 分かれる (branching/separation): iken ga wakareru (opinions diverge), kohaku ni wakareru (divided into red and white teams), shoubu no wakareme (turning point of a match), honryuu kara wakareru (branch off from the main stream), michi ga wakareru (the road forks). = 別れる (parting): ikiwakare (parting for life), kaisatsuguchi de koibito to wakareru (part ways with a lover at the ticket gate), kazoku to wakarete sumu (live apart from family), kenkawakare (parting after a quarrel), kowakare (parting from a child), nagano wakare (a final farewell), nakama to wakarewakare ni naru (get separated from friends), monowakare ni owaru (end in a deadlock), wakaregiwa (at the moment of parting), wakarebanashi (talk of breaking up).
People who are used to writing and most adults will likely not make a mistake with “iken ga wakareru.” However, you need to be careful with the “monowakare ni owaru” (end in a deadlock) mentioned above. This is because it is a bit confusing whether it should be “mono ‘wakare’ (分かれ)” or “mono ‘wakare’ (別れ)” since it means “ending in a state where opinions have diverged.”
Let’s look it up in the dictionary again.
monowakare [物別れ] (noun): Parting ways because opinions do not match. “Koushou ga monowakare ni owaru (negotiations end in a deadlock).”
In other words, while “iken ga wakareru” means “opinions do not match and become separate,” “monowakare (ni owaru)” means “people part ways while still in a state where their opinions did not match (ending in that situation),” and it can be said that it implies “people parting ways” based on the fact that “opinions diverged.” When you say “monowakare,” it can be said that there is a concrete situation where “people are parting ways.”
Based on the above, please make sure to use “分かれる” and “別れる” appropriately.
(I consulted the following references for this search)
Sanseido Kokugo Jiten, 7th Edition
Yomiuri Style Book 2020
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