Written one way, read another

Spelling and sound line up in Japanese — with a few exceptions: を is read o (particle only), へ is read e only as a particle (alone it is he), ぢ equals じ, and づ equals ず. This page proves 'same sound' with waveform correlation.

The four sets

Click a cell: A = written form, B = actual reading.

or use the + on each cell

Minimal pairs in sentences

Two sentences side by side, differing by one sound in the same slot. Tap a card to hear the whole line, tap the highlighted part to hear just that.

Homophones and correlation

Near 1 = the waveforms nearly coincide; clearly lower = different sound. The へ row is the control: read alone it is he, so it must be low — which shows the measure can tell same from different.

WrittenRead asDur ADur BCorrelation
をお150 ms150 ms1.00
へえ190 ms170 ms0.02
ぢじ220 ms220 ms1.00
づず260 ms260 ms1.00

How to practise

Where these numbers come from

Both kana synthesised in one voice, spans aligned at onset, zero-lag Pearson correlation. A correlation near 1.00 could also mean the same file twice, so the page carries a control pair that should differ (を vs え).

Waveform correlation is evidence at the signal level, not proof of identical perception.