Most Chinese characters have only one correct pronunciation (syllable plus tone), but there are mary characters that have many pronunciations which also have different meanings. Such characters can be hard to learn, so what we're going to do in this article apart from looking at a few examples is to discuss how to learn these characters.
The worst case scenario looks really bad...
The character ? has many different meanings and pronunciations, but most beginners have learnt this word early on to express "and", such when you join two nouns or pronouns together: ??? (ni hé wo) "you and me".
However, if you look this character up in a dictionary, you will see as many as seven different definitions, here from Patrick Zein's list of the 3000 most common characters:
...but fortunately it isn't as bad as it looks
Fortunately, most of those pronunciations are very rare and most learners needn't worry about them at all. They are used in very specific situations or in a certain word or expression, making it almost useless to learn them separately. More about how to learn these characters later, though, let's look at some more examples first.
Different but related meanings
There is a fair number of characters that can be pronounced in two ways which meanings are related but not the same. Here is an example where a tone change makes the difference between a verb and a noun:
Another example of this is ? which can be pronounced both as "zhong" and "zhòng", the first being the most basic meaning "middle" and the second meaning "to hit (a target)".
Sometimes the difference is bigger, but the meaning is still related. These two words are very common in beginner textbooks:
Completely different meanings
In some cases, the meanings are completely unrelated, at least on a practical, superficial level. The meanings might once have been related, but it's not easy to see that in modern Chinese. For example:
How to learn characters with multiple pronunciations
The best way to learn these pronunciations is through context. You shouldn't isolate the character ? and learn that it has two pronunciations "kuà i" and "huì" and what they mean. Instead, learn words or short phrases where they appear. You will find that the "kuà i" pronunciation almost exclusively appears in the word listed above, so if you know that, you'll be fine.
There are of course tricky cases such as ? which has grammatical functions both when it's pronounced "wéi" and "wèi", and it can be tricky to figure out which one is which without being good at grammar. Still, this is a rare exception and most of these characters with multiple pronunciations can be learnt simply by focusing on their most common occurrences.
The worst case scenario looks really bad...
The character ? has many different meanings and pronunciations, but most beginners have learnt this word early on to express "and", such when you join two nouns or pronouns together: ??? (ni hé wo) "you and me".
However, if you look this character up in a dictionary, you will see as many as seven different definitions, here from Patrick Zein's list of the 3000 most common characters:
- [hé] together, with, (F?) harmony, gentle, mild, kind, <family name>; ?? hépÃng peace
- [Hé] Japan
- [huo] ?? nuanhuo nice and warm
- [hè] join in singing, compose a poem in reply
- [huó] mix with water
- [huò] mix, blend
- [hú] complete a set in Mahjong
...but fortunately it isn't as bad as it looks
Fortunately, most of those pronunciations are very rare and most learners needn't worry about them at all. They are used in very specific situations or in a certain word or expression, making it almost useless to learn them separately. More about how to learn these characters later, though, let's look at some more examples first.
Different but related meanings
There is a fair number of characters that can be pronounced in two ways which meanings are related but not the same. Here is an example where a tone change makes the difference between a verb and a noun:
- ? (jiao) "to teach", for example ?? (jiaoshu) "to teach", ?? (jiaohuì) "to show, to teach"
- ? (jià o) "teaching", for example ?? (jià oshì) "classroom", ?? (jià oshòu) "professor"
Another example of this is ? which can be pronounced both as "zhong" and "zhòng", the first being the most basic meaning "middle" and the second meaning "to hit (a target)".
Sometimes the difference is bigger, but the meaning is still related. These two words are very common in beginner textbooks:
- ? (cháng) "long", for example in ?? (chángchéng), ?? (chángduan) "length"
- ? (zhang) "to grow, chief", for example in ?? (zhangdà ) "to grow up", ?? (chuánzhang) "captain"
Completely different meanings
In some cases, the meanings are completely unrelated, at least on a practical, superficial level. The meanings might once have been related, but it's not easy to see that in modern Chinese. For example:
- ? (huì) "can, meeting, society" ?? (xuéhuì) "to learn", ?? (kaihuì) "to have a meeting"
- ? (kuà i) "accounting", as in ?? (kuà ijì) "accounting"
How to learn characters with multiple pronunciations
The best way to learn these pronunciations is through context. You shouldn't isolate the character ? and learn that it has two pronunciations "kuà i" and "huì" and what they mean. Instead, learn words or short phrases where they appear. You will find that the "kuà i" pronunciation almost exclusively appears in the word listed above, so if you know that, you'll be fine.
There are of course tricky cases such as ? which has grammatical functions both when it's pronounced "wéi" and "wèi", and it can be tricky to figure out which one is which without being good at grammar. Still, this is a rare exception and most of these characters with multiple pronunciations can be learnt simply by focusing on their most common occurrences.