NihonGo
← Home/Katakana practice
Katakana46 characters

カタカナ

Same 46 sounds, sharper shapes — used for foreign words, names and loanwords like コーヒー.

46 soundsaudio on every kanaflashcardsquizzes
katakana chartStage 1 / 16
New here? Start with one row

Don't try to learn all of these at once! Learn just one row (5 sounds) at a time — starting with ア イ ウ エ オ. That's plenty for today. 🌸

  • 1Tap the 5 characters in one row to hear each sound.
  • 2Flip the flashcards for that row until they feel easy.
  • 3Take the quick quiz, then move to the next row.

KATAKANAごじゅうおん

Tap any character to hear it. Empty cells are intentional — those sounds reuse the A-row character.

a
i
u
e
o
A
Ka
Sa
Ta
Na
Ha
Ma
Ya
()
()
Ra
Wa
()
()

🔊 Audio uses your browser's text-to-speech. Pronunciation quality varies by device.

Look-alikes — don't mix these up

These shapes trip up almost every beginner. 🔊 Tap a character to hear it, and read the tip for the difference.

vs

The famous one! シ’s strokes sweep in from the SIDE (a “she” smile); ツ’s drop from the TOP (a “tsu”nami). Watch the stroke angle.

vs

ソ’s stroke goes top→down (“so”); ン’s goes bottom→up (“n”).

vsvs

ウ has a top tick + roof; ワ is wide & open; フ is a single hook.

vs

ケ has an extra little stroke on the left; ク doesn’t.

vs

コ opens to the RIGHT (a box); ユ opens UP.

vs

ア has a straight down-stroke from the corner; マ has a checkmark.