Katakana quiz
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Want a day-by-day plan? Kana Challenge is a free 30-day hiragana and katakana course with a quiz in every lesson and graded stroke-order tracing, on Android, iPhone and the web.
This katakana quiz shows one character at a time. Give its sound by picking or typing the romaji, pick the katakana for a romaji, or match it to the hiragana with the same sound. The result screen lists every character you missed, with a button to retry only those. Sets for the 46 basic katakana, the 25 with dakuten and handakuten (ガ, パ) and the 33 yōon (キャ, シュ) turn on and off, and the 60-second round counts how many you read correctly before time runs out.
How to use this katakana test
- Learn hiragana first. Every katakana has a hiragana twin with the same sound, so the work is learning new shapes.
- Start with the basic 46 and picking the romaji. Then retry your misses from the result screen.
- Match katakana to hiragana. "Picking the hiragana" ties each new shape to the one you already read.
- Switch to typing at about 90%. Recalling the sound with no hints is closer to reading a menu or a sign.
- Add dakuten, then yōon. ガ, ザ, ダ, バ and パ are basic shapes with two marks or a circle; キャ, シュ and チョ add a small ャ, ュ or ョ.
Katakana is what you meet first in Japan: menus, signs and product names. It writes loanwords and foreign names (コーヒー, coffee; アメリカ, America), sound words (ドキドキ, a pounding heart) and words written for emphasis. For hiragana use the hiragana quiz; to mix both, the hiragana and katakana quiz. The hiragana and katakana charts page has printable stroke-order sheets, and hiragana vs katakana explains when Japanese uses each script.
Katakana chart
Each cell shows the katakana, the hiragana with the same sound, and the romaji the quiz expects (Hepburn). Tap a character to hear it. Rows follow the gojūon order.
| Row | a | i | u | e | o |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| vowels | |||||
| k- | |||||
| s- | |||||
| t- | |||||
| n- | |||||
| h- | |||||
| m- | |||||
| y- | |||||
| r- | |||||
| w- | |||||
| n |
Dakuten and handakuten (25)
| Row | a | i | u | e | o |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| g- | |||||
| z- | |||||
| d- | |||||
| b- | |||||
| p- |
Yōon (33)
| Row | ya | yu | yo |
|---|---|---|---|
| ky- | |||
| sh- | |||
| ch- | |||
| ny- | |||
| hy- | |||
| my- | |||
| ry- | |||
| gy- | |||
| j- | |||
| by- | |||
| py- |
Katakana that are easy to confuse
Most wrong answers come from these pairs. The direction and length of the strokes tell them apart.
| Pair | Romaji | The difference |
|---|---|---|
| シ / ツ | shi / tsu | シ: the two short strokes lie flatter and the long stroke rises from the bottom left. ツ: the short strokes stand up and the long stroke falls from the top. |
| ソ / ン | so / n | The same rule: ソ's long stroke falls from the top, ン's rises from the bottom. |
| ク / ワ | ku / wa | ワ has a short vertical stroke on the left that closes the top; ク does not. |
| コ / ユ | ko / yu | ユ's bottom stroke runs on past the vertical stroke; コ's stops at the corner. |
| ナ / メ | na / me | ナ is a cross with a horizontal stroke; メ is two slanted strokes crossing like an X. |
| ヌ / ス | nu / su | ヌ has an extra short stroke across the middle; ス has only two strokes. |
| チ / テ | chi / te | チ's vertical stroke curves to the left; テ has two horizontal strokes and a stroke coming down from the middle. |
Frequently asked questions
How many katakana are there?
There are 46 basic katakana, and they stand for the same sounds as the 46 hiragana. Dakuten (゛) and handakuten (゜) add 25 more (ガ, ザ, ダ, バ and パ rows), and a small ャ, ュ or ョ makes 33 yōon such as キャ and ショ. This quiz covers all three sets.
Should I learn hiragana or katakana first?
Hiragana. Particles and verb endings are written in hiragana, so you need it to read any sentence. Katakana is used for loanwords, foreign names, sound words and emphasis; once hiragana is solid you already know every sound and only learn new shapes. Test hiragana with the hiragana quiz.
Which romaji spellings does the quiz accept?
Both common systems: shi or si for シ, chi or ti for チ, tsu or tu for ツ, fu or hu for フ, ji or zi for ジ, wo or o for ヲ, and n or nn for ン. ヂ and ヅ accept ji, di, zu and du. Yōon accept sha or sya, cha or tya, ja, jya or zya, and so on.
Why do ヂ and ジ (or ヅ and ズ) have the same answer?
In modern standard Japanese they sound the same: ヂ like ジ (ji) and ヅ like ズ (zu). Both are rare in katakana, where loanwords use ジ and ズ.
What about the long vowel mark ー and the small ッ?
They are not characters with a sound of their own, so the quiz leaves them out. ー makes the vowel before it long (ケーキ, kēki, cake) and a small ッ doubles the next consonant (ベッド, beddo, bed).