Script-and-vocabulary questions test two skills at once: can you read the word (kana or kanji), and do you know it? In the JFT-Basic this is the whole first section. The most common failure is not unknown words — it is known words read too slowly. This lesson gives you the highest-frequency word set this kind of quiz draws on, plus the reading habits that make recognition automatic.
How to use this page: take the video quiz first, pausing before each reveal to commit to an answer. Then work through the lesson below, and finish with the fresh quiz at the bottom — different questions, same skill. If the bottom quiz feels easy, the lesson worked.
Core recognition set — words this quiz format loves
| Japanese | Reading | English |
|---|---|---|
| 学校 | がっこう | school |
| 先生 | せんせい | teacher |
| 電車 | でんしゃ | train |
| 時間 | じかん | time, hour |
| 毎日 | まいにち | every day |
| 今日 | きょう | today (irregular reading) |
| 明日 | あした | tomorrow (irregular reading) |
| 天気 | てんき | weather |
| 電話 | でんわ | telephone |
| 買い物 | かいもの | shopping |
| 料理 | りょうり | cooking, dish |
| 勉強 | べんきょう | study |
| 新しい | あたらしい | new |
| 安い | やすい | cheap |
What to actually take away
Read the word before the options. In script questions, learners who peek at the options first get anchored by a wrong reading. Say the target word in your head, then look.
Kanji share parts, and quizzes exploit it. 買 (buy) and 貝 (shellfish), 電 in 電車・電話・電気 — distractors are usually look-alikes. Learn kanji as parts, not pictures of whole words.
Irregular readings are quiz magnets. 今日 (きょう), 明日 (あした), 大人 (おとな) — words whose reading cannot be assembled from their kanji are tested constantly, precisely because assembly fails.
Speed comes from rounds, not staring. Three fast passes through a word list on different days beat one long session. The video works the same way — rewatch tomorrow, faster.
Fresh quiz — same skill, new questions
1. 「毎日」の 読み方は？ (How do you read 毎日?)
毎 (every) + 日 (day) = まいにち. The 日 kanji has many readings (にち, ひ, び, か) — in 毎日 it is にち.
2. Which word means "cheap"?
安い (やすい) = cheap. 高い is expensive/tall, 新しい new, 古い old. 安 also appears in 安全 (safety) — same kanji, related idea of "at ease".
3. 「電」 appears in all of these EXCEPT:
電 (electricity) builds 電車 (train), 電話 (phone), 電気 (electricity/light). 料理 (りょうり, cooking) has no 電 — spotting shared parts like this is the core script skill.
4. 「明日 テストが あります」— when is the test?
明日 (あした) = tomorrow, one of the irregular readings worth over-learning. きのう (yesterday) is 昨日 — its equally irregular twin.
Go deeper
- Vocabulary practice test — the same skill with instant feedback and spaced review
- N5 kanji list — every character behind these words
- Mock set 1 guide — this is section 1 of the full JFT mock
More video lessons
- Video Lesson: Everyday Vocabulary Under Pressure
- Video Lesson: Turning Recognition into Recall
- Video Lesson: The N5 Particle System
- Video Lesson: The Daily Warm-Up Routine
Video and companion lesson by Rahul Kumar Singh. Published 17 July 2026. The lesson content on this page is original study material written to accompany the video — it extends the quiz, it is not a transcript. Spotted an error? Report it.