JLPT N5 Vocabulary: 300 Words With Readings and Examples

The kanji is not the hard part at N5. Remembering which reading it takes is.

300 cardsLast updated 2026-08-17

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At N5 the vocabulary itself is small, and that is what makes people underestimate it. The difficulty is not learning that 人 means person — it is that the same character is ひと on its own, にん when you count people, and じん in a nationality, and a word list that shows you only the kanji and the English leaves you guessing every time you meet it in a sentence. The same problem shows up in pairs like 早い and 速い, which share a reading and split on meaning. This deck covers 300 N5 words. Every card shows the word as it appears in text, and the back gives the kana reading, the English meaning, the part of speech, and an original Japanese sentence with its translation. Cards are tagged by theme — people, home, food, travel, time, position, questions — and by part of speech, so you can drill only verbs, or only the na-adjectives that behave differently. Import it and the deck joins your spaced-repetition schedule, and what stays in rotation is the set whose reading you still have to stop and work out.

What happens when you add it

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Each card gets its own schedule, based on how well you actually recall it.
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What's inside

Showing 100 representative cards from the full 300-card deck.

Front	Back
私 — how is it read, and what does it mean?	わたし. I, me (pronoun).
男 — how is it read, and what does it mean?	おとこ. man (noun).
子供 — how is it read, and what does it mean?	こども. child (noun).
家族 — how is it read, and what does it mean?	かぞく. family (noun).
兄 — how is it read, and what does it mean?	あに. older brother (own) (noun).
弟 — how is it read, and what does it mean?	おとうと. younger brother (noun).
先生 — how is it read, and what does it mean?	せんせい. teacher (noun).
大学 — how is it read, and what does it mean?	だいがく. university (noun).
勉強 — how is it read, and what does it mean?	べんきょう. study (noun).
辞書 — how is it read, and what does it mean?	じしょ. dictionary (noun).
会社 — how is it read, and what does it mean?	かいしゃ. company (noun).
店 — how is it read, and what does it mean?	みせ. shop (noun).
家 — how is it read, and what does it mean?	いえ. house, home (noun).
玄関 — how is it read, and what does it mean?	げんかん. entrance hall (noun).
机 — how is it read, and what does it mean?	つくえ. desk (noun).
電気 — how is it read, and what does it mean?	でんき. electricity, light (noun).
水 — how is it read, and what does it mean?	みず. water (noun).
ご飯 — how is it read, and what does it mean?	ごはん. rice, meal (noun).
肉 — how is it read, and what does it mean?	にく. meat (noun).
野菜 — how is it read, and what does it mean?	やさい. vegetables (noun).
朝ご飯 — how is it read, and what does it mean?	あさごはん. breakfast (noun).
晩ご飯 — how is it read, and what does it mean?	ばんごはん. dinner (noun).
駅 — how is it read, and what does it mean?	えき. station (noun).
バス — how is it read, and what does it mean?	バス. bus (noun).
自転車 — how is it read, and what does it mean?	じてんしゃ. bicycle (noun).
切符 — how is it read, and what does it mean?	きっぷ. ticket (noun).
旅行 — how is it read, and what does it mean?	りょこう. trip (noun).
薬 — how is it read, and what does it mean?	くすり. medicine (noun).
目 — how is it read, and what does it mean?	め. eye (noun).
口 — how is it read, and what does it mean?	くち. mouth (noun).
今日 — how is it read, and what does it mean?	きょう. today (noun).
昨日 — how is it read, and what does it mean?	きのう. yesterday (noun).
昼 — how is it read, and what does it mean?	ひる. noon, daytime (noun).
夜 — how is it read, and what does it mean?	よる. night (noun).
今週 — how is it read, and what does it mean?	こんしゅう. this week (noun).
先週 — how is it read, and what does it mean?	せんしゅう. last week (noun).
時間 — how is it read, and what does it mean?	じかん. time, hour (noun).
週間 — how is it read, and what does it mean?	しゅうかん. week (counter) (noun).
天気 — how is it read, and what does it mean?	てんき. weather (noun).
雪 — how is it read, and what does it mean?	ゆき. snow (noun).
行く — how is it read, and what does it mean?	いく. to go (verb).
帰る — how is it read, and what does it mean?	かえる. to return home (verb).
食べる — how is it read, and what does it mean?	たべる. to eat (verb).
見る — how is it read, and what does it mean?	みる. to see, to watch (verb).
読む — how is it read, and what does it mean?	よむ. to read (verb).
買う — how is it read, and what does it mean?	かう. to buy (verb).
使う — how is it read, and what does it mean?	つかう. to use (verb).
取る — how is it read, and what does it mean?	とる. to take (verb).
起きる — how is it read, and what does it mean?	おきる. to get up (verb).
働く — how is it read, and what does it mean?	はたらく. to work (verb).
遊ぶ — how is it read, and what does it mean?	あそぶ. to play (verb).
歩く — how is it read, and what does it mean?	あるく. to walk (verb).
乗る — how is it read, and what does it mean?	のる. to ride, to board (verb).
会う — how is it read, and what does it mean?	あう. to meet (verb).
習う — how is it read, and what does it mean?	ならう. to learn (verb).
わかる — how is it read, and what does it mean?	わかる. to understand (verb).
開ける — how is it read, and what does it mean?	あける. to open (verb).
掃除する — how is it read, and what does it mean?	そうじする. to clean (verb).
置く — how is it read, and what does it mean?	おく. to put, to place (verb).
あげる — how is it read, and what does it mean?	あげる. to give (verb).
終わる — how is it read, and what does it mean?	おわる. to end (verb).
曲がる — how is it read, and what does it mean?	まがる. to turn (verb).
降る — how is it read, and what does it mean?	ふる. to fall (rain, snow) (verb).
大きい — how is it read, and what does it mean?	おおきい. big (adjective).
古い — how is it read, and what does it mean?	ふるい. old (things) (adjective).
低い — how is it read, and what does it mean?	ひくい. low (adjective).
広い — how is it read, and what does it mean?	ひろい. wide, spacious (adjective).
多い — how is it read, and what does it mean?	おおい. many (adjective).
悪い — how is it read, and what does it mean?	わるい. bad (adjective).
寒い — how is it read, and what does it mean?	さむい. cold (weather) (adjective).
難しい — how is it read, and what does it mean?	むずかしい. difficult (adjective).
楽しい — how is it read, and what does it mean?	たのしい. enjoyable (adjective).
怖い — how is it read, and what does it mean?	こわい. scary (adjective).
遅い — how is it read, and what does it mean?	おそい. late, slow (adjective).
甘い — how is it read, and what does it mean?	あまい. sweet (adjective).
元気 — how is it read, and what does it mean?	げんき. well, energetic (na-adjective).
便利 — how is it read, and what does it mean?	べんり. convenient (na-adjective).
嫌い — how is it read, and what does it mean?	きらい. disliked (na-adjective).
大変 — how is it read, and what does it mean?	たいへん. tough, very (na-adjective).
一 — how is it read, and what does it mean?	いち. one (numeral).
四 — how is it read, and what does it mean?	よん. four (numeral).
八 — how is it read, and what does it mean?	はち. eight (numeral).
千 — how is it read, and what does it mean?	せん. thousand (numeral).
上 — how is it read, and what does it mean?	うえ. above, on (noun).
外 — how is it read, and what does it mean?	そと. outside (noun).
左 — how is it read, and what does it mean?	ひだり. left (noun).
間 — how is it read, and what does it mean?	あいだ. between (noun).
どこ — how is it read, and what does it mean?	どこ. where (pronoun).
あれ — how is it read, and what does it mean?	あれ. that one over there (pronoun).
誰 — how is it read, and what does it mean?	だれ. who (pronoun).
どうして — how is it read, and what does it mean?	どうして. why (adverb).
とても — how is it read, and what does it mean?	とても. very (adverb).
もっと — how is it read, and what does it mean?	もっと. more (adverb).
あまり — how is it read, and what does it mean?	あまり. not very (adverb).
ちょっと — how is it read, and what does it mean?	ちょっと. a little, a moment (adverb).
はじめまして — how is it read, and what does it mean?	はじめまして. how do you do (phrase).
こんにちは — how is it read, and what does it mean?	こんにちは. hello (phrase).
ありがとうございます — how is it read, and what does it mean?	ありがとうございます. thank you (phrase).
いただきます — how is it read, and what does it mean?	いただきます. said before eating (phrase).
どういたしまして — how is it read, and what does it mean?	どういたしまして. you are welcome (phrase).

Frequently asked

Does importing this deck use my AI allowance?

No. Importing uses the saved deck as published; it does not run AI generation or use your AI allowance. The complete deck can therefore be imported on the free plan.

What happens if I import the deck twice?

Nothing is duplicated. Cards you already have are skipped and only newly added cards come across. Including re-imports after deleting, each official deck can be imported three times per account.

Can I use it on the web app and the phone app?

Yes. The deck is added to your account, so the same cards and the same progress are available in the web app, the iOS app and the Android app.

Can I edit the cards after importing?

Yes. Imported cards are yours: you can edit both sides, delete cards you do not need, change tags, and move cards to another deck.

What is in the deck?

112 nouns, 71 verbs, 43 i-adjectives, 16 na-adjectives, 20 adverbs, 12 pronouns, 13 numerals and 13 set phrases, 300 in total. One word per card, so nothing appears twice.

Do I need to read kanji already?

No. Every card gives the kana reading on the back, so you can start from zero kanji and still use the whole deck. Seeing the word in its written form from the first day is deliberate: it is how the word will appear in the exam and in real Japanese, and recognising it there is the skill being built.

Does it cover grammar and particles?

Not as rules, but every card carries a full sentence, so the particles are in front of you constantly. Reading 学校へ行きます three hundred times in context does more for particle instinct than a table of は and が ever will. For the grammar points themselves you will still want a textbook.

Is this enough to pass N5?

It covers the vocabulary section thoroughly. Import it and open it daily, and the only words that come up are the ones whose reading or meaning you cannot yet produce. Spend the time that frees up on listening, which is where most N5 candidates actually lose marks.

Editorial method and sources

Memly's editors use the primary sources below to check scope and terminology, then independently write and review the cards.

JLPT: N1-N5 summary of linguistic competence required for each level