How to handle polyphonic (多音字) characters?

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1

Many characters have more than one pronounciation and more than one meaning, apparently up to 10% of characters are polyphonic. Any advice for handling these within the HanziHero framework?

行
hang2: a row, a line, a profession. 银行 (yin2hang2) = bank.
xing2: to walk, to go, to be okay. 行走 (xing2zou3) = to walk.

长
chang2: long. 长城 (Chang2cheng2) = the Great Wall.
zhang3: to grow, a leader. 成长 (cheng2zhang3) = to grow up.

了
le: particle for completed action. 我吃了 (wo3 chi1 le) = I ate.
liao3: to finish, to be able to. 了解 (liao3jie3) = to understand.

还
hai2: still, yet. 还没有 (hai2 mei2you3) = not yet.
huan2: to return, to give back. 还书 (huan2 shu1) = to return a book.

地
di4: land, ground. 地球 (di4qiu2) = Earth.
de: structural particle (turns adjectives into adverbs). 慢慢地走 (man4man4 de zou3) = walk slowly.

都
dou1: all, both. 我们都去 (wo3men dou1 qu4) = we all go.
du1: capital city. 首都 (shou3du1) = capital.

2

It’s not what you’re after but just study them outside HH since HH just doesn’t handle them at all. Personally although I initially hated it (especially the 还 as huán vs hái?), I honestly found it wasn’t that big a deal. HH won’t teach you to read or to talk - you need to do those activities yourself. When doing those activities, I found you’ll learn all the other pronunciations/uses of characters basically automatically.

Same with the other meanings - lots of characters also have multiple meanings, some of which have nothing to do with the HH key word. You just have to actually use the language and it’ll sort itself out.

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