WAON Hiragana Flashcards — Printable, Front and Back

Free Printable Hiragana Flashcards for Beginners

These WAON hiragana flashcards drill the final three characters of the chart — わ, を, and ん. Modern Japanese dropped the would-be 'wi' and 'we' sounds centuries ago, leaving just わ and を in the W row, plus the standalone syllabic nasal ん. With these three, you've reached the end of the basic hiragana set.

You get double-sided flashcards printed on letter-size paper (8.5 × 11 inches). The front of each card shows the Japanese word in hiragana; the back shows the English meaning plus the romaji reading. These three characters anchor the most important grammatical particles in Japanese: を (the direct-object marker, pronounced o) and ん (the only standalone consonant, appearing at the end of countless words).

What's on each card?

• Front: the Japanese word written in large hiragana, with the romaji pronunciation below.
• Back: the English meaning, mirrored so it lines up with the front when you print double-sided.
• Subtle StudyHiragana.com watermark on each card so the deck stays branded after cutting.

How to print and assemble

• Click the Print button above (or press Ctrl/Cmd + P).
• Choose two-sided printing and flip on the long edge — this keeps front and back aligned.
• Use standard 8.5" × 11" letter paper. Card stock works too if you want sturdier cards.
• Cut along the dashed lines to separate the six cards on each sheet.
• Optional: laminate the cards for longer life.

How to study with hiragana flashcards

The point of beginner hiragana flashcards isn't just memorising characters — it's connecting them to real vocabulary the moment you learn them. Use the deck this way:

• Hold a card so only the front (hiragana) is visible. Read it aloud and try to recall the meaning.
• Flip the card to check. If you got it right, set it in a "knew it" pile; if not, return it to the deck.
• Shuffle and repeat until the "didn't know it" pile is empty.
• Switch directions: look at the English meaning and try to recall the hiragana spelling. This is harder but builds active recall.

Why these three characters matter

These three are small in number but huge in usage. わ packs into 私 (watashi, "I"), 笑う (warau, "to laugh"), and 輪 (wa, "ring"). を exists almost solely as the direct-object particle — you'll write it thousands of times marking what verbs act upon (パンを食べる, "eat bread"). And ん closes more Japanese words than almost any other character: 本 (hon, "book"), 円 (en, "yen"), さん (the honorific suffix), and every -ん ending in conjugated verbs. Completing this row means you can now read every basic hiragana — congratulations.

Keep practising

After you've mastered these WAON flashcards, deepen your hiragana skills with our other free tools:

• Interactive わをん guide — pronunciation, stroke order, and a writing canvas to practice each character.
• Printable hiragana flashcards by character — single-character flashcard sheets for each row of the chart.
• Full hiragana chart — all 46 basic hiragana characters at a glance.
• StudyHiragana.com home — interactive practice with stroke order, recall games, and spaced repetition.