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Why JLPT N1 learners mix up 寛容 (かんよう, “forbearance, tolerance, generosity, involvement”) and 台無し (だいなし, “mess, spoiled, (come to) nothing”).
Both relate to the outcome of a mistake. 寛容 is the 'tolerance' shown toward an error, whereas 台無し is the 'ruin' that the error causes. Learners may confuse the act of forgiving with the result of the failure.
On JLPT N1, this pair shows up as a vocabulary meaning question. You see one word and pick its English equivalent from four options — one of which will be the other word in this pair, chosen as a distractor precisely because of the overlap.
Reading the explanation is step one. Targeted practice is what actually moves a confusion pair out of your weak list. Free, no signup needed to try.
Practice N1 confusion pairsSpot a mistake in this explanation? Email us. Explanations are AI-generated and human-reviewed; corrections welcome.