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Why JLPT N2 learners mix up 実例 (じつれい, “example, illustration”) and 勝負 (しょうぶ, “victory or defeat, match, contest, game, bout”).
Both words describe a "real-world occurrence." Since a match is a specific instance of competition, it has conceptual overlap with the general idea of an "example" or practical illustration of a concept.
On JLPT N2, 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 N2 confusion pairsSpot a mistake in this explanation? Email us. Explanations are AI-generated and human-reviewed; corrections welcome.