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Why JLPT N4 learners mix up びっくりする (びっくりする, “to be surprised”) and 驚く (おどろく, “to be surprised, to be astonished”).
These are synonyms meaning 'to be surprised.' Confusion lies in usage: 'びっくりする' is more colloquial and onomatopoeic, while '驚く' (おどろく) is the standard verb often used in writing.
On JLPT N4, 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 N4 confusion pairsSpot a mistake in this explanation? Email us. Explanations are AI-generated and human-reviewed; corrections welcome.