Why do JLPT N5 learners confuse 病院 with 郵便局?

Both words occupy adjacent semantic territory, which is exactly why the JLPT uses them as distractors for each other on multiple-choice items. The fastest way to stop confusing them is to study them as a pair, write a one-sentence contrast in your own words, and drill the pair specifically rather than each word in isolation.

Is 病院 or 郵便局 more common on JLPT N5?

Both appear in the JLPT N5 curriculum and either may show up on a given exam. Don't try to predict which one the test will choose — learn to distinguish them and you'll be safe regardless. Both belong to the Places & Directions theme of N5 vocabulary.

How do I practice this confusion pair?

Free option: visit /try and pick a confusion drill. Paid option: none — JLPT Mastery is free during launch. Whichever route you take, the engine specifically re-tests pairs you've gotten wrong rather than rotating through general vocabulary review.

JLPT N5 · Beginner · Meaning confusion

病院 vs 郵便局

Q: What's the difference between 病院 and 郵便局?

病院 (びょういん) means "hospital" and 郵便局 (ゆうびんきょく) means "post office". The reading 'byouin' and the 'yuubin' part of 'yuubinkyoku' sound phonetically similar to beginners. Both feature a 'y' glide and end in 'n', leading to auditory and spoken confusion.

Why JLPT N5 learners mix up 病院 (びょういん, “hospital”) and 郵便局 (ゆうびんきょく, “post office”).

病院

びょういん

hospital

noun

郵便局

ゆうびんきょく

post office

noun

Theme: Places & DirectionsJLPT N5

Why these get confused

The reading 'byouin' and the 'yuubin' part of 'yuubinkyoku' sound phonetically similar to beginners. Both feature a 'y' glide and end in 'n', leading to auditory and spoken confusion.

How to tell them apart

Anchor on the meaning, not the form. 病院 (hospital) and 郵便局 (post office) live in adjacent semantic territory. Memorize the boundary, not just each word.
Read the example sentences below. Seeing each word in its natural context builds a faster lookup than studying the dictionary form alone.

In a sentence

病院 (hospital)

病院に行きました。
この近くに病院はありますか。

郵便局 (post office)

郵便局で切手を買います。
郵便局は駅の隣にあります。

How JLPT tests this pair

On JLPT N5, 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.

Sample item

「病院」の意味は？