Kana Lab

JLPT N5 · Spaced repetition

Practice for the JLPT N5, one session at a time

Kana Lab drills hiragana and katakana, N5 vocabulary, N5 kanji, and twenty-five grammar lessons, and one spaced-repetition scheduler decides what you see next. Every drill works without an account.

Start Lesson 1 of the grammar courseNew to Japanese? Start with the kana grid

Start from where you are

Kana first if the characters are new. Grammar and vocabulary side by side once you can read them.

Working toward N5 nowOpen Lesson 1 and work down the courseAlready have progressSee what is due and what is weakest
ka
n
shi
tsu

A question looks like this: the character, and one answer to give. Answers submit as soon as they are unambiguous, so the drill keeps pace with you.

What you can study here

N5 grammar course

Twenty-five lessons following the Minna no Nihongo sequence, from 〜は〜です through the ば conditional. Each lesson opens with the pattern, two or three example sentences with romaji, then nine questions graded as you answer.

Start Lesson 1

Hiragana and katakana

Select characters, whole rows, or columns on the gojūon grid and drill them. Type romaji, type kana through your IME, or trace each character on the writing canvas. Read all 92 kana in your first week if you put in the sessions.

Open the kana grid

N5 vocabulary

Around 150 words grouped by textbook lesson, drilled in both directions — Japanese to English and English to Japanese. Filter to one lesson when it comes up in your course.

Browse N5 vocabulary

N5 kanji

The core N5 kanji with meanings, on'yomi and kun'yomi readings, and stroke counts. Questions ask either what a character means or which reading belongs to it.

Drill N5 kanji

Study plan

Choose a two, three, five, or seven-day timeline for the kana and the plan splits all 92 characters across the days. Day one starts light; the last day is review only.

Build a study plan

Progress tracking

A heat map of your error rate per character, mastery levels from zero to five, and a focus drill built from whatever you have missed before.

See your progress

How a session works

    Step 1

    Pick what to work on

    A row of kana, one vocabulary lesson, a grammar chapter, or a set of kanji. Sessions are short — a character, a word, or a pattern at a time.

    Step 2

    Answer and get graded

    Type the romaji or the kana, choose from four options, or trace the character. Every answer is marked immediately, with the reason shown when you miss.

    Step 3

    Let the repetition work

    Mistakes return within a few questions and correct answers space out over days. Coming back tomorrow matters more than a long session today.

Mix up つ and く, or シ and ツ? Characters you confuse are shown side by side until the pair stops catching you out.

Questions about N5

What is the difference between hiragana and katakana?

They cover the same 46 sounds with different shapes and different jobs. Hiragana writes native words and grammar endings; katakana writes loanwords, foreign names, and emphasis. Learning one gives you the sounds of the other, which is why the drill lets you switch scripts without changing your selections.

What is on the JLPT N5 exam?

Two written sections and a listening section. Language Knowledge covers vocabulary, kanji, and grammar, and Reading uses short passages. Kana Lab covers the kana, vocabulary, kanji, and grammar the written sections are built on.

What score do I need to pass N5?

80 out of 180 overall, with at least 38 in Language Knowledge and Reading and at least 19 in Listening. You must clear the overall mark and both section minimums, so a high total with one weak section still fails.

How long does N5 take to prepare for?

Estimates usually land between 150 and 350 hours depending on your starting point. The kana are the quickest part — days rather than weeks — and vocabulary plus grammar set the pace. Short sessions most days beat occasional long ones, because the scheduler needs the spacing.

Is this enough on its own?

It covers the written half: kana, vocabulary, kanji, and grammar. There is no audio on the site, so pair it with listening practice elsewhere, and use full-length past papers for exam timing. The drills here are the daily work, not the rehearsal.

Is Kana Lab free?

Yes. Every drill works without an account and progress saves in your browser. A free account adds cross-device sync and nothing else; no feature is locked behind it.

Where to go next

Read the kana practice guide if the characters are still new. Then start the N5 grammar course and drill N5 vocabulary alongside it.