65021
Today I noticed during practicing kanji that lately I've been going through a
lot of kanji that all mean _help / save / assist_ :

  * 助ける
  * 扶ける
  * 救ける
  * 援ける
  * 輔ける

and I found two more that I had yet to learn (guess I don't have to anymore
now)

  * 佐ける
  * 佑ける

What are the different usages of these kanji? Are all of them even used?
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-01-22T05:48:52.267
65020
2019-01-22T07:13:33.467
27848
question
usage kanji-choice
What do all the different たすける's mean?
**助ける** is the most common way to write たすける using kanji. It means to save
someone from danger, the same as expressed in the word 救助する. It's the only
kanji with たすける as a joyo reading.

**扶ける** means to lend assistance or help someone (力を貸す). But this meaning can
also be written as **助ける** , thanks to the fact that たすける is not a joyo
reading for this kanji.

**輔ける** means to advise or assist someone, as in 補佐・輔佐する. To reiterate, it's
not a joyo reading.

My dictionary doesn't have explanations for the other ways of writing it you
mentioned, and my kanji dictionary lists all of these except for 助 as non-joyo
readings.
[Here](https://www.weblio.jp/content/%E3%81%9F%E3%81%99%E3%81%91%E3%82%8B) is
the dictionary entry with the information I mentioned for the 3 renderings
above.

The instances in [BCCWJ](https://pj.ninjal.ac.jp/corpus_center/bccwj/en/) for
each (or related forms) are  
助ける - 6708  
扶ける - 21  
救ける - 42  
援ける - 35  
輔ける - 6  
佐ける - 2  
佑ける - 0

In short, 助ける is the primary way of writing it, and you will occasionally come
across other renderings, the meanings of which can mostly be guessed from
their individual kanji nuances.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-01-22T06:21:05.157
65021
2019-01-22T07:13:33.467
2019-01-22T07:13:33.467
20479
20479
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answer