Reading Modern Fonts 2:

Telling Characters Apart

In Part 2 we look at groups of characters - consonants, vowels and tone marks - with visually similar characteristics, and identify what sets characters apart.

Group 1

• If it doesn’t have a waist: ข
• If its waist only pinches in from the left side: ย
• If it has a tail: ช or ซ
• If there’s no head: ช
• If the head has a notch: ซ
• If there’s a head but no notch it could be ช (fonts 2 & 4) or ซ (font 1)

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Group 2

• If it looks like “U” (sans serif font): บ or ษ
• If it doesn’t have entrails: บ
• If it does have entrails (typically a flat line): ษ
• if it looks like “u” (serif font): น
• If it’s got a head (usually with a notch): ฆ

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Group 3

• The mouth is generally done away with, or is reduced
• ถ will retain its mouth so it can be distinguished from ด (in group 6)
• Looking below the baseline at ฎ and ฏ, if simple line, ฎ. Otherwise you need to compare the two characters to distinguish them.

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Group 4

• These characters are wider than other characters, so are readily identifiable. They can be distinguished by the position of any knot (ณฌฒ) and the presence/absence of a notch
• The base of ญ is usually attached to the letter

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Group 5

• If it resembles the letter “W” it’s a member of this group.
• If there is no head: พ, ฟ or ฬ
• If the right arm is decorated: ฬ (not พ)
• If the left arm curves inwards (indicating a missing inside head): ผ or ฝ
• If there’s a low central notch: ผ or ฝ

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Group 6

• Imagine the head on ด is pushing against its stem downwards, and that of ค is similarly pushing left. This will give us a head at the bottom for characters like ด and a head in the middle for characters like ค.
• The presence of a notch distinguishes ด from ต
• A line in the top right of the character distinguishes ศ from ค

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Group 7

• The heads of จ, ฐ push to the right (fonts 1 and 2)
• ฐ is distinguished fromจ by the presence of a foot. ฐ often also has a line in the top right of the character.
• ฉ may lose its head, but is distinguishable by its knot.

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Group 8

• If the character is symmetrical (top to bottom), then it’s ว not ง
• ง usually has an extended tail
• อ and ฮusually keep their heads to avoid its being confused with ว
• ฮ can be distinguished fromอ by its small line in the top right.

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Group 9

• If it looks rather like “a” it’s ล or ส
• ส can be distinguished from ล by its small line in the top right.

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Group 10

• If it looks like “s” it’s ร or ธ
• ธ can be distinguished from ร by the longer downstroke

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Group 11

• If it looks like “n” then it’s ท or ฑ
• If it has a notched head, then it’s ฑ
• If it looks like “k”: ห

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Group 12 - Before vowels

• If it looks like Roman Ⅰ or Ⅱ, then it’s เ or แ respectively
• If it looks like “?” it’s ใ.
• If it ends to the right, it’s โ
• If it ends to the left, it’s ไ

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Group 13 - Above vowels

• If it’s a straight line: ◌ิ
• Head on the left: ◌ั
• Head on the right: ◌ี
• Head + another mark on the right: ◌ื
• Loop on the right: ◌ึ

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Group 14 - Below vowels

• ◌ุ may be simplified to a straight line (not shown)
• ◌ู may be simplified to a curve (fonts 1 & 2)

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Group 15 - After vowels

• Two horizontal lines with heads on the left: ◌ะ
• If it looks like a colon (“:”): ◌ะ

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Group 16 - Tone marks &c.

• ◌้ always retains its head and a hint of a downstroke to distinguish it from ◌ั
• Other characters in this groups are rarely problematical.