解く（とく）と解く（ほどく）

What is the difference between 解く（とく）and 解く（ほどく）? I read the examples and it seems to me that とく is used for contract or problem (something serious and formal). And ほどく is for knot, tie, bow or parcel. But there are some examples that makes me confused about the meaning of these two words. So can anyone help to explain this? Thank you so much

In my elementary school monolingual Japanese dictionary, there is an entry for both readings.

And in at least one explanation of each, they use the other reading as a synonym.
So this makes me believe that they can be, in some instances, be used as such.
There are more explanations for とくand they include the abstract meanings (like you said). And the explanations for ほどく seem to indicate a concrete physical meaning (like you said).

But it seems like there are cases where you could use both.

From the dictionary 例解学習国語:

とく：
❶ むすんであるものを、ほどく。［例］ なわを解く。帯を解く。
Unbind something that is tied. [Example] Untie a rope. Untie an obi.

❷ 問題の答えを出す。［例］ 難問を解く。
Produce an answer to a problem. [Example] Solve a difficult problem.

❸ 関係をなくす。やめる。［例］ 契約を解く。
End a relationship. Stop. [Example] Cancel a contract.

❹ 取りのぞく。［例］ かこみを解く。
Remove. [Example] Remove an enclosure.

ほどく：
ぬってある物やむすんである物などをときはなす。とく。［例］ 古い着物をほどいて仕立て直す。
Untangle sewn or tied objects. Undo. [Example] Unravel an old kimono and tailor it again.

The translations are by ChatGPT.
I picked this dictionary because the Japanese is a lot easier than other monolingual dictionaries.

I had the same question when I started learning it and still don’t fully understand. But here are some more explanations I found when I first had the question.

oh, thank you. this is really helpful

Hi @tei1, welcome to the forums! There’re already great answers above, but I just wanted to share my thoughts on this.

とく and ほどく share the core concept of ‘to undo something that is tangled or tied, bringing it back to its original state or condition.’ As already mentioned by @phnorobp, both words can be used to mean ‘unbind’ when talking about physical items such as knots, ties, bows, or parcels. However, for this usage, ほどく seems to be more common in everyday casual conversation. Perhaps because of this, ほどく personally makes me think of the image of untangling something by hand over a bit of time.

とく has a broader meaning derived from this concept, such as ‘to solve,’ which involves clarifying something from a tangled/complicated condition, or ‘to cancel,’ ‘to release,’ or ‘to remove,’ which refers to freeing something from a restricted or tied state.

In the case of hair, 髪をとく generally means ‘to comb,’ and 髪をほどく means ‘to untangle tied hair.’ Some dictionaries indicate that とく can also mean ‘to untangle tied hair,’ but we can’t distinguish the meaning by sound alone, so we usually use both とく and ほどく. The former is often written as 梳く.

I hope this helps!

I think this might be what clicks for me.

Something like, “To unravel a mystery” in English.

Thank you!

Great thread, have also wondered.

このスレッドは優しい人の答えのおかげで「とく」と「ほどく」の違いという謎を解いた。

うまいっ