How to choose the reading of 埋{う}める and 埋{うず}める?

Question

埋める has two possible readings 埋{う}める and 埋{うず}める.

Of course kanjis have tons of inconsistencies. While (same furigana / same okurigana / different kanji / different meaning), such as 熱{あつ}い and 厚{あつ}い, is standard fare, what about (different furigana / same okurigana / same kanji / ??? meaning), such as 埋{う}める and 埋{うず}める?

1. the writer writes the furigana?
2. the reader gets to choose the difference in nuance by reading it as うずめる or うめる?
3. I'm sure that there are a few more cases such 埋める in the 常用漢字. Are the differences in meaning for each such pair always so great that only one of the readings is appropriate? Therefore, context always dictates which reading to use?

I totally don't understand this. thanks.

Answer 1

If the average native reader cannot be expected to pick the correct reading based on context clues or set phrases, and the difference is important to the writer, the onus is on the writer to prevent this problem.

Furigana is of course an option, but for something like 埋める, a good way is to just write the whole word in hiragana if you mean to convey the less common reading. That is, I write the word うめる as 埋める, and the word うずめる as うずめる.

The readings are pretty easy to distinguish with words like:

• 柄 → がら／え
• 盛り → もり／さかり
• 角 → つの／かど
• 値 → あたい／ね

Some other words can be a little harder to tell:

• 音 → おと／ね
• 歪み → ゆがみ／ひずみ

And then for compounds, there is a whole pile of these multiple reading words. You may have to rely on collocational clues, because the meanings are sometimes pretty similar (e.g. 大事{おおごと}になる vs. 大事{だいじ}に至る).

In any case, your confusion is justified. Even a professional newscaster has been tripped up by this word! (See ことばの話448「骨をうめる」 on this page.)

Answer 2

• For filling a lack うめる is preferable, e.g. 空白をうめる (fill in the blank), 欠員をうめる (fill a vacant post)
• For "bury one's face into something" only うずめる can be used (顔をうずめる)