探す vs 捜す
JLPT N4 vocabulary · what is the difference?
Both are read さがす, and the kanji carries the difference: 探す is looking for something you want but do not have yet — a job, an apartment, a good restaurant — while 捜す is searching for something or someone that has gone missing. Written Japanese keeps them apart; spoken Japanese does not distinguish them at all.
When to use each
探す
さがす
Write 探す when you are after something desirable that you have never had — work, housing, information, a shop. This is the everyday default and the form you meet in textbooks.
新しい仕事を探しています。
あたらしいしごとをさがしています。
I'm looking for a new job.
安いアパートを探しているんです。
やすいアパートをさがしているんです。
The thing is, I'm looking for a cheap apartment.
捜す
さがす
Write 捜す when something that was yours, or someone who should be here, has disappeared: lost keys, a missing person, a suspect. The kanji 捜 is the one in 捜査, criminal investigation.
なくした鍵を捜しています。
なくしたかぎをさがしています。
I'm looking for the keys I lost.
警察が行方不明の子どもを捜している。
けいさつがゆくえふめいのこどもをさがしている。
The police are searching for the missing child.
Sentences where only one works
いいレストランを探しましょう。
いいレストランをさがしましょう。
Let's look for a good restaurant.
Something wanted but never possessed — clearly 探す. Nothing has gone missing.
財布を落としたので、捜しています。
さいふをおとしたので、さがしています。
I dropped my wallet, so I'm looking for it.
It was yours and it is gone: the 捜 case. Here 探す strikes a careful reader as the wrong kanji.
ネットで情報を探す。
ネットでじょうほうをさがす。
To look for information online.
Seeking information you do not yet have is always 探す, related to 探る, 'to probe'.
犯人を捜す。
はんにんをさがす。
To hunt for the culprit.
A person to be tracked down; this collocation is fixed with 捜, matching 捜査.
Common mistakes
仕事を捜しています。
仕事を探しています。
Job hunting is the standard 探す case. 捜 suggests a job that went missing, and reads as a conversion slip.
探し物が見つかりません。
捜し物が見つかりません。
Strictly, 捜し物 is the lost-item word. In practice 探し物 is extremely common in everyday writing, so treat this as a nuance rather than a hard error.
Frequently asked questions
Can I just always write 探す?
Largely, yes, and many Japanese writers do — 探す is the reading taught in schools and the one offered first when converting さがす. But 捜す is expected for lost people and police searches, where 探す can look careless.
Does the choice change how I say the sentence?
No. Both are さがす with the same pronunciation, so the distinction never surfaces in speech.
What is the difference between 探す and 見つける?
探す is the act of looking; 見つける is succeeding in finding. 探したけれど見つからなかった — 'I looked, but I couldn't find it' — uses both in one sentence.