A Japanese teacher on Twitter posted that 化学 is pronounced かがく and means "chemistry". I double-checked it on tangorin.com and it lists that pronunciation but says that it's pronounced ばけがく to avoid confusion with 科学 ("science").
I can't find any more info on the net about this... could somebody confirm this?
In particular, for my Anki vocabulary deck, which pronunciation should I learn? Or should I shoehorn both into my deck somehow?
Answer
I think the basic word is かがく, but the other reading is possible. Here's what 明鏡国語辞典 says at the bottom of its entry for 化学{かがく}:
►「科学」と区別して「ばけがく」ともいう。
If you pronounce it this way, you're deliberately using the other reading of the first kanji to make sure the person you're talking to knows which word you mean. I would definitely learn the reading かがく, though.
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