Is it common for Kanjis to have several pronunciations like for 乾?


While doing introductionary courses of Japanese, I stumble on a fact that
affrights me about the difficulty of the language.

When congratulating each other around a drink: `乾杯` the Kanji `乾` is
pronounced `かん` `Kan`, which I think is directly coming from Chinese for `干杯`
`GanBei` .

But when dealing with the fact of being dry: `乾いてます` , then `乾` is pronounced
`かわい` `Kawai`.

Is it common for Kanjis to have several pronunciations ? Or is it some kind of
rare exception ?

In case it is common for Kanjis to have several pronunciations, what is a
common way for learners to remember those differences ?




Yes, it is very common. You can tell from the context: on-yomi is most often
used in combinations of Kanji ; kun-yomi is most often used when Kanji is
followed by Hiragana. There are exceptions ; you have to remember all the most
common cases. There might sometimes also be some ambiguous cases.  
Finally I'd add that for people name (given names), you often cannot know how
to pronounce their name if you only see it written in Kanji, since a name
Kanji can have several pronunciations parents choose from when naming the
children.




Yes, it is very common. You can tell from the context: on-yomi is most often
used in combinations of Kanji ; kun-yomi is most often used when Kanji is
followed by Hiragana. There are exceptions ; you have to remember all the most
common cases. There might sometimes also be some ambiguous cases.  
Finally I'd add that for people name (given names), you often cannot know how
to pronounce their name if you only see it written in Kanji, since a name
Kanji can have several pronunciations parents choose from when naming the
children.

