Do 白雪{しらゆき} and 白雪{はくせつ} mean the exact same thing?


I always add context to my flashcards and use different sources to find
suitable ones from high-quality bilingual dictionaries. Kenkyusha offer
examples for 白雪{はくせつ} but not 白雪{しらゆき}. I know some words in Japanese words do
have different readings but the same meaning, and in such cases I just take
sentences from one entry and use it for another. However, in Daijisen I see
that 白雪{しらゆき} means "very white snow" while 白雪{はくせつ} is defined as "white
snow". This can of course be seen as splitting hairs, but my question can be
boiled down to:

Is there any actual difference between the two words and would a native
Japanese know which of these two readings was in the author's mind? The
example sentence I'm thinking of is:

> 白雪をいただく山 : a snow-capped mountain




There is no essential difference in meaning when translated into English (I
don't know why one of them has "very"). Still, as is the case with many other
[wago-and-kango](/questions/tagged/wago-and-kango "show questions tagged
'wago-and-kango'") pairs, しらゆき tends to sound poetic or "soft", whereas はくせつ
tends to sound technical, serious or "hard".

I would probably read 白雪 in 白雪をいただく山 as はくせつ in serious mountaineering
documentaries, but しらゆき in fairy tales, love songs, etc. 白雪のような肌 is almost
always しらゆきのような肌, and 白雪姫 (Snow White) is always しらゆきひめ.

Related:

  * [Is 年月 (months and years) read 【としつき】or【ねんげつ】and is there a difference?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/66506/5010)
  * [What is the difference between 山道【さんどう】 and 山道【やまみち】?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/72177/5010)
  * [How should I read 花弁?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/66581/5010)




There is no essential difference in meaning when translated into English (I
don't know why one of them has "very"). Still, as is the case with many other
[wago-and-kango](/questions/tagged/wago-and-kango "show questions tagged
'wago-and-kango'") pairs, しらゆき tends to sound poetic or "soft", whereas はくせつ
tends to sound technical, serious or "hard".

I would probably read 白雪 in 白雪をいただく山 as はくせつ in serious mountaineering
documentaries, but しらゆき in fairy tales, love songs, etc. 白雪のような肌 is almost
always しらゆきのような肌, and 白雪姫 (Snow White) is always しらゆきひめ.

Related:

  * [Is 年月 (months and years) read 【としつき】or【ねんげつ】and is there a difference?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/66506/5010)
  * [What is the difference between 山道【さんどう】 and 山道【やまみち】?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/72177/5010)
  * [How should I read 花弁?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/66581/5010)

