How are 憧れる and 憬れる different? Both verbs have the same reading, and both seem to have meanings of "yearning", "longing" or "admiration". I can't figure any difference between the two; are there any situations where you would use one kanji and not the other? I ask because Heisig's Remembering The Kanji's keywords for , and as "hanker", "yearn" and "pining" respectively, are unhelpfully similar, but the two kanji are particularly troubling me.

There's no semantic difference, only stylistic one, as long as being used to write the word .

is the primary choice because this is the original kanji designated for the word. didn't have this reading until the word ( or ) was coined, but you're allowed to use it in order to add some different flavor, too.

As an aside, technically neither of and means "yearning" separately. The former is "wander" and the latter is "go far". A dictionary says that was created to translate German _Sehnsucht_ , which sounds likely to me.