溶とける

と

け

る

Common wordJLPTN2Freq.FrequencyTop 10,000

Meanings

1

ichidan verb, intransitive verb

Intransitive: something becomes liquid or soft from heat. Covers ice, snow, butter, metal, etc.

。

The meat taken out of the freezer thaws.

2

ichidan verb, intransitive verb

dissolve; be soluble

Intransitive: a solid disappears into a liquid, forming a solution.

3

ichidan verb, intransitive verb

colloquial

Colloquial: money, time, or resources disappear as if melting. Often used when something is spent quickly or wasted.

溶とけるUsage54%
Standard kanji for melting, dissolving, and thawing.
解とけるUsage30%
Rare kanji for thawing or loosening; easily confused with 解ける (ほどける, to come untied).
とけるUsage13%
融とけるUsage3%
Used especially for metals, ice, or financial assets melting/liquidating, but 溶ける is more common.

溶とかす
Transitive counterpart: to melt/dissolve something. 溶ける is intransitive (it melts), while 溶かす is transitive (someone melts it).
解ほどける
Different reading and meaning: to come untied, to be solved. Do not confuse with the rare 解ける (とける) spelling for melting.

From classical verb 解く (とく, to untie, dissolve) + intransitive auxiliary ゆ → とく → とける. The kanji 溶 is now standard for melting/dissolving.