On Skritter, meanings are solely attached to the writing of a character, not to the pronunciation. In some cases, this lack of differentiation makes learning definitions and tones both difficult and confusing.

For instance, when you study 宁愿 the meaning that is shown for 宁 is the same as when you study 宁静. However, in 宁静the 宁 is second tone and means "peaceful", in 宁可 it's fourth tone and means "preferably". On Skritter, it always says "peaceful; tranquil; serene, rather; prefer; Ningxia autonomous region (abbr.)".

Note that in the definition given above there's a comma between "serene" and "rather" (note the standard semicolon), so I guess you've merged two separate database entries.

I'm not sure about whether or not it's easy to implement, but including the different tones or, alternatively, only showing the appropriate definition would be a great feature and save me a lot of time (finally reduce the study intervals for the tones of these annoying characters).

Other common examples:
相: http://www.google.com/dictionary?langpair=zh-CN|en&q=相
尽: http://www.google.com/dictionary?langpair=zh-CN|en&q=尽
差: http://www.google.com/dictionary?langpair=zh-CN|en&q=差
为: http://www.google.com/dictionary?langpair=zh-CN|en&q=为
阿: http://www.google.com/dictionary?langpair=zh-CN|en&q=阿
(One of those characters where there's even more than just a tone change, can also be pronounced "e1"="flatter")

see also: http://www.skritter.com/forum/topic?id=38919409

-- 穆儿

There are more 多音字 than I thought.

Here's a list (scroll down to 多音字): http://gx31.guanxianedu.com/news_newshow1.asp?classid=11&newsid=135

Just the beginning:

A
挨āi(挨近) ái(挨骂)
呆ái(呆板) dāi(呆会)

B
吧bā(吧嗒) ba(好吧)
把bǎ(把玩) 　bà(手把)
磅bàng(磅秤) páng(磅礴)
剥bāo(剥皮) bō(剥夺)
泊bó(停泊) pō(湖泊)
背bēi(背包) bèi(背后)
奔bēn(奔腾) bèn(投奔)
绷bēng(绷带) běng(绷脸)
辟bì(复辟) pì(开辟)
扁biǎn(扁担) 　piān(扁舟)
便biàn(方便) pián(便宜)
屏bǐng(屏气) píng(屏风)

C
叉chā(叉腰) chà(劈叉)
刹chà(古刹) shà(刹那)
朝cháo(朝代) zhāo(朝阳)
长cháng(长城) zhǎng(长辈)
重chóng(重复) zhòng(重要)
称chēng(称重) 　chèn(匀称)
盛chéng(盛饭) shèng(昌盛)
乘chéng(乘凉) shèng(千乘之国)
处chǔ(处理) chù(到处)
传chuán(传说) zhuàn(传记)
藏cáng(躲藏) zàng(西藏)
攒cuán(攒紧) zǎn(攒钱)
曾céng(曾经) zēng(曾氏)

D
倒dǎo(倒下) dào(倒立)
担dān(担任) dàn(重担)
弹dàn(炮弹) tán(弹簧)
当dāng(当然) dàng(上当)
调diào(高调) tiáo(空调)
都dū(首都) 　 dōu(都一样)
度dù(长度) duó(猜度)
得dé(得力) děi(得亏)
待dài(等待) 　 dāi( 待会)

As I understand it, the first tone listed is the definition until the comma, the second tone is until the second comma and so on. They discussed changing it to a line break but never made a change.

Wow. I've been using the site for more than a year now and never even had the slightest inkling that the comma meant that.

Noticing it now, that is a really useful/helpful distinction to make. I'd really really like to see the different tone dependent meanings made more clear.

Oh-oh, this was good to know... I never knew that the order of the definitions were related to the order of the tones, resulting in that I sometimes have changed the order of the definitions, putting the definition from my textbook first. Not so good. Also, it seems like when a character can have more than one tone, you get either one marked as correct. Which may not be correct for the actual definition being studied. (Hm, is this understandable?)

I agree that the comma is hard to notice, but apparently the line break has already been discussed, so I won't bring it up again.

@穆儿: Do you mean you only want the relevant definition to be shown for a character-in-a-word? I do like having the irrelevant definitions being shown. Or was the only problem that you didn't know about the comma seperation?

You're right, Sonorier. Now that I've realized how comma separation works a change doesn't appear to be as necessary as I previously thought. Some modifications could come in handy though.

I knew what the comma intended to do and I am happy with it as is as I believe any changes would needlessly complicate things.

A good one for the FAQ or HOWTO though.

except that a comma is the second smallest punctiation available

What is smaller than a comma? A space?

Yes, it is still on my list to turn it into a line break when appropriate. My list is very long. I'll put it in the FAQ for now; good call.

@jcardenio: a point

maybe punctuation is the wrong word?