現す and 表す

[stevesayskanpai]

I've never understood "arawasu" - and now I realise that there are two common kanji used for this verb, that show up with the same meaning on Denshi Jisho. Can anyone help explain the difference to me?

[Javizy]

姿を現す to appear/to show oneself
言葉で表す to express with words

The best thing to do in these situations is check a J-J dictionary. For example, Yahoo.