Interval Of Time, Time Interval, Between, Room
Noun
あいだ
ま
たいてい、ねている間は、だんぼうを切ります。
Usually, I turn off the heater while I’m sleeping.
その間に、いそいでひるごはんをかきこみました。
Meanwhile, I shoved my lunch in my mouth.
筏を作っている間に、俺達みんな餓死にしちまうよ！泳いで川を渡った方が無難なんじゃないか？
In the time it takes to build a raft we’ll die of starvation! Wouldn’t it be safer to just swim across the river?
The kanji and the word are exactly the same. That means they share meanings as well.
Don't confuse this with 〜間 which is similar in meaning but different in reading. The 〜間 means it's attached to something. This is a standalone word.
Since this word is made up of a single kanji, it uses the kun'yomi reading — and 間 has two common kun'yomi readings, あいだ and ま. You haven't learned these readings yet, so here's an explanation of each reading and mnemonics to help you remember them:
When 間 refers to a longer interval of time, it's generally read as あいだ. For a short burst of time, it's read as ま. When it means an interval of space, it's usually read as あいだ.
You can remember this because time feels longer in Idaho (あいだ). Any interval of time you spend there feels so long, because Idaho life moves so slowly. As soon as you cross the border and enter a new state, you call your ma (ま) to tell her you're finally out of that slooooow state, and the intervals of time feel shorter.