also: つらづえ
He was deep in thought with his chin resting on his hand at the desk.
Resting your chin on your hand during class is considered bad manners.
Same reading and similar meaning (brace), but 方杖 is the more common kanji for the construction term.
Standard kanji spelling for the common reading ほおづえ.
Variant kanji form using 頰, which is an older or less common character for 頬.
Kana spelling is common in everyday writing, especially when the kanji are not needed.
Archaic spelling associated with the obsolete reading つらづえ.
Compound of 頬 (hō, 'cheek') and 杖 (tsue, 'cane, stick'), literally 'cheek cane'. The reading ほおづえ is a rendaku form of つえ. The construction sense is a homophone of 方杖, which uses 方 ('direction, side') instead of 頬.