1. A character recognition system comprising: reading means for optically reading a character to be recognized; processing means for processing character data supplied from said reading means, said processing means processing said character data to produce a character feature of said character to be recognized in accordance with a predetermined manner; storing means for storing a first plurality of reference characters without inclination in the form of said character feature and a second plurality of reference characters with inclination in the form of said character feature; comparing means for comparing said character to be recognized with at least one of said reference character stored in said storing means and determining a degree of similarity between the two characters compared, and comparing means having a first mode of operation in which both of said first and second pluralities of reference characters are used and a second mode of operation in which only one of said first and second pluralities of reference characters is used; and control means for controlling a mode of operation of said comparing means between said first and second modes of operation.