A water-based ink for ink-jet recording and an ink-jet recording method allow the formation of sharp text and lines in high density black, and the formation of a high quality gradation image in which the graininess is reduced in a black image of a medium lightness to a high lightness (e.g., an achromatic image in dark gray to light gray) in ink-jet recording. The water-based ink combination for ink-jet recording comprises a black ink, and a color ink (A) and a color ink (B) that satisfy a color relationship of the following expression (I): about 120.degree..ltoreq.|.alpha.-.beta.|.ltoreq.about 240.degree. (I) wherein .alpha. is the hue angle of the color ink (A) and .beta. is the hue angle of the color ink (B).