How to handle sets of words that get cross-linked

[Lisa]

Any advice/tricks to distinguishing words that are persistently confused with each other? This has been an ongoing challenge for me. I don't mean words that are just hard to learn themselves. The problem is 2 to 4 words that get mixed up with each other, so I know (say) 3 words and 3 definitions but I cannot remember which is which. I suspect Anki is counterproductive, since I'm reinforcing both right and wrong associations. Possibly I should avoid adding one of the set to anki until I know the first one really well; but I don't spot the issue, until it's a full on problem.

I've dug out of the hole before in a couple of ways:
- Vertrag/Vortrag/Antrag/Auftrag... I learned Versailler Vertrag and Heiratsantrag and by elimination I can get the others.
- stürzen/stützen... the r is a little like it would fall over and the t looks like something that could be used as a prop.

Now I'm looking at heiter/heiser/hiesig, seeing the next time sink develop, and not seeing how to apply these earlier ideas.

Any advice?

[Iversen]

I would have thought that the main problem was to identify the words that get confused, but from the moment you have noticed two or three words that consistently get mixed up the solution must be to build fields of associations for each word, including at least one 'signature' for each one. Anki doesn't do that - it just checks you and reminds you about a word with its translation - whereas if you memorize wordlists you have the chance to do some association building during the memorization phase.

OK, Versailler Vertrag and Heiratsantrag ... shouldn't the "v" in Versailles and Vertrag be enough? If not, then try a visual trick: imagine the famous palace with "Vertrag" written in big letters across it (like the "Hollywood" letters in L.A.). If you aren't visually minded then do it on your computer. In this way the Versailles palace will become your 'signature' for Vertrag. As for Antrag: it is a process where a person carries ('tragen') a marriage proposal to ('an') that person's beloved one. Imagine a suitor on his/her knees handing a big package marked "Antrag" to the chosen one, and then that image should become your signature, with "an-" as the important part which suggests some kind of handing over..

As for "stürzen/stützen" you almost give the solution yourself, and once again I notice that you use associations based on letters in the words. But try to imagine the word "stürzen" in Big Glossy Letters (with an extra-fat r) falling down the face of a cliff, while "stützen" with all those t's stands as an unyilding support for a table. Or remember Dali's crutches, but with the t's from "stützen" instead. Having both visual and oral and orthographic associations is better than having associations from just one sensory channel. And one useful trick is to build the word itself into a suitable scenery - like a boisterous party scene with the word "heiter" placed prominently on a table in the middle and a hot oven plate which you almost touch by accident, but then you see the word "heiß" blinking as a warning. Just use your imagination instead of relying just on something in the spelling.

It is all a question of building memorable associations, and if those associations don't form spontaneously then you have build them consciously. With time it becomes a habit.

[jmar257]

I have this problem in both Spanish and French, typically words with similar prefixes. Re- and some é- verbs in French, and various ones in Spanish. Sometimes just reading more helps, but one thing I've done to help is look up the etymology on Wiktionary (since that interests me in general anyway): for example, I used to have trouble with agarrar in Spanish (forgive me, I can't specifically remember the other word(s) I had trouble with with this one). When I learned the etymology was From a- +‎ garra (“claw”) +‎ -ar., all I had to do was remember garra meant claw and and it was easy to imagine something going into a claw/hand and thus the meaning is to grab rather than the other possibilities I had in my head. Now I just need to be better at looking these things up when I encounter them in the wild...

[Beli Tsar]

I would have thought that the main problem was to identify the words that get confused, but from the moment you have noticed two or three words that consistently get mixed up the solution must be to build fields of associations for each word, including at least one 'signature' for each one. Anki doesn't do that - it just checks you and reminds you about a word with its translation - whereas if you memorize wordlists you have the chance to do some association building during the memorization phase.

OK, Versailler Vertrag and Heiratsantrag ... shouldn't the "v" in Versailles and Vertrag be enough? If not, then try a visual trick: imagine the famous palace with "Vertrag" written in big letters across it (like the "Hollywood" letters in L.A.). If you aren't visually minded then do it on your computer. In this way the Versailles palace will become your 'signature' for Vertrag. As for Antrag: it is a process where a person carries ('tragen') a marriage proposal to ('an') that person's beloved one. Imagine a suitor on his/her knees handing a big package marked "Antrag" to the chosen one, and then that image should become your signature, with "an-" as the important part which suggests some kind of handing over..
It is all a question of building memorable associations, and if those associations don't form spontaneously then you have build them consciously. With time it becomes a habit.

Great advice, though I have to say that I use Anki for this very happily! There are all sorts of ways of using it or reinforcing it with these kinds of associations, just as Memrise does. Even just adding a notes field beneath your answer with a quick verbal cue for this kind of association can be very powerful.

Certainly, trying to space out the learning helps. If I'm thinking I'm going to confuse words like this, I try to learn them properly at least a week apart, and if I have trouble, then build a few extra Anki cards, e.g. some cloze sentences, do a little bit more dictionary work, and a mem/association like Iversen.

[einzelne]

— Extensive reading helps but you need to be patient. Repeat out loud the phrases/sentences with such words without looking into the text.
— Try to find a title of a book or a film, or a catch phrase with these words. Or an important concept. For instance, Vertrag. I would immediately connect with Rousseau's social contract — Rousseau und sein Gesellschaftsvertrag.
— Reverse translation of simple phrases or short sentences. But don't practice all cross-linked words right away. Cement one in your long term memory, then start gradually adding others.

[smallwhite]

I would tell you the trick I used to remember whether it’s Orchid or Orchard that has the K sound, but I’ve forgotten the trick again.

[Lisa]

I think only-learn-one-at-a-time is probably the the best solution; pause the others, as soon as I start to see an issue, and double down on a single one of the set, get that really solid. Hopefully later the others would look a little different. Incidentally: Vortag/Vertrag and stürzen/stützen were ones I previously struggled with but found solutions for. The current problem I'm trying to solve is heiter/heiser/hiesig which just seem to have fewer "hooks" to hang memory cues on...