In response to rich_f's interest in such a collection (here), and in case it could be useful to someone, I'm pasting here a list of easily confused words, grouped by similar meaning/"flavor".
Most of them are not real synonyms, but can still somehow be confused.
I have the feeling that this might be a very subjective thing, and YOU may have never had any problem distinguishing between them. The other way around is also true: it doesn't include those groups that for some reason didn't give ME any problems.

As for the usefulness of this list, I'm not too sure. I made it because I thought it would be easier to create stories that don't overlap in any way.
Let me know of any thoughts or additions you'd like to make!

In no particular order:
salary
stipend
income
--------
feelings
spirit
emotion
--------
resentment
grudge
repent
remorse
rue
--------
pledge
promise
vow
agreement
--------
I
me
oneself
self
--------
tax
tariff
levy
tribute
fare
--------
subjugate
solicit
encourage
urge
--------
calm
quiet
peaceful
--------
unusual
uncommon
rare
--------
regularity
gradually
sequential
--------
pursue
follow
chase
--------
pardon
excuse
apologize
--------
gulf
bay
haven
harbor
--------
swamp
marsh
pond
--------
marriage
matrimony
--------

PS: These only include the 2042 RTK1 kanji.
PPS: Some errors may be due to my ignorance of English!

Here's a few more from a list I made. (not including those on nac-est's list) I found it helpful when studying to compare the easily confused keywords and even learn them as a group, that way they reinforced each other, and you could create stories that emphasized the differences. Once I did that they were not so easily confused.


engrave
carve
-----
revolve
rotation
-----
cook
bake
-----
womb
placenta
-----
tomb
tombstone
mausoleum
grave
-----
shop
store
-----
vie
contend
-----
sacrifice
animal sacrifice
righteous
virtuous
ceremony
-----
catalpa
camelia
camphor
carnation
-----
heir
inherit
bequeath
-----
test
exam
examination
-----
lecture
lesson
teach
instruct
-----
handle
hold
grasp
grip
-----
simple
simplicity
-----
residence
reside
dwell
-----
husk
cereals
grains
-----
reap
harvest
profit
-----
tribute
offering
-----
cool
cold
-----
shade
shadow
-----
merit
meritorious deed
-----
night
nightfall
nightbreak
daytime
daybreak
evening
eventide
-----
destroy
destruction
disaster
-----
lie down
sleep
-----
equal
even
-----
chastise
admonish
-----
leap
jump
hop
-----
wife
feminine
lady
lass
beautiful woman
exquisite
woman
attractive
beautiful
legitimate wife
(Have you noticed there's more words for describing women than men?)
-----
scatter
spread
-----
penalty
punish
penal
-----
warm
warmth
-----
rot
decay
-----
eaves
gutter
-----
heal
healing
-----
respect
pay respects
-----
wonder
awe
-----
attack
assault
-----
hill
hillock
-----
steal
stealth
-----
spirit
spirits
phantasm
ghost
-----
length
long
lengthen
dilate
-----
subjugate
repress
-----
colour
colouring
-----
amass
accumulate
-----
lend
borrow
-----
adore
lovely
-----
profession
occupation
-----
distract
disturb
-----
quick
hurry
-----
cadet
recruit
-----
tender
tenderness
-----
matter
thing
-----
shame
pity
dreadful
-----
encounter
intercept
-----
bring up
raise
-----
cord
line

hmmm... yeah I have confused some of these on this list before. My most stubborn one is "pick" which I always mistake for 拾 "pick up" even though I know both characters very well. The funny thing is that on every character that Heisig warned of causing confusion, I had no problem with.

Looks like I'm also a bit fuzzy on the marriage ones, great to see them written in one spot, thank you!

Cool! I was looking for something like this. Thanks for the feedback, guys.

A few others that can be confusing:

someone
somebody
------
delight
pleasure
ecstasy
------
various
miscellaneous
etc.
------
male
masculine
he
-----


I think this sort of grouping will really help get my fail rate down, because that's usually what causes me to screw up ones I've known for a while.

Great thread. Thanks. The marriage keywords are the ones which still confuse me too. I'll have to do a bit of work on those and it's much easier when they are listed like this.

Stehr, try putting a reference to either a pick-up truck or a bad pick-up line into your story for pick-up. Works for me. I've got fingers the thief trying to get all of the fit girls he's picked up to fit into his pick up truck.

After going over the lists so far, and thinking about the ones I get confused, I'm starting to realize that this is the sort of thing that is individualized to a point, since people make different connections between words based on how they've learned English. But the lists are a great help to start with. I think that doing this sort of exercise is going to be really helpful for clearing up things, especially things I make connections to that aren't necessarily synonyms, but have similar stories, or similar elements.

One thing I do when I'm doing reviews is to take notes on kanji I fail. Now I think I'm going to add another level to the note-taking, and get more in-depth about it. (As I'm back to around 1300 again, I know that all sorts of fun things start to happen from here on out. )

Thanks for the input so far.

pick vs pluck used to always get me.

Wow, timcampbell, what a great list! As I thought, the thing is subjective to some extent. With many of the groups you listed I never confused the connected keywords, so I didn't even realize the similarity, or my stories worked out of the box.
Some of those, on the other hand, were problematic indeed (lately I'm hating the engrave-carve duo), I just forgot to include them.

It looks like we could build a global list. I'm thinking about how to make it more helpful...
For example, it would be nice if we could put a notice in the study page saying something like "Don't confuse this kanji with..." followed by the list of sibling keywords.

Floatingweed5 Wrote:Stehr, try putting a reference to either a pick-up truck or a bad pick-up line into your story for pick-up.

Thanks for the advice, this should help me a bit more. It's "pick" that I have the most trouble with though, it still finds it's way to my failed stack no matter how hard I try. I think if it said "pick fruits" of "pick veggies" I would have less trouble with it. Alas, I still put the symbol for "pick-up" everytime I see "pick"...

This pair also strikes me as rather close in meaning:

transcend
surpass

In some of these cases it can be effective to substitute a new keyword. In the first post in this thread "levy" is listed. "Levy" isn't a particularly accurate keyword for that Kanji (378) so changing it to a keyword that is more accurate, such as "installment" (the one I used) made more sense as far as accuracy of meaning goes and helped to remove a possible confusion.

(Related note:I am really grateful for the script by member Woelpad that allows you to change the keywords for the cards on this site; as I have been finding some very suspect keywords lately I have been very glad to be able to change them--see Substitute Keywords thread if you don't know about this and are interested in changing keywords.)

I concur it's a great list and something I've thought about myself (not making a list, but missing a kanji because I thought about a similar keyword). Definately "someone" and "somebody" I've mixed up. "Intestines" and "Entrails" I've also confused.

On a similar note, when you begin to do sentences and putting all this kanji into context, another problem arises. The keywords that Heisig chose will not always mesh with the common translation. Most notable will be "private" which most will think of as "I" (watashi) and "nightfall" which most will associate with "evening" (konban or bangohan).

I'm assuming that by this time, even the keyword is meant to go by the wayside and you're meant to know just associate the concept so that attaching Japanese to that concept is easier. This is something I'm noticing as I do my "Kanji to Keyword" review in Anki. I found I know roughly what the kanji is representing but can't quite bring the keyword to mind. This is on a few and not all the kanji.

Some that get me:

--
consolation
condolences

--
hear
listen
--

--
sayeth
speaketh
--


As far as I'm concerned, those three pairs of words are virtually identical in meaning; it's gotten to the point that I'll pass myself on any one of those kanji, as long as I remember to write BOTH before I flip the card, proving to myself that I know them both. T_T

When they're that close in meaning (i.e., synonyms), I don't know if I want to be held hostage to Heisig's sometimes arbitrary keyword.

Ah, another pair that gets me:

pick
pluck

-----

pick up
board

(probably because of the use of 合 in both characters)

Great lists but I wonder how much it really helps to concentrate on the exact Heisig keyword in the case that it is causing confusion - dont forget that the real goal is to learn the JAPANESE word! Personally when I have trouble with the English keywords I skip straight to learning the Japanese reading instead by learning a common Japanese word that uses the kanji.

It looks like every kanji in the book can be confused with something else

Another way to put to good use the list would be for everyone to make a note about why they DON'T confuse two certain keywords.
For example:hear/listen. I don't have a problem with these, because there is a difference between hearing (without necessarily paying attention) and listening (concentrating in what is being said). So my story for listening 聴 involves actually paying attention to someone, and hearing 聞 is based on a more generic sound.

samuize Wrote:Great lists but I wonder how much it really helps to concentrate on the exact Heisig keyword in the case that it is causing confusion - dont forget that the real goal is to learn the JAPANESE word! Personally when I have trouble with the English keywords I skip straight to learning the Japanese reading instead by learning a common Japanese word that uses the kanji.

That's totally true, but the problem arises when you review on this site or on another SRS. It's usually keyword→kanji, so it's fundamental to make a clear distinction between keywords.

nac_est Wrote:That's totally true, but the problem arises when you review on this site or on another SRS. It's usually keyword→kanji, so it's fundamental to make a clear distinction between keywords.

I use the change keyword function to write the Japanese word (putting hiragana in place of the target kanji) for problematic keywords.

This post is more for comedic value, but I almost confused "welfare" for "poverty" today (I noticed when I was working out the story it was the story for poverty).

detain
capture
captive

surname
family name
----
responsibility
duty
----
watch over
oversee
superintend
----
boil
seethe
----
steam
vapor
----
tune
song
----
best regards
respect
pay respects
----
jump
leap

inscription and engrave always get me
Also all those different types of trees especially seeing as I don't know what half of them are in English.

"idea" and "concept"

I've sorted them out with "sound idea, inter-esting concept"

I ALWAYS confuse these two.

immerse
submerge

Though now that I think about it, I could "immerse" myself in a language but couldn't really "submerge" myself in one.