I’m pretty good at retaining most of the vocab I learn. However, I’ve noticed that I struggle a lot with words starting with つk… and multiple variations of verbs with the same kanji, such as:
つかう、つくる、つける。。。
and things like
見る、見せる、見つかる、見つける
(still a beginner, n5 grammar almost complete, about 2/3 of vocab)
All I can say about this is that feeling will completely go away naturally. Keep at it and keep going over the individual verbs meanings everytime you come across it in a sentence.
Immersion (like reading or Japanese subtitles) will help a lot. You could also have a small set of physical flashcards on “challenging points” to run through when you have a moment. Ultimately this issue is just a matter of memorization. You could you things like mnemonics for certain things to get started, or maybe even permanently (I still use PEMDAS for order of opertions!). However, ultimately you do just have to memorize in some way or another.
How do English speakers distinguish between:
It’s tricky and takes time. I recommend a minimal pairs deck on Anki to help you train your ear to hear the difference to close words. That and more immersion.