These two words in Spanish sound so similar to each other! How can I avoid mixing them up?

Traditional education tries to prevent mixing up words that sound similar. It does so by teaching both words at the same time and explicitly teaching the difference between them. But this is counterproductive and actually causes many learners to mix up two words that they wouldn’t otherwise have had any problem learning. When learning with comprehensible input, words that sound similar will appear in completely different contexts and that will keep them separated in your brain. You’ll also learn them at different times in your learning journey, which will help even more. Most times you won’t even realize that those words are pronounced similarly. Sometimes you’ll realize that two words are pronounced similarly or the same years after you learned both words. Thinking about them in terms of their differences will only confuse you and make them get mixed up in your head. Try to just accept every new word that you learn as it's used in the situation you hear it in. And if its meaning is not clear enough yet, it will be soon! We also answer this question in our video FAQ (with English subtitles):