There has been a constant (though not severe) source of frustration for me since early in my Chinese learning: Quizzing myself on multiple Chinese words that have nearly or completely identical English translations. Specifically, I have PlecoDict configured such that once I'm able to correctly recite the English definition for the Chinese version of a phrase a few times, I get shown the English definition and have to answer back with the Chinese. This is great 99% of the time, but then I get a definition like, "in addition; moreover." Is that asking me for 加上 or 而且 or 并且 or 除此以外 or one of the many other words and phrases with that meaning?
My choices seem to be to try to list all of the possible answers, to memorize the precise wording of the specific dictionary entries in cases where they differ (sometimes subtle, e.g., the ABC definition for 以前 is "before; formerly; previously" and for 以往 it's "before; previously; formerly; in the past") or to pick one and give myself credit if the word turns out to be one that, after having seen it, I think I probably could have gotten. None of those seems like a good way of furthering the actual goal, which is solidifying my ability to have my vocabulary at my command in the real world.
How do other people deal with this?
My choices seem to be to try to list all of the possible answers, to memorize the precise wording of the specific dictionary entries in cases where they differ (sometimes subtle, e.g., the ABC definition for 以前 is "before; formerly; previously" and for 以往 it's "before; previously; formerly; in the past") or to pick one and give myself credit if the word turns out to be one that, after having seen it, I think I probably could have gotten. None of those seems like a good way of furthering the actual goal, which is solidifying my ability to have my vocabulary at my command in the real world.
How do other people deal with this?