I am learning Mandarin and I have cards I keep getting mixed up because they look similar, for example:
- 使， 更，便
- 死， 夜
- 周末，调查
- 道，首
- 王，往，汪，住，主
- 戏，线，钱
I have tagged all this cards and made a filtered deck but I find that this approach is not that effective. How would you suggest approaching this?
I think after you have been familiar with each one then mixing them up seems more reasonable and effective.
I will practice writing them out. That helps. Other than that, I often give myself hints like “(NOT 死)” if I was studying 夜。
The examples you gave are intersting as some of them are easily distinguishable if you know the components. Have you learnt those?
I try to get around those mix-ups by doing some background research to study the specific differences in a set of words that are causing a problem. Sometimes just spending time with them side-by-side helps me remember that I need to be careful which one I pick.
Usually that results in some extra back-of-card notes like:
Or an easy mnemonic will come to mind, like:
So, wAsh, bAthe, lAunder is the one with the extra “A.”
Sometimes if I get really desperate, I lean-in to the interference and make another note that puts them head-to-head, like:
Thank you, I do recognise the components and I agree writing them out should be helpful. 
