Learning the similar words in Chinese language together is a good method. But one point needs much attention is to tell apart the tine differences between the similar words. For example, the words明白and清楚are a group with similar meaning. However, each character in Chinese is unique and can’t be totally replaced by a certain word. Therefore, it is really important to distinguish them. Both 明白and清楚can function as adjectives and verbs to describe understand or clear about something.

However, as an adjective, 明白has two levels of meanings, one of which is to show something is easy to understand like 道理讲得十分明白. Another meaning is to describe a wise man like他是一个明白人. As a verb, 明白means to master or understand something like明白事理and我不明白你的意思. For 清楚, teachers may tell you it means clear with order when they teach Mandarin language. you can say发音清楚. As a verb, it carries the meaning of knowing about something like 你的意思大家都清楚了.

明明and明显are also important for learners to tell apart. The former one is an adverb with the meaning of “obviously” or “indeed”, emphasizing it is the fact or asking questions to certain issues by offering firm fact. For instance, 明明是他干的，他却否认. But 明显is a verb to show something is clear to see which can be used for both abstract and specific things. The example is中国最近几年发生了明显的变化.

The last but not least group of similar words that the students need to be clear about when they attend toschool to study in China are 目标and目的. The former one is the object of observation, attack or shooting like 射击目标or the things you want to get like 奋斗目标. The word 目的is more used as “purpose” to show the purpose should be reached after efforts. For instance,考试的目的是检测学生的学习效果.