Japanese learners don’t seem to be able to get out of the habit of using “put on” when they  should be using “wear,” as in “Do you see that guy who is putting on a hat?” Correction doesn’t seem to help.

I don’t know why I never thought of this before, but it seems to work.  All you have to do is ask learners what they spend most of the time doing, “putting on” or “wearing” clothes.  Of course the answer is “wearing.”

Most of the time, in daily use,  we use “wear.” And most of the time, when learners confuse these verbs, they are using “put on” instead of “wear,” so remembering what they themselves spend the most time doing — wearing — is a useful technique for remembering.