Tongue tied? Blame the arbitrary nature of language.
Many of my students make funny blunders ( as do I when acquiring other languages.) One of my students had to read a passage on bats. When I asked him to summarize the key points, he stated “Bats come out at night and they like incest.”
Hmmm….I had to laugh.
I then had to explain that bats may not be having sex with family members as it would cause inbreeding. I offered the word insects as an option, much to his relief. The same student mixed up puberty with poverty. In fact, I can see how he mixes up words because he takes a shot at the general pattern- in this case both words start with p and end in -erty. Close enough for him as he struggles to retain vocabulary.
Language arises from its roots- and then evolves when people communicate with neighbouring countries who speak a different tongue. However, there is no rhyme or reason to the origins of the words. Why do we call a tree a tree instead of a plimpf? Aside from sounds evoking certain feelings, I cannot theorize. In any case, you are not alone if you are struggling to remember words.
Remember- only study words in context, and try to learn them by related roots. Never memorize a random list of vocabulary. Your brain is not designed to remember unrelated items in this manner.