Joke phrases, yes, I've used those! I still remember that giessen is German for "pour," bc of all the jokes we made about pourable geese (you know, they come in that carton in the dairy aisle, next to the artificial egg stuff).

And when words are very similar, I would make up a phrase that included both; frex, "La grenouille est dans le grenier," "the frog is in the attic," reminded me which one was which.