穿

穿衣服 ('wear clothes'), 穿鞋 ('wear shoes'), 穿裤子 ('wear pants'). The crucial restriction English speakers miss: hats, watches, glasses, scarves, jewelry, and accessories use 戴 (dài) instead. 戴帽子 ('wear a hat'), 戴眼镜 ('wear glasses') — never 穿帽子.

Rule of thumb: if it slips through a sleeve or leg, use 穿; if it sits on your head, face, wrist, neck, or fingers, use 戴. 穿 also means 'to put on' as the action and 'to wear' as the state — Chinese doesn't distinguish: 我穿了一件红色的衣服 can mean 'I put on a red shirt' or 'I'm wearing a red shirt' depending on context, often clarified by 着 (穿着, ongoing state) vs 了 (穿了, completed action). A second meaning of 穿 is 'to pierce / pass through': 穿过马路 ('cross the street'), but the clothing sense is the HSK 2 vocabulary.