The Word Blindness Conundrum.

All my adult life I’ve found it routinely difficult to recall certain words, most commonly hypocrite, articulate and clematis. This was becoming such an irritation that I eventually worked out a way of getting over the problem: think of an image that would offer a similar word that I could recall, and that would lead me to the word I wanted.

For hypocrite (or hypocritical) I chose doctors. They are associated with the Hippocratic Oath, which gives me the clue phonetically. For articulate I chose lorries, which are mostly articulated. For clematis I think of Clementine Churchill, wife of Sir Winston. 

The odd thing is that I have no trouble remembering which trigger image to envisage, and I have no trouble remembering Hippocratic, articulated and Clementine. So why do I have such difficulty recalling the original words? Are there any psychologists in the audience?