words - What's with all the possible kanji for とる?

Skimming through the options my IME presents for とる, I'm seeing a whole lot of choices, including the following:

• 取る


• 撮る


• 録る


• 執る


• 摂る


• 捕る


• 獲る


• 穫る


• 採る



• 盗る

While I've seen 取る ("to take") and 撮る ("to record") relatively frequently, the rest appear rather foreign to me. What do they mean, and how are they used?

Answer

You already know the dictionary meanings.

• All of these とる variants listed here are understood by most Japanese adults.


• In general, using certain uncommon 同訓異字 verbs, such as 啼く (vs 鳴く), 護る (vs 守る), 淹れる (vs 入れる), can sometimes do more harm than good in daily practice. It's unnecessarily difficult and too poetic. You probably know this risk.


• However, NHK does use many of these とる variants according to the situation, except for 穫る, 録る. Unfortunately, you can't just stick to 取る.


• 撮る is definitely worth memorizing because it's used very frequently and 「写真を取る」「映画を取る」 is 100% incorrect. However 「撮る is safe for anything involving recording」 is also not accurate because 撮る can be used only for recording with cameras.
  
  
  
  
  • テレビで放送されていた映画をDVDに撮る => weird
  
  
  • 野鳥の鳴き声をスマホで撮る => weird
  
  
  
  


• Besides 取る and 撮る, the safest strategy is not to stick to 取る, but to stick to hiragana とる. Or you can avoid ambiguous とる altogether and use equivalents such as 盗む, 採用する, 採取する, 録画する/録音する, 捕まえる and 収穫する. These are actually what I do in daily practice. I sometimes dare write 「栄養をとる」「山菜をとる」「筆をとる」 instead of 「栄養を摂る」「山菜を採る」「筆を執る」 to make my text look milder.


• 「映画を録る (at home) 」 is not listed in 常用漢字表 but I really see this often.