"Put on clothes" means clothes are moving onto your body :) You wouldn't say "take on clothes". "Take on" is usually used in the sense of adding more, especially more responsibilities to your life, such as "taking on a second job", "I'm taking on more hours at work", "the teacher is taking on more kids in the classroom", etc. Again, with the "adding to" references I made, another situation: you're in a boat on a lake, and the boat begins sinking and you can't stop it...you even send out a distress call :O You tell them 'My boat's "taking on" water.'...I suppose because in a sense, the boat is "taking" water from the lake, but anyway... :)

Put something on = place clothing or jewellery, etc. on one's body. Sally put on the red dress after dinner. Tom put on his watch. Mary put on make up before breakfast. NOTE: We do not say "take on the clothes" with this meaning. Put something on = can also mean "to organize or present an event" The school put on the musical play "My Fair Lady." The museum put on an exhibition of Chinese art. -- Take something on = to undertake or commit to a task or responsibility Kuo Jhong took on the task of learning English. The business took on more clients this year than last year.