What motivates you to learn a new set of vocabulary words? Are you studying for an examination like the SAT or GRE, or for a promotion to a new job that requires you to learn specific terminology? Or do you just enjoy learning and using interesting vocabulary? Whatever your reasons, you’ll have the most success if you set up a strategy for your study routine, and devote at least ten to fifteen minutes a day to learning and reviewing the material. In this post, we’d like to share some of the tips we’ve found to be the most helpful when working on improving vocabulary.

Tip #1: Use a multi-media approach.

The more ways you think about a word and practice it, the better able you’ll be to remember it. Don’t just look at the word on the paper – say it out loud. To make sure you know how to pronounce the word correctly, look at the pronunciation guide in the dictionary (the phonetic transcription of the word) or use an audio file on the computer to listen to a native speaker say the word for you.

Once you have the word in your head, use the rest of your body to help you remember. Write the word down several times, making sure you’re confident that you know how to spell it correctly. If it’s an action word, or a noun representing something physical, act out the word or make some other tactile connection that highlights the meaning of the word.

Tip #2: Make connections.

We mentioned above that using “muscle memory” will help make a connection in your brain between the word and its meaning. You can make other connections by focusing on context: look for different sentences that use the word, and see how they differ in subtle ways. Once you’re familiar with how the word is correctly used, create practice sentences of your own and write them out, then say them out loud. This practice is essential to gaining complete confidence in using words in context.

Once you know a word well, create links to other words by looking up synonyms (words that mean the same thing) and antonyms (words that mean the opposite) for that word. This will create a “web” of meaning in your mind, connecting words together and helping trigger your memory when you come across one of the related words.

Tip #3: Test yourself.

Use flash cards to quickly review words. Write the word on the front of the card, and the definition plus an example sentence on the back. Go back to the practice sentences that you created when you were learning the words, cover up the target vocabulary words, and try to fill in the blanks again. Use the lists of synonyms and antonyms that you researched and see how well you do in coming up with the original vocabulary words by looking at the list of related words.

Tip #4: Enjoy yourself!

Keep an element of fun and play in your study to keep your interest strong. You can learn vocabulary through games as well as study plans. In future posts, we’ll look at some games targeted towards vocabulary study.