Improve Your Vocabualry

10 Sure-Fire Strategies to
Improve Your Vocabulary
T here are several proven benefits in improving your vocabulary,
but how should we go about learning new words in the most

effective way? By using the following ten vocabulary-building
strategies, you are guaranteed to develop a strong vocabulary and
keep improving it every day.
1. Read Voraciously
It’s undeniable that reading is the most effective way to get new
vocabulary. When you read, you see words being used in context — and
that’s what makes it much more effective than, for example, merely
memorizing word lists.
With context information surrounding each new word, there’s a

good chance you can guess its meaning just by understanding the
overall text. Finding out the meaning of words in such a way is the
natural way of learning language – and reading provides the best
opportunity to get exposed to this natural way of learning.
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If you’re not able to infer the meaning of new words when reading,
it’s probably because there are too many unknown words in the
text. In that case, try reading easier materials. The key to good
reading is making it a pleasurable activity; so don’t be afraid of
coming across unknown words, but make sure the text is
appropriate for your reading level.
2. Make Friends with the Dictionary

A dictionary is the first indispensible resource to improve your
vocabulary. It’s only by looking up a word in a dictionary that you
will learn its precise meaning, spelling, alternate definitions, and
find much more useful information about it. A thesaurus is also a
valuable resource for learning by finding connections between
words, such as their synonyms and antonyms.
Consider adding a good dictionary and thesaurus to your bookshelf.

Here are some recommendations:
 Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary;

 The New Oxford American Dictionary;
 The Oxford American Writer’s Thesaurus.
For online dictionaries, there are many free options with great extra
features. Even if you have a good dictionary in print already, you
can’t miss having a good online dictionary at your disposal:
 OneLook: Has a reverse lookup function (get the word from

its definition) and works as a “meta-dictionary”, showing you
definitions from other major online dictionaries. I recommend you
try OneLook and explore its results to decide which dictionary you
prefer;
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 Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary: An old-time favorite of
mine, although the blinking ads are getting a bit annoying lately;
 Ninjawords: It searches the free dictionary Wiktionary. What
makes this site interesting is that you can look up multiple words
simultaneously. Moreover, the results pages can be bookmarked –
making them good personal reference pages;
 Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus: If you’re a fan of mind mapping,
you will certainly enjoy viewing related words represented in a
visual map format;
 Answers.com, Dictionary.com, The Free Dictionary and many
others: All of them are good resources – try each one at least once
to help you make up your mind.
3. Use It or Lose It
Don’t settle after you learn a new word by reading it or looking it up
in the dictionary: these are good starts, but it’s by using the new
words that you truly commit them to your long-term memory.
Be creative and try to use your newly learned words in as many

ways as possible:
 Write them down;
 Say them aloud;
 Create sentences with them, mentally or in writing;
 Try to use them in a conversation;
 Discuss them with friends.
It’s also important to be aware of your own language style: every

time you catch yourself saying common or nonspecific words such
as “nice”, try coming up with richer and more precise expressions
instead.
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4. Learn One New Word a Day
If you learn just one new word every day, you’ll soon notice they
add up pretty quickly. I like to think of it as the “kaizen way of
growing your vocabulary" and what makes this strategy stand out is
that it can be used by anyone, no matter how busy one’s schedule
is. In the same way I grow my collection of favorite quotes in baby
steps by receiving a new famous quote every day, I also learned to
enjoy growing my vocabulary by committing myself to learning at
least one new word each day.
There are many websites that provide free word-of-the-day

services, delivering them in many formats – such as e-mail, RSS
feeds, podcasts and even text messages sent to your cell phone.
Here are my favorites:
 Merriam-Webster’s Online Word of the Day: This is the

website that delivers the most useful words of all. It’s also the most
feature-rich: it provides audio explanation, pronunciation and word
history. The service is available by e-mail, RSS feed, podcast, and
SMS;
 WordSmart Wordcast: Provides difficulty level, comprehensive
details and audio pronunciation for the word. Just like Merriam-
Webster’s Online, it’s available by e-mail, RSS feed, podcast and
SMS;
 Dictionary Word of the Day: Another fine service, not as
complete as Merriam-Webster’s or WordSmart, but still worth
checking out.
5. Understand the True Meaning of Words

By deeply understanding words, you can make your vocabulary
grow exponentially. Instead of just memorizing words, try to really
understand them by looking at theiretymology, word roots, prefixes
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and suffixes. At least half of English words are derived from Greek
and Latin roots, so there are enormous benefits in being familiar
with them.
Just to pick an example, when you understand that the
prefix “ortho” means straight orright, you start to find connections
between seemingly unrelated words, such asorthodontist (a specialist
who straightens teeth) and orthography (the correct, or straight way
of writing).
Understanding the logic behind words always pays off in terms of

learning and recalling. Consider the examples: “breakfast” meaning
“interrupt the night’s fast”; or “rainbow” meaning “bow or arcg
caused by rain”: while these meanings may be trivial to native
English speakers, having such insights about words, foreign or
otherwise, never fails to delight me.
6. Maintain a Personal Lexicon

By keeping a personalized list of learned words, you’ll have a handy
reference you can use to review these words later. It’s very likely
you’ll want to go back and refresh your memory on recent words, so
keeping them in your own list is much more efficient than going
back to the dictionary every time.
Even if you never refer back to your lexicon again, writing words
down at least once will greatly enhance your ability to commit them
to your permanent memory. Another excellent learning aid is to
write an original sentence containing the word — and using your
lexicon to do that is a great way of enforcing this habit. You can
also add many other details as you see fit, such as the date you
first came across the word or maybe a sequential number to help
you reach some word quota you define.
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There are many ways you can keep your personal word list; each
one has its own advantages and disadvantages – so make sure to
pick the format that works best for you. You may prefer to keep it
as a simple text file in the computer, or in a regular paper
notebook; or maybe as flash cards in a shoe box.
My format of choice is a computer spreadsheet, for its handy

features such as searching, sorting and filtering. For each word, I
have columns for the date I learned it, a sample sentence, along
with a link to its definition in an online dictionary. Lately, I’ve also
been experimenting with keeping my personal lexicon in a concept
map. This has been working particularly well so far, and I plan to
explore the technique in more depth here when I get more
conclusive results.
7. Follow a Process
To make vocabulary improvement a permanent habit in your
everyday life, you should make it as habitual, automatic and tightly
integrated in your daily workflow as possible – otherwise you won’t
do it when your days get too busy.
If you already adopt some kind of structured workflow for your life –
such as David Allen’s Getting Things Done – you’re probably familiar
with the idea of organizing all input that comes to your life in
“buckets”: virtual inboxes that get processed in a similar way to
your e-mail inbox.
In that regard, one particularly useful concept is the one of
maintaining a “Word Inbox”. By having a predefined place you use to
capture the words you come across, you can process them much
more efficiently. For example, my word inboxes, which I try to
empty once a day, consist of my word-of-the-day feed and of notes
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on my PDA – which I use to capture any new words I discover
during the day.
Your process can be as simple as you wish – the key is to define it

beforehand and then follow it. By knowing exactly how and how
often to process your inbox, you stay on top of your vocabulary
improvement process, even when there are other pressing matters
crying out for your attention.
8. Play and Have Fun

Playing games and engaging in group activities are useful in any
kind of learning, but particularly effective for language-related
learning. Gather your family and friends and play word games
together. Some interesting options are Quiddler, as well as the
classics Scrabble and Boggle.
If you don’t want to spend money on boxed games, it’s easy to

come up with your own word activities. You may, for example, try
your own variation of “Word Evening”: at a specific day of each
week, a different person brings a new word to the meal. The person
reads the word, defines it, and the others must come up with a
sentence using the word.
If you don’t have time or don’t want to engage in group activities,

there are numerous options of word games in the Internet. You can
either play them when you’re bored, or integrate them in your daily
routine, such as playing a quick game after lunch, for example.
Consider the following recommendations:
 Merriam Webster’s Daily Word Game;

 Merriam Webster’s Daily Crossword;
 Word Games on Yahoo! Games.
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9. Leverage Every Resource You Can
The Internet is a gold mine of resources for vocabulary building.
The links I collected here are just my personal recommendations
and don’t even scratch the surface of what’s available online.
There are plenty of vocabulary applications you can try. There are

many vocabulary-related books you can explore. There is a wealth
of free literature on sites such asProject Gutenberg. If you use
the Firefox browser, there are many ways to integrate dictionary
lookup functions, such as the plug-
ins Answers.com and DictionarySearch. You can find specialized
vocabulary lists, such as these feeling words or descriptive words.
Damn, you can even learn some classy, Shakespearian insults!
The point is that you’re only limited by your willingness to learn: let
curiosity be your guide and you will never run out of resources to
learn from.
10. Diversify
Do something different from your daily routine: hunting, fishing or
blogging – any activity that is not a part of your normal life can
become a great way to learn new words, as every niche has its own
jargon and unique ways of communicating. Read different books
and magazines than the ones you’re used to. Watch foreign-
language movies. Take up new hobbies, hang out with different
people.
By doing things out of the ordinary you will not only improve your
vocabulary but also make your life much more interesting.

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10 Sure-Fire Strategies to

Improve Your Vocabulary

T here are several proven benefits in improving your vocabulary,

but how should we go about learning new words in the most

With context information surrounding each new word, there’s a

2. Make Friends with the Dictionary

Consider adding a good dictionary and thesaurus to your bookshelf.

 Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary;

 OneLook: Has a reverse lookup function (get the word from

Be creative and try to use your newly learned words in as many

 Write them down;

 Say them aloud;

 Create sentences with them, mentally or in writing;

 Try to use them in a conversation;

 Discuss them with friends.

It’s also important to be aware of your own language style: every

There are many websites that provide free word-of-the-day

 Merriam-Webster’s Online Word of the Day: This is the

5. Understand the True Meaning of Words

Understanding the logic behind words always pays off in terms of

6. Maintain a Personal Lexicon

My format of choice is a computer spreadsheet, for its handy

Your process can be as simple as you wish – the key is to define it

8. Play and Have Fun

If you don’t want to spend money on boxed games, it’s easy to

If you don’t have time or don’t want to engage in group activities,

 Merriam Webster’s Daily Word Game;

There are plenty of vocabulary applications you can try. There are

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