Vocabulary Strategies Overview

There 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.

As a language learner, you know there are many benefits to improving your vocabulary. But what are the best ways to learn new words? If you follow the ten vocabulary-building strategies below, you can make sure your vocabulary will grow and improve every day.

1. Read Voraciously

Reading voraciously simply means to read often and a lot. This strategy is number one because reading is the very best way to get new vocabulary. Everyone agrees with this. That's because when you read, you also see how words are put together to make sentences. This makes reading more natural and realistic than just memorizing word lists.

Reading gives you a chance to use context information. Let's see what context means. You see how each new word is used in a sentence. So, the words around the new word help you guess its meaning. Guessing meaning from context is the natural way of learning a language. This makes reading your best chance to try this natural way of learning.

When there are too many new words in the text, it will not be very easy to guess their meaning. So, it is very important to choose easier reading materials. The key to good reading is making it an enjoyable activity. Do not be afraid of finding unknown words. But, do try to use reading materials that match your reading level.

2. Make Friends with the Dictionary

A dictionary is also an important resource to help improve your vocabulary. You can learn a lot of information about a word when you look it up in a dictionary. For example, you can find the word's specific meaning, spelling, additional definitions, and other useful information about that word.

Another important resource is a thesaurus. A thesaurus is a special kind of dictionary that shows connections between words, such as words with similar or different meanings. These are called synonyms and antonyms.

So, be sure to have a dictionary and a thesaurus on your bookshelf. If you do not have one yet, you can choose from the ones below:

Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary
The New Oxford American Dictionary
The Oxford American Writer's Thesaurus

Many online dictionaries are also available for free. They are a good choice too because they have great extra features.

OneLook has two useful features. The first function is called "reverse lookup" because it works backward from how a "normal dictionary" works. OneLook lets you look up a word from its definition instead of looking up the definition for a word. Also, OneLook works as a "meta-dictionary". It collects and shows you definitions from other main online dictionaries.

Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: a famous example of quality and trust in the world of dictionaries.

Ninjawords searches the free dictionary Wiktionary and also offers some special features. First, you can look up several words at the same time. Also, the search results can be bookmarked. This helps you create your own personal reference pages.

Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus: The special feature of the Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus is the visual map format. This dictionary shows words with related meanings as a mind map. Visual learners and fans of mind mapping will certainly enjoy this feature.

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

Learning a new word means more than just reading it or looking it up in the dictionary. This is just the first step. You should continue by actually using the new words. The more you do this, the easier it is to remember the new words.
There are many ways to use your newly learned words. Be creative and try to use them 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. You can do this by trying to notice how you use language. Do you often say common or general words such as "nice?" When this happens, try replacing them with richer and more specific words instead.

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.

Many websites provide free word-of-the-day services. Here are some to try:
Merriam-Webster's Online Word of the Day: this is the website that sends the most useful words of all. It's also the most feature-rich: it provides an audio explanation, pronunciation, and word history.
WordSmart Wordcast: this shows difficulty level, full details, and audio pronunciation for the word.
Dictionary Word of the Day: another great service, perhaps not as complete as Merriam-Webster's or WordSmart, but still worth checking out.

5. Understand the True Meaning of Words

Another helpful strategy is to really understand words. If you understand words deeply instead of memorizing them, you can make sure your vocabulary grows faster. So what can you do to understand words deeply? First, you can look at the word's etymology, or the history of its origins.

Also, you can look at the word's roots, prefixes, and suffixes. We can add a group or letters in front of (prefix) or after (suffix) the basic part of a word (root) to create new words. About half of English words come from Greek and Latin, so great benefits come from being familiar with these roots, prefixes, and suffixes.

Let's look at an example of how this works. "Ortho" is an example of a prefix. You start by learning that "ortho" means straight or right. Now, let's look at two words that do not seem related to each other: orthodontist and orthography. Both words are created by adding the prefix "ortho" to the root: ortho+dentist (a specialist dentist who straightens teeth) and ortho+graphy (the correct or straight way of writing). When you notice this, you will be able to find connections between words.

There's one more way to make learning and remembering new words much easier. This is when you understand the logic behind the word. Let's look at some examples of how you can see this logic. Notice the two parts of the word "breakfast" to easily see its meaning "interrupt the night's fast" (break+fast). Or look at the two parts of the word "rainbow" for its meaning "bow or arc caused by rain" (rain + bow). Meanings like this may not seem important to native English speakers. But, you can improve your connection to words if you understand them like this.

6. Maintain a Personal Lexicon

Lexicon means a word list or dictionary. So this strategy encourages you to create your own dictionary. It is a useful reference for revising your new words. Naturally, you'll try to refresh your memory on these new words. When you do that, it'll be easier to check your own personal list than going back to the dictionary.

This strategy has an added benefit. It's easier to remember words you write down. So, even if you don't check your lexicon, you'll increase your chance of remembering them. It's also very useful to write your own sentence with the new word. Using a lexicon helps keep this a habit. You can add other details, too, if you prefer. For example, you can add the date when you first found the word. Or, you can add numbers to keep count of how many new words you learned.

There are many ways to save your personal word list. Each option has its own benefits and weaknesses. Choose something that works best for you. For example, you may prefer to keep it as a simple text file on the computer. Or you may find a regular paper notebook to work better for you, or maybe even flashcards in a shoebox.

A good option is a computer spreadsheet. This has useful features such as searching, sorting, and filtering.

7. Follow a Process

Vocabulary improvement should be a permanent habit in your everyday life. It should be an automatic part of your daily routine. If it is not, you won't do it when your days get too busy.

So how can you make vocabulary improvement a part of your daily routine? A "word inbox" can help you do that. This just means you have one specific place where you collect your new words. A "word inbox" will help you work with these new words better and faster.

Your process can be as simple as you wish. The most important part is to decide what it is and then follow it. You know exactly how often you check your "word inbox". Improving your vocabulary stays a priority no matter how busy you get.

8. Play and Have Fun

Learning a language can also benefit a lot from some general learning strategies. These are playing games and participating in group activities. Get together with your family and friends and play word games together. Some interesting choices are Quiddler, as well as the famous Scrabble and Boggle.

But you don't have to spend money on buying these boxed games. It's easy to come up with your own word activities, too. One example is to create your own version of the game "Word Evening". On a specific day of each week, a different person shares a new word at dinner. The person reads the word, defines it, and the others must come up with a sentence using the word.

Still, you may not have time or want to engage in group activities. If so, there are still many word games available on the Internet. You can play these when you are bored. Or, you can make them part of your daily routine. For example, you could play a quick word game after lunch. Here are some choices:

Merriam Webster's Word Games & Quizzes
Merriam Webster's Daily Crossword
Scrabble or Words with Friends

9. Leverage Every Resource You Can

Leverage means taking full advantage of something. The Internet is a good example of this because it is full of opportunities to improve your vocabulary. These Internet resources are endless, but here are a few to help you start:

First, there are many vocabulary applications to try. Second, there are many vocabulary-related books to explore. Also, there are a lot of books available for free on sites such as Project Gutenberg. Moreover, there are many ways to integrate dictionary lookup functions into your browser, such as the Google Dictionary extension in Chrome or the Oxford Dictionary add-on in Firefox. Finally, you can find specialized vocabulary lists, such as lists for feeling words or descriptive words. You can even learn some stylish, Shakespearean insults!

The sky's the limit here. Or your own wish to learn. So, let curiosity be your guide, and you will never run out of resources to learn from.

10. Diversify

Add something different to your daily routine. This can be anything that is not already part of your normal life. For example, you can try hunting, fishing, or blogging. These new activities can become a great way to learn new words. Every different job, hobby, or activity has its own vocabulary and unique ways of communicating. So, read different books and magazines on different topics than you usually do. Start new hobbies or spend time with different people.

Doing something out of the ordinary has two benefits. It improves your vocabulary and makes your life more interesting.

Source: Adapted from Lumen Learning, https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wm-englishcomposition1/chapter/text-strategies-to-improve-your-vocabulary/
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License.