Note: If you are really serious about improving your vocabulary, we highly recommend you check out the popular Ultimate Vocabulary Builder

Learn How to Improve Your Vocabulary

If you want to improve your level of diction, sound more informed and educated, and impress people both online and in person, you probably want to learn how to improve your vocabulary. Your vocabulary consists of all the words you know and use. Active vocabulary is the words that you think to use in speech or writing. Passive vocabulary is the words that you know the meaning of, but don’t use yet. Each new word you learn begins in your passive vocabulary and moves to your active vocabulary eventually if you try to use it regularly. When you use new words, you need to be careful that your speech still sounds natural and conversational. Many people with large vocabularies and poor social skills tend to use overly large and complicated words in an attempt to sound impressive. These people usually end up sounding stilted and awkward. You want to sound educated and even poetic, not like a walking dictionary or thesaurus.

Word games are an easy way to increase your vocabulary. Games like Scrabble, Boggle, and Upwards give you the opportunity to use words from your passive vocabulary. You get a chance to practice words that don’t come up in conversation very often, like “qat,” a tropical evergreen shrubbery. You can join a Scrabble club, and even play games online. If you can, get an official Scrabble or Boggle dictionary to use, and play as much as you can. The more often you see a word, the more likely you are to remember and use it later.

Word exposure is a big part of improving your vocabulary. You may never have to look up and read the definition of a word if you see it enough times in your regular reading material. You can learn the meaning and correct usage through context. Reading is a great way to encounter new words, and gain more context and familiarity with words you learned recently. In order to find a rich new source of words to learn, you may have to take a step outside your comfort zone and read something new. Perhaps a Newsweek magazine or the Wall Street Journal, to learn words like fungibility and ascot. Maybe you want to learn words on a specific topic, so you check out books on ancient Egypt to learn words like canopic and id.

You can also check out books and software made just to teach you new words. Some of these are good for moving totally new words into your passive vocabulary, other are better at helping you get words from your passive to your active vocabulary. Ultimate Vocabulary is good at giving you usage and context for new words, which helps you use them later.