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

Strategies to Increase Vocabulary

There are several strategies to help increase vocabulary. Depending on your reasons for learning new words, you may want to use every strategy or just a few. Some people need to learn specific words for standardized exams, such as the SAT and ACT tests, as well as the GED and GRE. Some people need to learn a business vocabulary, or words for a specific subject. Some people need to expand their vocabulary in order to increase their reading comprehension or writing quality. If you need to learn words and their definitions to prepare for a test you will use memorization strategies. If you need to learn words well enough to use them naturally when speaking or writing, you will need to do more than just memorize.

Flashcards are a great way to memorize new words for a test. Most tests have word lists available to help you target your studies. Try to sort your words into categories, from “mostly know” to “sort of know” to “unknown.” Focus on the words you don’t know at all first. Practice every chance you get, while in line at the store or while riding the bus. Read the words and try to think of the definitions, and then flip the cards over and read the definitions while you try to think of the word.

In order to learn new words well enough to actually use them for something other than a test, you will have to do much more than flashcards. To learn the specific ways a word is used, and the right time and place to use it, you need to be able to read the word in context. This means reading many different sentences that use that word, to properly understand how to use it yourself. You will increase vocabulary as you incorporate these new words into your daily speech. Reading frequently is an excellent way to learn new words. Deliberately including the new words you have learned in your own writing will eventually help you learn to use them automatically and naturally.

For those short on time or motivation, there is always vocabulary software. Computer programs often come with lists designed specifically for standardized tests. The program can make virtual flashcards for you to practice, and keep track of how well you know them. Some software even gives you things to read that include your new words so you can see them in the proper context.