Project: Dabble

Building a strong vocabulary doesn’t require memorizing endless word lists. These 10 research-informed activities show you how to make new words stick so you can use them confidently in speaking, writing, and thinking.

A rich vocabulary strengthens your speaking, writing, and even thinking skills. It supports learning by improving your reading comprehension and allowing you to understand complex ideas. 

In my last post, I shared why effective word learning requires meaningful context, active use, and repeated exposure. Now let’s look at what that actually looks like in practice.

Why Memorizing Definitions Doesn’t Work

You may have learned vocabulary in school by studying word lists and matching definitions. That approach can help with short-term recall or surface-level familiarity, but it rarely leads to the deep understanding needed to truly grow your personal lexicon.

That’s because words are not stored in our brains as dictionary entries. They are stored as part of a network of ideas, connected to experiences, images, emotions, and other words.

Think about the word skate. What comes to mind? For me, it’s ice skating with my kids and warming up afterward with hot chocolate, watching the Cleveland Monsters play hockey, and doing the chicken dance at a roller rink during my 10th birthday party.

These kinds of connections make meaning easier to retrieve when you encounter a word again. Rote memorization of definitions, on the other hand, lacks context and personal connection, which leads to rapid forgetting. You might recognize a word when you see it, but still struggle to recall its meaning or use it naturally.

How to Make Vocabulary Stick

If you want new words to become tools you can actually use, you need to engage with them actively and repeatedly across time and in varied contexts. Research suggests it can take 15–20 meaningful encounters with a word before it truly sticks.

As the authors of Bringing Words to Life explain, you build strong word knowledge by thinking deeply about meanings and creating associations that connect words within a larger network of ideas. These associations go beyond finding synonyms. They involve exploring relationships among words and considering examples, situations, and contrasts that reveal a word’s nuance.

Active use also means working with words until you truly “own” them. Write with them. Say them aloud. Look for them in books, media, and conversation. Notice when they appear in everyday life, and connect them to your own experiences. The following activities will make vocabulary learning both engaging and effective.

10 Activities to Support Vocabulary Learning

Create a Vocabulary Notebook

A vocabulary notebook gives you a place to collect and organize words you’re learning. One effective structure for organizing your notebook is the Cornell Method. Divide each page into a narrow left column and a wider right column. Write the target word on the left. On the right, add the definition, part of speech, and one or two accurate example sentences. These can be your own, pulled from a text, or adapted from a reliable dictionary such as Merriam-Webster.

It’s also helpful to include the word’s morphology and origins. The Online Etymology Dictionary is a helpful resource for exploring the historical origins and how their meanings, forms, and usage have changed throughout history.

Finally, use your notebook for regular review. A major advantage of the Cornell Method is that you can cover one column to quiz yourself, making practice quick and effective.

Draw a Four-Square Concept Map

The Four-Square Concept Map is one of my favorite word-learning strategies to use in a vocabulary notebook or on the back of a flashcard. It’s a simple graphic organizer with four sections and the target word in the center. Each quadrant focuses on a different aspect of the word, such as the definition, synonyms and antonyms, morphology, or a sentence using the word in context.

You can customize the quadrants to promote active engagement with the word. For example, you might use sections for examples and nonexamples, collocations or common phrases, a personal memory that illustrates the word, or a simple drawing or mnemonic to support recall.

INSIPID
Definition: Lacking flavor, interest, or excitement; dull; bland.	Example: Her first draft felt insipid as it relied on clichés and vague language.
Mnemonic: inSIPid → sipping a bland, tasteless drink	Nonexample: Her revised draft was vivid, specific, and engaging.

Create Flashcards

Rote memorization alone is not an effective way to learn vocabulary. However, flashcards can be powerful tools when you use them for active engagement. They also support spaced repetition, a learning technique that involves reviewing information at increasing intervals to strengthen long-term retention. Flashcards work especially well for activities such as word sorts, building word associations, and matching games. (Read on for ideas that turn flashcards into engaging learning activities.)

To create your flashcards, write the target word on one side and the definition on the other. You may also include phonetic spelling to support accurate pronunciation. To deepen learning even further, add simple drawings or visuals that reinforce meaning and activate the brain’s visual, motor, and semantic systems.

Think About How Two Words Go Together

Creating associations among words encourages flexible thinking about their meaning and use. For this activity, consider how two words relate to each other. You might pair a target word with a familiar word, or choose two target words from your vocabulary notebook or flashcards. For example, could someone be both meticulous and spontaneous?

A variation of this activity, called Connect Two, is described by Professor Kevin Flanigan in the Great Courses Building a Better Vocabulary program. Choose two target words and challenge yourself to connect them in a single sentence. For instance, if you select nonpareil and dilettante, you might write: “Far from being a dilettante, Mike’s mastery of French cooking was nonpareil.”

Both versions of this activity push you to actively use new vocabulary while exploring shades of meaning and nuance.

Sort Words into Categories

Another effective strategy is to sort words on flashcards into groups that belong together. For example, you might create piles for words that describe people, places, things, or situations. You could also sort words by connotation, grouping those with positive, negative, or neutral meanings.

Sorting words in this way builds associations and deepens understanding, making vocabulary easier to use naturally in speaking and writing.

Make a Personal Connection

One of the most effective ways to learn new vocabulary is to connect words to your own experiences. The prompts below from Bringing Words to Life can help you make those connections. You might respond to them in your vocabulary journal, talk them through with a friend, or simply reflect on them mentally.

• Think of a time when you felt [target word].
• Think of a time when you might need to [target word].
• Think of someone you could describe as [target word]. Explain what that person is like.

A variation of this activity is to play Have you ever? For this prompt, describe a time when you have used or experienced the vocabulary word. For example, “Have you ever dealt with someone who remained obdurate, no matter how reasonable the evidence or arguments were?”

Explore Examples & Nonexamples

Examples show what a word means in context, while nonexamples clarify what the word does not mean. Together, they highlight a word’s critical features and define its conceptual boundaries.

• Example: Her nascent writing project is still in its early stages, with only a few pages drafted.
• Nonexample: Her writing project is poorly written and disorganized.

Both situations may involve something in an early or imperfect stage, but only the first reflects nascent (newly forming). The second reflects poor quality, which is a different concept.

By contrasting what a word is with what it is not, you gain a more precise and accurate understanding of its essential attributes. This helps prevent overgeneralization and confusion with related or similar terms.

Use the Word in a Meaningful Context

Using a word in a meaningful context is one of the most powerful ways to commit it  to memory. Generate situations, contexts, and examples of a target word using these prompts adapted from Bringing Words to Life:

• Describe three things that would be [target word].
• Describe three ways a ___ is [target word].
• Describe three things a [target word] might do.

Create Word Associations

Come up with an association for the target word. The association can be a person, a movie or book character, a historical event, or a common experience. Then explain the connection by articulating why the association fits the word’s meaning.

For example, in Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy could be described as petulant because he reacts with sulking, resentment, and impulsive anger when he feels slighted, challenged, or denied status.

Go On a Word Scavenger Hunt

Look for examples of the target word in books, news media, television shows, movies, or everyday conversation. These examples may include the word used directly or situations that clearly illustrate its meaning.

For example, my kids and I have been enjoying Beast Games Season 2. One episode set on Survivor Island offers a clear illustration of the word propitiate, which means to appease or regain someone’s favor. In the episode, a contestant must persuade fellow competitors acting as judges that he deserves to win a $1.8 million island, despite concerns about his earlier tactics. He attempts to propitiate the judges at first by pulling at their heartstrings, explaining that his goal is to give his family a better life. He even offers to forgo the final $5 million prize and leave the game if he wins the island.

Consistency is Key

Active engagement with words is the key to building a rich, flexible vocabulary. These 10 activities make vocabulary learning both effective and enjoyable. Over time, a consistent system for growing your vocabulary will strengthen how you speak, write, and think. In the next post, I’ll share vocabulary learning programs and resources that can support you on this journey.