How You Can Quickly Learn And Remember Difficult Words

Take these steps if you are a native speaker, familiar with the basics and are just trying to expand your vocabulary, there are two methods I regularly use when trying to learn a new word:

1.) Mnemonics: Creating a rhyme or some other memory link to the word can help you remember it. You can do this for definitions and spelling. It doesn't have to be very complicated to work. One mnemonic that has stuck with me for the last 20 years is "a rat in the house may eat the ice cream" as a device for remembering the spelling of "arithmetic."

2.) Write it down and say it out loud repeatedly. Use it in a sentence, spell it aloud, and quiz yourself. It usually takes me five or six times each: writing it out six times, say it aloud in a sentence six times, say it and define it out loud six times. It may take you more or fewer, but this is a fairly popular memorization method and works for just about anyone.