How to Improve and Expand Your Vocabulary Skills

Having an expansive vocabulary is an important communication skill to develop for success in many professions. In the workplace, the vocabulary you use to describe important subjects might allow others to infer things about your skill, personality, specialized education, regional affiliations and more. In this article, learn more about the benefits of increasing your vocabulary skills to speak clearly and correctly.

Why is it important to improve vocabulary skills in the workplace?

There are a number of reasons why it’s important to develop your vocabulary skills. These include projecting a professional image, clearly communicating with colleagues and accurately articulating verbal and written communication. 

Your vocabulary says something about you as a professional. For instance, if you are in a field where using jargon is typical between colleagues, your ability to communicate in the correct terms can indicate experience and education.

Having a variety of words to choose from when you describe a project or other work-related activity can help you communicate more clearly to those around you. That means whether you’re in a position that requires you be able to assign directives to other employees or report on data findings to board members, you’ll be a better, more accurate conversationalist.

Additionally, your vocabulary can help you improve written communication. This is particularly important for marketers, who must come up with copy for engaging advertisements and newsletters, and human resources professionals, who are responsible for internal corporate communications. That said, anyone who has to send an email for work can benefit from a better vocabulary.

How to improve your vocabulary skills

Here are several cost-free tips and steps for improving vocabulary skills:

1. First, read often and highlight new words

One common way to learn new words is to read a lot. Reading literature from different eras, including fiction and nonfiction that offers a number of scenarios and contexts can help you improve your vocabulary by presenting you with new words. When you come across new words during reading, you can look them up and journal them to improve your memory retention.

One particularly useful tool when it comes to reading to increase your vocabulary is a highlighter. Using a highlighting marker, you can simply mark new words that you want to return to. This way, you avoid interrupting the narrative of the story to stop and search for the meaning of a word. When you’ve finished reading for the day, return to the highlighted words and include them in your journal of definitions to increase your vocabulary.

2. Second, pay attention to context

While you are reading everything you reasonably can to expand your vocabulary, pay close attention to the context offered. You can also pay attention to context when you are listening to someone else talk, either in a conversation or on television, online or other multimedia source.

When you have the opportunity to study the context for a new word, it gives you information that can help you use the word correctly. This is especially true when it comes to using words that sound the same but have different meanings, like ‘bear’ and ‘bare.’

You can find context for vocabulary in many of the activities you might participate in. This includes listening to music, watching TV, reading books, surfing the internet, going to movies, participating in conference calls, having a personal conversation or reading a poem. Context is everywhere.

3. Third, learn root words

In the English language, there are several common root words. Understanding the common root words and what they mean, gives you a basis for understanding new words that are introduced into your vocabulary. For instance, understanding that the root ‘cent’ means 100, helps to offer context words like ‘century’ and ‘percent.’

4. Fourth, practice new words

After reading, paying close attention to context and studying root words, you’re likely going to have several new words ready to apply as the need arises. Give yourself opportunities to try out new words by using them in writing or journaling and by participating in conversations with friends, family and colleagues who can help you improve your vocabulary skills. 

If you want to find other ways to practice before applying your new vocabulary to real interactions, you can create your own vocabulary tests. Using a basic quiz structure, like short answer or multiple-choice, you can challenge yourself to learn the meanings of words before you start using them regularly.

5. Fifth, develop a vocabulary for the workplace

Developing vocabulary skills is a process. It’s a commitment that happens over a period of time. To make the most practical advancements in your vocabulary quickly, you can focus on words that you are likely to use around the workplace. Dive into context around a specific work-related subject, or study words that have to do with career goals like leadership or management. 

Once you’ve successfully expanded your vocabulary in one area, move on to another. Eventually, you will have a vast vocabulary in many important areas for business growth and success. Taking a step-by-step approach to expanding your vocabulary helps with memory and retention since you are limiting the kinds of words you learn at once to those that are related to one another.

6. Lastly, visualize words to commit to memory

Another way to work on memorization is to visualize words using familiar images. An example of this might be picturing the entryway to a house or building when you see the word ‘foyer.’ When you tie words to visual context, you’re more likely to internalize the meaning of the word and that will help you recall it when you need to.