Memorize Words Quickly

Memorizing words quickly is often a very daunting task. Sometimes we have word lists -- vocabulary, spelling words, lines for a play, and musical lyrics -- that are so overwhelming that we are overcome by the magnitude of the task rather than spending our time getting started. Fortunately, there are a number of methods of memorizing words quickly that take a potentially overwhelming task and make it fun. Ultimately, you need to remember that knowing words and vocabulary is not a bad thing – it will help you meet your goal and enrich your intellect in the process.

Steps

Using Word Association and Mnemonic Devices

1. Get a list of words. Prepare the list of words you need to memorize. Either get them from your teacher, your textbook, a play, song lyrics, or whatever source that you’ll be taking them from. It is best to print out the words and then write the word out next to the printed word before you even begin. This will be your first step in memorizing them.
2. Break the list up. Divide the list into manageable smaller lists. If you want to memorize them in order, that’s okay. If you don’t need to memorize them in order, then break them up so that you spread words that begin with vowels throughout your sub lists. Breaking your word list up will make it so you can more easily create word association and mnemonic devices to memorize your words.
   • Keep your words together if you're memorizing lines for a play or music lyrics.
   • Feel free to mix your words up if you're memorizing for vocabulary or spelling.
   • Use your best judgement when and if you'll be breaking your list up and moving words around.
3. Underline the first letter of every word on your sub list. You’re going to use the first letter of every word to create memory devices that will make it easier to memorize the words. You’ll do this two ways: either creating a sentence or an acronym.
   • The first letter of every word will create an acronym.
   • For the order of operations in math (Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, Subtraction), you’ll have p, e, m, d, a, and s. This will spell P.E.M.D.A.S.
   • Acronyms should work for almost any usage (vocabulary, spelling, lyrics, or a play).
   • This works best with word lists of 10 or less.
4. Memorize the acronym. Now spend a little time memorizing your acronym (P.E.M.D.A.S.) This shouldn’t take too long, and before long you’ll have it memorized. This might be as far as you need to go with this approach.
5. Create a sentence to remember based on the first letter of every word. If you want to take an extra step to memorize your sub list, take the first letter of every word (your acronym), and create a sentence based on those letter. You’ll do this by using any word that begins with the first letter of the words on your sub list. For instance:
   • You won’t be using the original word, simply another word that begins with the same first letter.
   • To remember the order of operations in math (Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, Subtraction), take P.E.M.D.A.S. and assign words to it.
   • P.E.M.D.A.S. can be transformed into “Please excuse my dear aunt Sally” or any other number of short sentences.
   • Creating a sentence like this works best for vocabulary, spelling, and similar purposes.
6. Review your sub lists, acronyms and mnemonic devices. After you’ve memorized a few of your sub lists, stop and review them. Don’t spend hours doing this, as your brain will probably be overloading. This method works best when you provide enough time in between memorization.

Visualizing Words

1. Get a list of words. Prepare the list of words you need to memorize. Either get them from your teacher, your textbook, a play, song lyrics, or whatever source that you’ll be taking them from. It is best to print out the words and then write the word out next to the printed word before you even begin. This will be your first step in memorizing them.
2. Draw a picture for each word. Drawing a picture that describes each word will help you remember it better. Make sure to maintain the original meaning of each word as best as you can.
   • Nouns might be easiest, as you’ll just have to draw the person, place, or thing.
   • Adjectives will be somewhat easy. Words like “big” and “beautiful” will be relatively easy to draw.
   • Verbs might be more difficult. For a word like “associate” try to draw its meaning (the connection between things).
   • This works best for vocabulary and spelling.
3. Create a word association web. Word association webs will help you remember words by associating them with other words. This is a great visual way of memorizing words quickly and will complement other visual approaches to memorization.
   • Write the word you want to remember on the center of a sheet of paper.
   • Draw lines outward from the center connecting the center word to other words that you associate with it. For example, if the word is “winter” draw a line outward connecting it to “snow” and another line on the other side connecting it to “freezing” and another line on the side connecting it to “ice.” Repeat this process outward until you’re confident you will remember it.
   • This should not take more than 3-5 minutes per word.
   • If you're memorizing lines for a play or music lyrics, try a linear approach, put your words in order, and connect them with lines. Branch out from your lyrics with other words that have a similar meaning or evoke a similar feeling.
4. Create a picture story. Creating a picture story is similar to creating a word or sentence story, but instead of writing it out, you’ll be drawing your story. This method works great for very visual and artistic learners who might be overwhelmed with writing out vocabulary and building sentences.
   • Take your list of words and quickly draw a picture for each word.
   • Try to maintain the original meaning of the word, if you can.
   • Organize the pictures so they make a story you can remember.
   • This will work great when paired with word association and mnemonic devices.
   • This will also work great for memorizing lyrics or play lines. As you'll be associating pictures with your words.
5. Spend time reviewing your picture, your web, and your story. The more time your spend looking at and thinking about your visual aids, the better prepared you’ll be and the better you’ll remember your word list. Spread this out over a couple days if possible. Review your visual aids when you have time. Consider:
   • Reviewing them while eating.
   • Looking at them when you have down time in between other tasks and projects.
   • Spending a couple minutes looking at them and thinking about them when you wake up and before you go to sleep.

Using Sound and Music

1. Get a list of words. Prepare the list of words you need to memorize. Either get them from your teacher, your textbook, a play, song lyrics, or whatever source that you’ll be taking them from. It is best to print out the words and then write the word out next to the printed word before you even begin. This will be your first step in memorizing them.
2. Arrange the words in story or sentence form. After you’ve got your list, arrange the words in a way so that you can create a couple sentences or a story with the words. You don’t want to just build clunky sentences, though. Consider:
   • Rhyming words.
   • Pairing words cleverly.
   • This works best if you don’t have to know the words in a certain order.
   • You will be keeping the meaning of each word.
3. Find a memorable tune to accompany your words. Finding a memorable tune to accompany your arranged words will help you remember them more easily. Think about popular songs or songs that you can easily remember the tune to. Consider the tunes from:
   • Your current favorite pop songs.
   • Traditional folk tunes like “Molly Malone” or “John Brown’s Body.”
   • Pledges, anthems, or hymns, like the American Pledge of Allegiance, the American Marine hymn, or Hail Britannia.
   • If you're trying to remember song lyrics, you'll of course use your own tune. Try pairing your lyrics and tune with a picture story.
4. Say or sing the words and their meaning to a tune. After you’ve arranged your words, say the words to yourself out loud. Afterwords, sing or rap the words. This way, you’ve taken your word list, associated with a tune, and now have your own song to memorize! You can sing it to yourself when you’re taking a test or trying to remember your word list.
5. Sing, repeat or play the song or tune. As you go about your daily chores or travel, sing or repeat the song or tune over and over again. If you've recorded the song or tune (you singing/saying the words over and over), play it back while you're resting, or even sleeping. If you do record it, put the tune, rap or song on loop.
6. Continue this until you are comfortable. Keep doing this until it feels as if the words and their meanings have stuck in your memory. Music is a great aid to memory, which is why it's so easy to remember pop songs. As a result, this should be a very pleasant and potentially enjoyable way of getting your work done.

Tips

• Try using the words in your day to day life with people you come across every day. It will make you even more confident.
• It helps to Google images to find things that might inspire you.
• Read/write the word over and over again saying each letter.
• Read each vocabulary word each time along with definition.

Warnings

• Do not make your word association too complicated, use what comes first to your mind.

Related Articles

• Memorize Flashcards Effectively
• Have Fun With Memorization
• Memorize a Speech in One Night
• Memorize Sheet Music

Sources and Citations

See also

• Learn Perfect English As a Native English Speaker
• Understand a Word Without Using a Dictionary
• Use Assure, Ensure and Insure
• Use Than and Then
• Use These and Those
• Expand Your Vocabulary
• Write a Dictionary Definition
• Teach Vocabulary by Creating a Monster
• Use Commonly Misused Words
• Use "Etc." Correctly

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