How to remember new words: a review routine you can adjust
To remember a new word, keep an example that makes its meaning clear, then test yourself with the answer hidden and check what you missed. Leave gaps between reviews, and adjust them when a word is too easy or keeps slipping away.
You can recognise every word on your saved list and still not recall them the next day. Before adding more, change what you do with a few; a paper card or a note on your phone is enough.
Make a word note you can test yourself on
Pick a word you have a reason to remember, keep the sentence where you found it if that helps, and check it in a dictionary. If it has several meanings, note the sense you are practising.
Example word note
Tentative
Meaning here: provisional; a plan that is not yet settled.
Example: “Friday is our tentative moving date. We still need the keys.”
Recall prompt: “What word describes a moving date that has been suggested but is not final?”
Check the boundary: “tentative” does not tell us that the move has been cancelled.
Cambridge’s entry for tentative also covers hesitant actions, while our note is about plans. Noting the context stops you treating one definition as the word’s only use.
Then write your own example. If you are unsure it works, compare it with the dictionary’s or ask someone who knows the language well; a sentence that merely contains the word may say little about what it means.
Hide the answer before you review
Read the recall prompt and try to supply the word, then reverse it: look at “tentative” and explain it without your note. Fold paper over the answer, cover part of the screen or use a flashcard app.
In Karpicke and Roediger’s 2008 word-learning study, repeated testing after a successful recall helped university students remember foreign-language word pairs a week later, while repeated study after success did not. That supports making room for recall in your reviews, though it does not show that every vocabulary exercise improves everyday conversation.
If you miss, check the note and try again after another word or a short break. If you had the word but the wrong meaning, correct the note or add an example that separates the two meanings.
A sample week for five words
Five words keep this a small experiment you can finish. If you keep missing one, move its next review sooner.
| When | What to do |
|---|---|
| When you first meet the words | Check the meanings, write your notes and try a first recall with the answers covered. |
| The next day | Answer each prompt before looking, and mark which words needed help. |
| About three days after first practice | Try another recall. Write a different sentence for a word you find difficult. |
| At the end of the week | Mix up the order. Test both the word and its meaning, then check your answers. |
| After that | Leave a longer gap for easy words. Bring difficult ones back sooner, and revisit the example if it is unclear. |
Treat this as a suggestion, not a scientifically established timetable. Cepeda and colleagues’ research on spaced learning found that useful gaps depended on how far ahead people needed to remember the material, but it studied factual learning and prescribes no single schedule for English vocabulary.
What to change when a word will not stick
Before adding more repetitions, check that you understand the word: could you explain why it fits your example? If two words keep getting mixed up, put their examples side by side and find the difference. If you have saved more words than you can review, leave some for later.
Once recall feels comfortable, use the word in a message or conversation. Choosing a word while you speak is a different task from remembering its definition, and the active vocabulary exercise practises it.
arcoco brings words back through games and lets you revisit them in the Journal. It uses its own vocabulary, so for a personal list from books or work, a tool that lets you create cards may suit you better. Our vocabulary app comparison explains those choices.
Play: test yourself
Five definitions, with the word hidden. Try to recall it before you look at the options.
Recall the word
1 / 5A short trip taken for pleasure is an ____.
Check the answer
Excursion. An incursion is a sudden entry into a place, often an attack, and exertion is physical or mental effort.
Something that happens by lucky chance is ____.
Check the answer
Serendipitous. Superfluous means more than is needed. Spontaneous means done without planning, lucky or not.
Someone too eager to please and praise people in power is ____.
Check the answer
Obsequious. Ominous means suggesting that something bad will happen, and oblivious means not aware.
A reply that is very brief and a little unfriendly is ____.
Check the answer
Terse. Tense means anxious or tight, and dense means closely packed or, informally, slow to understand.
To make a problem worse is to ____ it.
Check the answer
Exacerbate. Alleviate means to make it less severe. Exaggerate means to make it sound bigger than it is.
Your score
