How to Memorize Hard to Spell Words
Wondering how to memorize hard to spell words? Good news — millions of people before you have had the same problem and have come up with plenty of tricks to get the job done. English can be a tough language because spelling and pronunciation of certain sounds changes from word to word. Trying to memorize a hard to spell word simply by staring at it isn’t going to help you — you’ll have to use one of the helpful hints below. Keep this list around when it is time to memorize a hard to spell word and you’ll find you have better success.
- Break the word into parts. Many people’s biggest mistakes with difficult to spell words is trying to cram the whole word into their brain at once. Think of memorizing a difficult to spell word as eating a big piece of food. Rather than cramming a 10 ounce steak into your mouth in one bite, you probably cut it into smaller pieces, right? Treat difficult to spell words the same way. Take a look at the word “accidental”, for instance. If you think of it in pieces (ac – ci – den – tal) the word becomes very simple to memorize. Break difficult to spell words up into smaller pieces so your brain can digest them better.
- Learn groups of words. Some difficult to spell words share common sounds with other words. A popular example of this phenomenon is the ending -easure. “Pleasure, measure, treasure” is a perfect word block to memorize, as the sound of the words in your head will resonate later on when you need to remember how to spell one of those words. Remember that English doesn’t always follow standard rules of word order or pronunciation, making it really difficult to memorize certain words. By grouping difficult to spell words into chunks, you’ll create “categories” that your brain can file a word into and remember later. Think of this step as like “filing” words in your brain.
- Writing on your palm. Okay — it may feel stupid — but spelling a difficult to spell word onto your palm, or your arm, or your thigh, or some soft part of your body will help your brain visualize that word. For some people, the ONLY way to learn is through touch — these people are called “kinetic learners”. By drawing a difficult word on your body, you’re really touching the word three times. Once with your brain, once with your finger on your palm, and once when your palm feels your finger. Repetition and physical touch will help you memorize a difficult to spell word in no time.
- Study better. Most people study by “cramming” — spending hours and hours in a row in one night trying to learn something. Research and common sense tell us that this isn’t the best way to study. Instead of trying to stay up all night drinking Red Bull and memorizing difficult to spell words, look at your difficult word list for a short amount of time over several days or weeks. By making yourself familiar with difficult to spell words over a longer period of time, you will become familiar with the way the word looks. Instead of “cramming” all your studying into one night, look at your word list for a few minutes every day for two weeks. This is simply a matter of how the human brain works. Utilize your brain the way it wants to work to make your brain work for you.
- Get your body moving. Much like the step above that describes “spelling” a word into your palm, use your whole arm to write the difficult word in the air, or jump rope and spell the word to yourself, or get a friend to spell the word with you, out loud, while playing a sport, letter by letter. Getting your body moving gets your creative juices flowing and your heart rate up, so you’re getting healthier as you get smarter. If you’re having trouble with a word after all four steps above, getting your body off the couch and moving around may be the step that cements the difficult to spell word in your brain.