A running dictionary in your head doesn't only help you become a better communicator, and doesn't only give you an edge when arguing and expressing your thoughts, but also opens your mind to new ideas and concepts.

Well-known researcher, educator, and psychometrician Johnson O'Connor discovered that a person’s vocabulary level was the best single measure for predicting professional success in any area.

The good news? You can acquire vocabulary like any other type of knowledge. Even more good news? This tiny tool that sits in your browser will help you do just that with a click.

How to Expand Your Vocabulary One Word at a Time

Vocabify is a simple web tool and a Chrome extension. You can use either but the Chrome extension makes it easier to collect new words when you are browsing the web:

  1. Install the Vocabify Chrome extension from the Web Store.
  2. Add new words to the site or highlight the word and then use the Chrome extension to catch the new words.
  3. Vocabify will send you review emails at periodic intervals to refresh your memory with spaced repetition.

You just have to add the words. Vocabify does the rest by adding definitions and pronunciations. I hope the developer (Paul Breslin) sentence usage and etymologies as the tool develops further. Audio pronunciations wouldn't harm the effectiveness either. There's a feedback form that's waiting for your critical inputs.

Vocabify borrows the design elements from the card-like structure of Google Keep. It helps you take a visual sweep of your rapidly burgeoning vocabulary bank.

As a word builder, Vocabify is simple as it comes. It covers both sides of the learning task: collecting new words and helping you review them. Add the habit of improving your vocabulary with some mindful browsing and you can learn at least 365 (probably more) words every year.

How do you like to build your vocabulary? Have any tools helped you learn interesting new words?