13 Insane Tips on How to Use ChatGPT to Learn English Vocabulary

In this blog post, you will learn how to use ChatGPT to learn English vocabulary.

Have you ever imagined a world where you could turbocharge your English vocabulary learning journey? Well, guess what? The future is here, and it’s AI-powered!

Gone are the days of flipping through dictionaries and thesauruses, trying to cram the different shades of words. With AI, you’re getting a learning companion that’s dynamic, adaptable, and always up for a chat.

Dictionaries have traditionally served the purpose of helping you discover the meaning of a word or phrase. This process adds those words to your passive vocabulary. In simpler terms, these are words whose meanings you recognize when you see them in a sentence, but you might struggle to use them confidently on your own.

However, the true essence of word learning lies in transitioning these words into your active vocabulary. This dynamic vocabulary enables you to not only recognize words but also to use them naturally in sentences.

This blog post will give you 13 tips that will help you learn English vocabulary using ChatGPT and similar AI tools.

So, how do learn words so that they become part of your active vocabulary? Well, we are here to explore. Let’s go! 🚀🚀

How to use ChatGPT to learn English Vocabulary

I have divided this article into two sections: the first part discusses the tips for learning English vocabulary (Passive memory) and the second part gives you some tips for applying the learned vocabulary (Active memory) in your day-to-day writing and speeches.

Let’s first learn a few prompts that will help you fast-track your learning journey.

1. Get better definitions

Let’s start with simple definitions or meanings of words. Traditional dictionaries are too concise in explaining the words and that’s understandable. They have limited space in a hardbound book to explain any of the words in much detail so most often you would find just the definition and maybe some synonyms.

However, ChatGPT isn’t limited to that. You can ask ChatGPT to explain a word clearly and in great detail and with as many examples as you want.

Imagine you encountered the word “Ineffable” in your reading and you wanted to learn it using AI. Here’s one prompt you could give ChatGPT:

Imagine you are the greatest linguist and etymologist of English Vocabulary.

Explain to me the meaning of the word “Ineffable” like I am a 15 year old. Use examples, analogies, similies or comparisons to drive your point home.

ChatGPT explained it beautifully:

2. Learn words in context

ChatGPT can help you generate examples that are contextually aware, meaning that the meaning of the word will be clear from the example itself, even if you didn’t look it up in a dictionary.

Continuing with the same word “Ineffable”, you can give this prompt to ChatGPT —

Generate 5 simple conjuctive sentences using the word “Ineffable” such that the meaning of the word is clear from the example itself. The sentence level should be for beginners.

The first part of the sentence should provide the context and second part uses the word ‘ineffable’. For example: “He didn’t study at all, so he (flunked) the test”.

ChatGPT produced these sentences:

3. Generate origins of words and idioms

Learning words, phrases, and idioms becomes way more interesting and unforgettable when you learn where they came from. Obviously, facts are not easy to memorize but stories are.

For example, the word ‘revolutionary’ is a derived form of the word ‘revolve’ but its meaning is completely different: “something that causes a complete or dramatic change or something contrary to popular beliefs of practices.“

As it turns out, the word ‘revolutionary’ has quite an interesting story behind it. In the 14th century, everybody thought that the Earth was the center of the universe and was stationary and the Sun revolved around the Earth (Geocentric view). Nicolas Copernicus argued that it was the other way around. It was the Earth that revolved around the Sun (Heliocentric view).

His viewpoint was so dramatically against the view of the church that it was considered heresy. His theory or viewpoints came to be known as “revolutionary” because they implied that Earth revolved around the Sun.

Gradually the word ‘revolutionary’ began to be used in other scenarios to mean ‘something radically innovative or groundbreaking”.

You can ask ChatGPT to give you the origins of words, phrases, and idioms. Try this prompt:

You have to act like the greatest etymologist on the planet. I will give you a word or phrase and you have to give me its backstory or origins. Your first phrase is “To catch red-handed”.

And ChatGPT delivers:

4. Generate synonyms (with their shades)

The vast majority of words in the English language have synonyms – words that convey nearly identical or similar meanings. However, there are often subtle distinctions between synonyms that change their precise meaning.

Mastering these fine nuances is crucial for fully comprehending the depth and versatility of vocabulary in English. Carefully studying how synonyms differ in their connotations, contexts, and emotional resonances allows you to gain a more thorough grasp of the language and express yourself with greater clarity and intention.

For example, the word “light” has a range of related meanings. In the sentence “The room was filled with light” it refers to illumination. But in the phrase “I need some light reading material for the plane“, it implies something easy or entertaining. And in “Make sure to pack light for backpacking” it means traveling with minimal weight.

You can ask ChatGPT or other AI tools to give you the shades of meaning of any word. You can use this simple prompt:

Give me all shades of the word ‘Ineffable’ in simple language.

ChatGPT gave me 10 such close synonyms which left me ‘ineffable’:

5. Learn phrasal verbs with custom example sentences

If you are looking to learn phrasal verbs, ChatGPT is the ultimate resource.

Usually, phrasal verbs have multiple meanings depending on the context they are used. You can not recall the various meanings of phrasal verbs if you just cram them. Therefore, I have come up with a customized prompt for example sentence.

I got the idea for this prompt from the examples mentioned in the Merriam-Webster Learner’s Dictionary. Suppose, you want to learn all possible meanings of the phrasal verb “Pull off”, You can use this prompt:

You are the greatest linguist on the planet and you know everything about the English and its various words, phrasal verbs, idioms and their different shades. I will give you a phrasal verb and you have to give me a few example sentences using that phrasal verb in context. You also have to make the meaning clear that is implied in that particular sentence. Here’s an example of the phrasal verb “Make up”:

1. He wanted to make up for [=synonym 1, synonym 2] neglecting his children by spending more time with them.
2. an employee who’s always making up to [= synonym 1, synonym 2] the boss.

You will use only as many sentences as are required to show all possible synonyms of the phrasal verb.

Your phrasal verb is “Pull off”.

I got this, which is much better than simple example sentences. You know the exact meaning of the phrasal verb in each sentence.

6. Learn verb gradations or intensity

The English language has many verbs that denote the various levels of intensity with which an action is performed.

Take “eat” for example. You can eat a sandwich, or you can devour a cake like there’s no tomorrow. Then there’s “gobble” – think of a hungry monster gobbling down food as if he hasn’t eaten in days. You’ve also got “consume,” which is like enjoying a gourmet meal. And if you’re relaxed, there’s “munch.” You munch on popcorn while watching a movie.

English has a verb for every action intensity. Learning verb gradations is super helpful if you are a fiction writer. If you are conveying your character’s emotions by his actions, you must use appropriate verbs. A single wrong word and it just might change the whole tone of your novel.

You can use the following prompt to get word gradations:

Give me 10 gradations of the verb ‘walk’ in increasing order of intensity. Also give me their nuances and connotations along with an example sentence each in a Markdown table.

Here’s what I got:

7. Personalized contextual learning

If you have a list of words that you want to learn from the context, you can ask ChatGPT to craft a story using sentences constructed using those words. Suppose, you have the following GRE-level words you want to learn:

Ubiquitous, Sycophant, Ebullient, Aplomb, Trenchant, Munificent, Egregious, Ineffable, Quixotic, Mellifluous.

You can use the following prompt to get a paragraph that will give you a story using these words:

I am learning a few English words. I want to learn their meaning from the context in which they are used. I will give you those words and you have to create a perfect story using those words in sentences. The story must be simple and shouldn’t contain any other heavy words. The meaning of the given words should be clear from the context itself.

Also, you will add “[ = synonym 1, synonym 2]” after each given word that you will highlight in bold. Synonyms must be those that are useful in the context.

Here are the words: Ubiquitous, Sycophant, Ebullient, Aplomb, Trenchant, Munificent, Egregious, Ineffable, Quixotic, Mellifluous

And, voila, I have gotten a nice little story that shows the meanings of those words clearly.

8. Learn pronunciation

You can use ChatGPT to find out how a word sounds in different kinds of spoken English. But remember, ChatGPT can’t say the word out loud; it can only explain how it sounds by using other words.

Let’s try this prompt:

How do you pronounce the word ‘queue’?

Sweet!

9. Learn collocations

Collocations are words that often go together naturally, creating strong word partnerships. They help make your speech sound more fluent and native-like. For example, we say “strong coffee” instead of “powerful coffee,” and “heavy rain” instead of “strong rain” showing how certain words just naturally team up.

You can ask ChatGPT to get words that precede or succeed any particular word.

For example, suppose you are writing about a very hungry person and you want to describe his action of eating using an adverb, you can give this prompt to ChatGPT:

Give me adverb collocations for the verb ‘eat’. Also explain their meaning and connotations.

You get this:

Excellent!

How to Use ChatGPT for Applying the Learned Vocabulary

Let’s learn a few ways you can use ChatGPT to commit the learned words to your active memory so that you can use them fluently in your writing and speech.

10. Practice sentence construction

The most effective method of learning vocabulary is to practice the newly learned words by using them in sentences. And ChatGPT can be an invaluable tool for that. You can construct a sentence using a given word and then ask ChatGPT to point out any mistakes in its usage.

Here’s a prompt to get you started:

I am practicing English vocabulary by constructing sentences with them. I will give you a sentence and the word that I am practicing. You have to point out any mistakes that I have made in the sentence construction.

Here’s the word that I am learning: “Ascribe”

Here’s the sentence: “The scientists ascribed the rise in sea level to Global warming.”

11. Fill in the blanks

If you have a custom list of words that you want to learn, you can ask ChatGPT to create some paragraphs with blank spaces which you have to fill in using the given words.

Suppose we want to practice the following 5 GRE words: Ephemeral, Prosaic, Pernicious, Cacophony, and Laconic. You can use the following prompt —

You will act like the greatest linguist and vocabulary master of the English language. I am practicing English vocabulary using fill in the blanks.

I will give you 5 words and you have to create a paragraph with blank spaces for those 5 words. You will mark these blank spaces with alphabets in this format: “________________ (a)”. After that I will respond with the answers and you have to point out the wrong ones.

Here are the first five words I am learning: Ephemeral, Prosaic, Pernicious, Cacophony, and Laconic.

This is what I got:

Beautiful!

12. Flash Cards

If you have a list of words you want to learn, you can give that list to ChatGPT and ask it to act like a flash card agent. It will give you a random word from the given list and you have to write its meaning. One way of doing this is the following prompt:

Act like a flash card agent. I am learning these words: Ephemeral, Prosaic, Pernicious, Cacophony, and Laconic.

You have to randomly ask me the meaning of anyone. I will write its answer, you will check it and if correct, give me the next word to ask, kind of like a quiz.

13. Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)

You can ask ChatGPT to create an MCQ quiz for you to practice the newly learned words. Here’s a prompt:

I am learning these five words: Ephemeral, Prosaic, Pernicious, Cacophony, and Laconic and want to practice them using Multiple Choice Questions.

You have to act like a quiz master. Create 5 fill-in-the-blanks type sentences with 4 options for each of these words. Make sure to label those options as (a), (b), (c) and (d) and only one out of these 4 options must be correct.

Go.

Conclusion

Mastering English vocabulary is made easier with invaluable AI tools like ChatGPT. By implementing the strategies outlined in this guide on “Learning English Vocabulary using ChatGPT,” you can not only access better definitions but also learn words in context, explore word origins and idioms, and generate synonyms with their unique shades of meaning.

With ChatGPT, the journey to expanding your vocabulary becomes an enjoyable and efficient experience, paving the way for more effective communication and language fluency. Learning vocabulary with AI is a relatively frictionless experience and puts you in the fast lane while learning anything.

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Further reading:

1. Can ChatGPT Write Poems (and How to Write an Amazing One)
2. ChatGPT can Create Animations Now (With this hidden trick)
3. ChatGPT Can Joke about Jesus but not about Prophet Muhammad
4. Can ChatGPT create Instagram Posts? (Tried and tested)