Transform Your Vocabulary with This One Trick ✨

Intermediate Level | August 29, 2025

Read the article aloud on your own or repeat each paragraph after your tutor.

If you’re a busy professional trying to improve your English, you’ve probably felt stuck at some point. You learn new words, but when it’s time to speak, the right word doesn’t come to mind. Here’s the secret: you don’t need to memorize thousands of words. You just need one simple trick—use word families. This trick will help you transform your vocabulary faster and more effectively.

Word families are groups of related words that come from the same root. For example: decide, decision, decisive, decisively. If you learn them together, you get four words for the price of one. This trick saves time, helps you remember better, and makes your vocabulary sound more natural.

Why Word Families Work to Transform Your Vocabulary

When you learn words in families, your brain connects them like a network. Instead of seeing each word as separate, you see how they’re related. That makes it easier to recall the right word when you need it. For example, if you forget decisive, you might still remember decision, and from there, guess the correct form. Using this method will truly help you transform your vocabulary.

A Business Example

Imagine you’re in a meeting. Your boss says, “We need someone decisive.” If you only know the word decision, you might feel confused. But if you’ve learned the family, you’ll instantly understand that decisive means someone who makes strong decisions.

How to Practice

Here are 10 key root words that are common in business: manage, decide, lead, create, motivate, develop, organize, produce, communicate, support. Build their families by writing them down in a notebook or using flashcards. Practice saying them aloud in sentences. For example: “Our manager motivated the team to stay creative.”

Here are some word families for each root word:

Manage: manage, manager, management, manageable
Decide: decide, decision, decisive, decisively
Lead: lead, leader, leadership, leading
Create: create, creation, creative, creatively
Motivate: motivate, motivation, motivational, motivated
Develop: develop, development, developer, developing
Organize: organize, organization, organizer, organized
Produce: produce, product, production, productive
Communicate: communicate, communication, communicative, communicator
Support: support, supporter, supportive, supported

The Bonus

Using word families also makes you sound more fluent. Instead of repeating the same basic words, you’ll have natural variety. For example, instead of always saying “make a decision,” you can say, “She was very decisive.” It’s the same idea, but with more professional polish.

Vocabulary List

Decisive (adjective) — Able to make decisions quickly and confidently.
Example: She is a decisive leader who inspires trust.
Motivate (verb) — To make someone want to act.
Example: The coach motivated the players before the game.
Motivation (noun) — The reason why someone acts in a certain way.
Example: His main motivation was to help his family.
Manager (noun) — A person who directs or oversees others.
Example: The manager explained the new policy to the team.
Management (noun) — The process of organizing and directing work.
Example: Strong management keeps the company running smoothly.
Creative (adjective) — Having the ability to make new ideas.
Example: The team developed a creative solution to the problem.
Creation (noun) — Something that is made or produced.
Example: The new product was an impressive creation.
Lead (verb) — To guide or be in charge of something.
Example: She will lead the project from start to finish.
Leadership (noun) — The ability to guide and inspire others.
Example: His leadership style encouraged collaboration.
Effective (adjective) — Producing the desired result.
Example: The new strategy was effective in reducing costs.

5 Questions About the Article

What is the main trick introduced in this article for learning vocabulary?
Why do word families make it easier to remember words?
What does decisive mean in a business context?
How can you practice learning word families?
How do word families make your English sound more fluent?

5 Open-Ended Discussion Questions

Which word families are most useful in your job?
How do you usually learn and remember new words?
Do you think using flashcards is effective for vocabulary building? Why or why not?
Can you share an example of when you couldn’t find the right word in English? What happened?
How would mastering word families help you in meetings or presentations?

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