When you don’t know what a word means, Google is your best friend!

1. Use Google to find a good dictionary

If you want an English-English dictionary (explanations in English), search for “Cambridge Dictionary”, “Oxford Learner’s Dictionary”, “Longman Dictionary”, “Merriam Webster” or “Collins Dictionary”.

People always ask me about dictionary apps. I don’t know any because I just use Google when I want a dictionary!

If you want to translate a word into your language, search for “English xxx dictionary”, where xxx is your language. 

2. Ask Google to translate

For example, let’s imagine you are a French speaker and you want to learn English. If you want to translate from English to French, type “xxx in French” or “xxx en français” (where xxx is the English word).

Don’t just accept the first answer you see because some words have more than one meaning. And Google Translate isn’t always 100% accurate. And please be careful with the Google AI stuff at the top of the page. It isn't always correct.

It's better to scroll down and look for websites that you know and trust.

3. Ask Google the meaning

Simply type “xxx meaning” into Google. As before, don’t just accept the first thing you see and be careful of the AI bit. But if you scroll down, you’ll find lots of links which will answer your question.

4. Pictures

Sometimes pictures are the easiest way to understand what something is. Simply put the word you want to know into the Google search bar and look at any images that come up. Or you can change the setting from “all” to “images”. This works best with nouns that describe physical objects.

5. Differences

If there are two words with a similar meaning and you want to know the difference, put “xxx vs yyy” into Google. This will show you websites which explain the two words and also discussion forums where non-native speakers can ask native speakers.

Be careful because there’s some inaccurate information out there! But if enough people agree, then that’s a good sign that it’s right.

6. In a sentence

Maybe you want to know how to actually use a word. In that case, type “xxx in a sentence” into Google and you should find lots of sites with example sentences.

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If you would like more help with finding a good dictionary, or if you’d like more ideas about how to use Google, look at this post. 👇👇👇