The New York Times Word of the Day

For teens facing dense readings and college entrance exams, vocabulary can be an invisible barrier that’s hard to tackle systematically. The New York Times Word of the Day column offers a manageable approach by serving up one carefully chosen word at a time with rich context. Developed by educators at the NYT Learning Network, the feature pairs each term with definitions, pronunciation, and multiple quotations from current Times articles so students see how it functions in real prose. We love how it doubles as a mini reading-comprehension exercise, since kids inevitably wonder about the stories behind the quotes. It’s ideal for motivated middle and high schoolers, especially those in honors, AP, or dual-enrollment classes where academic vocabulary ramps up quickly. The main limitation is that it’s a single word per day with no spaced-repetition system, so retention depends on how you use it, but the cost (free) and quality are excellent. Pro tip: once a week, ask your student to pick a favorite word from the past five entries and hunt for it in their independent reading or online articles.