Mindmaps are a fantastic way to make connections between words. This will help you remember them more easily. 

In the centre, you could have a topic or word that you want to focus on. For example, you could have the word "environment" or something more specific like "money". Then, think about all the words that link to it and write them down. You could go further and think about which words link to the new words, and so on.

A nice little game to play is to choose a word and make a mindmap using it. See how far you can go with the word associations, like in the picture. It is surprising to see how many words you do actually know!