The answer depends on what we mean by knowing (Calfee & Drum, 1986). If knowing means giving the definition of the word when asked to do so, the answer would be yes. If knowing means seeing the word in a sentence in a book, thinking about it for a moment, recalling the meaning, and then inserting that definition into the context so that we can understand the sentence, then the answer would still be yes. These are valid definitions of knowing. However, if knowing a word means that we can use the word in our conversations and in our thinking and recognize all possible contexts of the word (Cronbach, 1943), then it is not equally obvious that the keyword method helps students use new words effectively.