You have various options, IMO:
- Choose an image for the word that relates to it or reminds you of something because it seems like, feels like, taste like, sounds like, smells like.
- Choose an arbitrary image (I wouldn’t for competition, too much time, tough maybe it’d work for you)
- Choose a emotional, logical, psychological connotation or of any other kind. Similar but not the same as the first two option.
- Chunk the word, and from the fragment create images connotation and then link image fragments and link the result to the abstract word.
- Make an alphabet list (this is going overboard, even for me) and memorize letter by letter the same way you would for numbers.
- My favorite method for competitive or text memorization: link the word with previous or next word. If the word is within a phrase or a meaningful paragraph, it be easier, just create an story and place the result within a memory palace.
Edit:
- Use a memorized 00-99 peg list of images (preferably Persons or Characters), associate each person with the corresponding word and place in memory places. You can always set your rules for this method. Consider for example taking only 00-09 and for each person you attach them with 5 words; only using 10 loci for memorization.
Happy memorization! 