This study aims to investigate the relationship between high school students’ use of vocabulary learning strategies and their motivation. Its main concern is with how the relationship varies between three student groups divided according to their vocabulary achievement. A survey was taken by a total of 275 students enrolled in a high school in Gyeonggi province. 232 students were selected to be studied. The students were divided into three groups - advanced, intermediate, and beginner levels - based on their performance in vocabulary tests. Their responses were analyzed through SPSS to produce both basic descriptive and inferential statistics. The results show the three groups differ regarding which strategies both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation had a significant impact on - these were memory and cognitive strategies for the advanced level group; decision, social, memory and metacognitive strategies for the intermediate level group, and none for the beginner level group. The results also show that the three groups differ regarding which strategies only extrinsic or intrinsic motivation had a significant impact on.