I know more than 2300 characters, and can read stuff and verbalize the correct pronunciation, even recognize which characters go together as words. But I often

I know more than 2300 characters, and can read stuff and verbalize the correct pronunciation, even recognize which characters go together as words. But I often still don't understand the meaning of what I'm reading because I don't know the meaning of enough two-character words. The Chinese govt language proficiency test (HSK) proscribes knowledge of 2900 characters and 8800 words for literacy. Learning those 8800 words is the toughie.