The semiconductor device includes a CAM block including a plurality of vertical strings having a perpendicular configuration with respect to a semiconductor substrate, wherein each of the plurality of vertical strings is electrically coupled to a plurality of word lines and each of the plurality of word lines is electrically coupled to a plurality of CAM cells, a peripheral circuit configured to program CAM cells selected from the plurality of CAM cells, and a control circuit configured to issue at least one command to the peripheral circuit to simultaneously apply a program voltage to an nth word line, an n−1th word line and an n+1th word line to simultaneously program CAM cells electrically coupled to the n−1th word line, the nth word line and the n+1th word line, wherein the n−1th word line and an n+1th word line are adjacent to the nth word line and the selected CAM cells are electrically coupled to the nth word line.