What does bookworm mean?
Word: Bookworm
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Bookworm means a person who loves reading and spends a lot of time with books. It is also the name of tiny insects that eat paper.
Synonyms: reader
How do you spell bookworm?
Syllables: book - worm
Tricky part: The second half sounds like wurm, but it is spelt with an o. Many children write bookwurm.
Watch out for: bookwurm, bookwerm
Memory tip: A bookworm is named after the wriggly garden worm, so the end is spelt just like that worm, with an o.
Bookworm in a sentence
Example 1: Meera is such a bookworm that she reads at the dinner table.
Example 2: The school library gives a prize to the biggest bookworm of the year.
Example 3: My cousin was a bookworm as a child and now writes stories herself.
Fun Fact
The insects called bookworms are not true worms. Many of them are the young of small beetles that tunnel through old paper and glue.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Makeup
Choose the correctly spelt compound word:
a) bookworm
b) bokworm
c) bukworm
d) boockworm
Show answer
a) bookworm. Start with the thing you read: it has a double o and a k.
Mingle-Mangle
Form a meaningful word from the jumbled letters:
kroobmow
a) bookwomr
b) bookwrom
c) bookworm
d) bookowrm
Show answer
c) bookworm. Eight letters, three of them o: the word names someone who reads all the time.
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
My cousin is a bookworm who finishes a new novle every weekend.
a) cousin
b) novle
c) bookworm
d) weekend
Show answer
b) novle. Novel ends in el, like travel.
Spell-o-Spell
Choose the correctly spelt word:
a) magazeen
b) libary
c) dictionery
d) bookworm
Show answer
d) bookworm. Library keeps an r after the b, dictionary ends in ary, and magazine ends in zine.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Theo is called a bookworm. Where would you most likely find him in the school break?
a) in the canteen queue
b) in the library
c) on the cricket pitch
d) at the drawing table
Show answer
b) in the library
2. Which word is made by joining two smaller words, just as bookworm is?
a) quickly
b) beautiful
c) sunflower
d) running
Show answer
c) sunflower
