What does cornucopia mean?
Word: Cornucopia
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Cornucopia means a great and varied supply of good things.
How do you spell cornucopia?
Syllables: cor - nu - co - pi - a
Tricky part: The vowel after the n is a u, though it is said quickly. Cornicopia and cornacopia are the usual slips.
Watch out for: cornicopia, cornacopia
Memory tip: A cornucopia holds plenty for you, so let you lend its u to the spot after the n.
Cornucopia in a sentence
Example 1: Walking through the Sunday bazaar, we met a cornucopia of colours, smells and sounds.
Example 2: Her grandmother's trunk turned out to be a cornucopia of old photographs.
Example 3: The internet offers a cornucopia of free lessons for anyone who looks.
Fun Fact
Its Latin name meant horn of plenty, and old paintings show a curved horn spilling over with fruit, corn and flowers.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
Insert the correct letters to form a word:
c_rnuc_p_a
a) o, a, i
b) a, o, i
c) o, o, i
d) o, o, e
Show answer
c) o, o, i. The two o's carry the stressed sounds, and a short i slips in before the closing a.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the letters to find the word that fits the sentence:
The hill market is a ipoucnarco of fresh fruit, spices and handmade toys.
a) cornflower
b) coronation
c) corporation
d) cornucopia
Show answer
d) cornucopia. The u and the p belong together only in the right option; cornflower lacks a p, and corporation and coronation lack a u.
Word Connection
Choose the synonym of the word cornucopia as used in the sentence:
Our school library is a cornucopia of picture atlases and old comics.
a) shortage
b) abundance
c) corner
d) handful
Show answer
b) abundance. A library full of atlases and comics has an abundance of them.
Spell-o-Spell
Read the four words. Choose the meaning of the only correctly spelt word:
1. harvist 2. pomegranite 3. cornucopia 4. orchird
a) a plentiful source of whatever you enjoy
b) a round fruit full of juicy red seeds
c) a piece of land planted with fruit trees
d) the gathering of ripe crops
Show answer
a) a plentiful source of whatever you enjoy. Pomegranate ends in ate, orchard has an a before the rd, and harvest ends in est.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. A travel writer calls Kerala a cornucopia of spices. What is she saying?
a) spices have become rare there
b) spices are sold only in shops there
c) spices are too costly there
d) spices of many kinds grow there
Show answer
d) spices of many kinds grow there
2. You could fairly call ____ a cornucopia.
a) a closed door at the end of a hall
b) an empty shelf in a bare room
c) a single pencil in a wooden box
d) a shop packed with every kind of book
Show answer
d) a shop packed with every kind of book
