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Abstract Changes in climate and land management over the last half‐century have favoured woody plants native to grasslands and led to the rapid expansion of woody species. Despite this being a global phenomenon, it is unclear why some woody species have rapidly expanded while others have not. We assessed whether the most abundant woody encroaching species in tallgrass prairie have common growth forms and physiology or unique traits that differentiate their resource‐use strategies. We characterized the abundance, above‐ground carbon allocation, and leaf‐level physiological and structural traits of seven woody encroaching species in tallgrass prairie that span an order of magnitude in abundance. To identify species‐specific increases in abundance, we used a 34‐year species composition dataset at Konza Prairie Biological Station (Central Great Plains, USA). We then compared biomass allocation and leaf‐level traits to determine differences in carbon and water use strategies among species. While all focal species increased in abundance over time, encroachment in this system is primarily driven by three species: Cornus drummondii , Prunus americana and Rhus glabra . The most dominant species, Cornus drummondii , had the most extreme values for several traits, including the lowest leaf:stem mass ratios, lowest photosynthetic capacity and highest turgor loss point. Two of the most abundant species, Cornus drummondii and Rhus glabra , had opposing growth forms and resource‐use strategies. These species had significantly different above‐ground carbon allocation, leaf‐level drought tolerance and photosynthetic capacity. There were surprisingly few interspecific differences in specific leaf area and leaf dry matter content, suggesting these traits were poor predictors of species‐level encroachment. Synthesis . Woody encroaching species in tallgrass prairie encompass a spectrum of growth forms and leaf physiology. Two of the most abundant woody species fell at opposite ends of this spectrum. Our results suggest niche differences among a community of woody species facilitate the rapid encroachment by a few species. This study shows that woody encroaching species do not conform to a ‘one‐size‐fits‐all’ strategy, and a diversity of growth forms and physiological strategies may make it more challenging to reach management goals that aim to conserve or restore grassland communities.