Figurative Language Worksheets

Figurative language is language that means more than, or something different from, what the words literally say. When a writer says "the sidewalk was a frying pan," nobody is cooking eggs on the street: the writer means the sidewalk was very hot. Literal language means exactly what it says ("The sidewalk was hot"). Figurative language paints a picture, so the reader feels the heat.

There are seven kinds that 4th graders meet most often. A simile compares two things using like or as ("as quiet as a library"). A metaphor says one thing is another ("my room is a zoo"). Personification gives human traits to something that is not human ("the old door groaned"). Hyperbole is a huge exaggeration ("my backpack weighs a ton"). An idiom is a saying with its own meaning ("a piece of cake" means very easy). Onomatopoeia is a word that sounds like its sound ("sizzle," "thud"). Alliteration repeats the same beginning sound in words close together ("seven silly seals").

The tricky part is telling the kinds apart. A simile and a metaphor both compare, but only a simile uses like or as. A hyperbole exaggerates, while a simile simply compares (and some similes, like "as tall as a skyscraper," do both). Personification gives a thing a human action, while a metaphor says the thing is something else entirely.

Writers use figurative language to help readers see, hear, and feel a scene, to make them laugh, and to say a lot in a few words. These worksheets start with a chart of all seven types, then move to literal or figurative, naming the type, a sort, an original poem and story with questions about what each phrase means, and a page for writing your own.