Hyperbole Worksheets

A hyperbole (say it hy-PER-buh-lee) is a huge exaggeration that is not meant to be taken literally. "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse" means "I'm very hungry." "This bag weighs a ton" means it is very heavy. "I've told you a million times" means "I've told you many times." The speaker knows it isn't true, and so does the listener.

A good test: could the sentence really be true? "We waited in line for twenty minutes" could be true, so it is literal. "The line stretched all the way to the moon" could never be true, so it is a hyperbole. The exaggeration is the point. It shows how strongly the speaker feels.

Hyperbole is often confused with a simile. A simile compares two things using like or as ("the pond was as flat as a tabletop"). A hyperbole exaggerates ("the pond was a million miles wide"). Some similes exaggerate too, such as "as tall as a skyscraper," so they are both at once. Hyperbole is the heart of tall tales, where heroes are bigger, stronger, and faster than anyone could really be.

Writers use hyperbole to show strong feelings, to make readers laugh, and to make a point easy to remember. These worksheets include a chart, hyperbole or literal, what each hyperbole really means, hyperbole vs. simile, writing your own, and an original tall tale about a girl who lassoes rain clouds.