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Personification Worksheets

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Find, explain, and write personification with a chart, practice pages, and an original poem.

Download the personification worksheets

Personification chart

A definition, examples from nature and home with their meanings, and how personification differs from a metaphor.

Find the personification

Circle the thing and its human action, and decide whether each sentence is personification.

What does it mean?

Choose what each example of personification really describes.

Write with personification

Rewrite plain sentences so objects and weather act like people.

Personification in a poem

An original poem about a house at night, with questions about each human trait.

Print at 100% (actual size) for the cleanest tracing lines.

About these personification worksheets

Personification (say it per-son-if-ih-KAY-shun) gives human actions, traits, or feelings to something that is not human, like an object, a plant, an animal, or the weather. When a writer says "the old floorboards groaned," the floor isn't really complaining: the boards are creaking. When "the sun smiled down on the beach," the day was bright and warm.

To spot personification, look for two things: the thing that is not a person (the sun, the wind, a clock) and the action or feeling that only people have (smiling, whispering, begging, feeling lonely). "My alarm clock yelled at me" means it rang loudly. "The last cookie called my name" means it looked delicious. "The flowers nodded in the breeze" means they bobbed up and down.

Personification is not the same as a metaphor. A metaphor says one thing is another: "The fog was a blanket." Personification gives the thing a human action: "The fog tiptoed into town." It also doesn't count when people or animals do what they really do: "the bird sang" is literal, but "the kettle sang" is personification.

Writers use personification to make settings feel alive, to show mood, and to help readers picture sounds and movement. These worksheets include a chart, finding the thing and the human action, yes-or-no practice, explaining meanings, rewriting plain sentences, and an original poem about a house at night.

Standards

  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.4Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including those that allude to significant characters found in mythology (e.g., Herculean).
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.4.3.AChoose words and phrases to convey ideas precisely.
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.4.5Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.

How to use them

  1. Read the chart together and act out a few examples, like the trees waving.
  2. On Find the Personification, circle the thing first, then the human action or feeling.
  3. Use What Does It Mean? to practice explaining what the writer really means.
  4. Read the poem, then try Add Personification to make plain sentences come alive.

Teaching tips

  • Ask "Can a real person do that?" If yes, and the subject is not a person, it is personification.
  • Watch for animals: a dog barking is literal, but a squirrel scolding you is personification.
  • Look out the window and personify what you see: the clouds, the trees, a passing truck.
  • In writing, one strong personified verb ("the wind tugged at my hat") beats a long list of them.

Questions teachers and parents ask

What is personification?

Personification is giving human actions, traits, or feelings to something that is not human. "The thunder grumbled all night" is personification, because only people really grumble.

What is an example of personification?

"The leaves danced across the playground" (they blew around), "the campfire gobbled up the dry sticks" (it burned them quickly), and "the moon peeked out from behind a cloud" (it appeared a little) are all examples.

What is the difference between personification and a metaphor?

A metaphor says one thing is another ("the moon was a lantern"). Personification gives a thing a human action or feeling ("the moon smiled at us"). Both are figurative language, but they work differently.

Is "the dog smiled" personification?

It depends on the action. Dogs really bark, run, and wag, so those are literal. Smiling, frowning, or worrying are human traits, so giving them to a dog is personification.

How do you write personification?

Start with a plain sentence, like "The wind blew the leaves." Pick the thing that is not a person (the wind), and give it a human action: "The wind chased the leaves down the street."