Figures of Speech
Instructions: Metaphors, similes, and more — can you identify these common figures of speech?
- 1.
What figure of speech is used in: 'She is as brave as a lion'?
APersonificationBSimileCMetaphorDHyperbole - 2.
What figure of speech is used in: 'Time is money'?
ASimileBIronyCMetaphorDHyperbole - 3.
What figure of speech is used in: 'I've told you a million times'?
ASimileBUnderstatementCMetaphorDHyperbole - 4.
What figure of speech is used in: 'The wind whispered through the trees'?
ASimileBPersonificationCOxymoronDPun - 5.
Which of these is an example of onomatopoeia?
AThe cat went hiss and scratchBLife is a journeyCThe stars danced in the skyDJumbo shrimp - 6.
Which of these is an example of alliteration?
AShe sells seashells by the seashoreBBreak a legCIt was the best of times, it was the worst of timesDThe plot thickens - 7.
What figure of speech is 'deafening silence'?
AOxymoronBHyperboleCSimileDAlliteration - 8.
A fire station burns down. What figure of speech does this situation represent?
AIronyBPersonificationCMetaphorDHyperbole - 9.
What figure of speech is 'break a leg' (meaning good luck)?
AHyperboleBIdiomCOxymoronDSimile - 10.
What figure of speech is used in: 'He passed away last night' instead of 'He died'?
ASimileBEuphemismCMetaphorDIrony - 11.
What figure of speech is used in: 'I'm so hungry I could eat a horse'?
ASimileBPersonificationCMetaphorDHyperbole - 12.
Which of these is an example of a pun?
AThe thunder roaredBHe was as cold as iceCTime flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a bananaDThe world is a stage - 13.
What figure of speech is used in: 'Love is like a battlefield'?
AMetaphorBEuphemismCPersonificationDAnalogy - 14.
What figure of speech is: 'It's just a scratch' (said about a large dent in a car)?
AEuphemismBHyperboleCIronyDUnderstatement - 15.
What figure of speech is: 'Can't you do anything right?'
ARhetorical questionBIronyCPunDCliche
Answer Key
A simile compares two things using 'as' or 'like.' Here, her bravery is compared to a lion's using 'as.'
A metaphor directly states that one thing IS another without using 'like' or 'as.' Time is compared to money directly.
Hyperbole is deliberate and obvious exaggeration for emphasis. No one has literally said something a million times.
Personification gives human qualities to non-human things. Wind cannot literally whisper — that is a human action.
Onomatopoeia is a word that imitates the natural sound it describes. 'Hiss' and 'scratch' mimic actual sounds.
Alliteration is the repetition of the same initial consonant sound in nearby words. 'She sells seashells by the seashore' repeats the 's' and 'sh' sounds.
An oxymoron combines two contradictory terms. Silence cannot literally be deafening, creating a striking contradiction.
Irony involves a contrast between expectation and reality. A fire station is meant to fight fires, so it burning down is deeply ironic.
An idiom is a phrase whose meaning cannot be understood from the literal definitions of its words. 'Break a leg' means good luck in theater.
A euphemism is a mild or indirect expression used in place of one considered too harsh or blunt. 'Passed away' softens the concept of death.
This is hyperbole — an extreme exaggeration used for emphasis. The speaker is very hungry but could not literally eat an entire horse.
A pun is a play on words that exploits multiple meanings. 'Flies' is used as both a verb (to fly) and a noun (the insect), and 'like' shifts from 'similar to' to 'enjoy.'
An analogy is an extended comparison that explains an unfamiliar concept by relating it to a familiar one. Comparing love to a battlefield draws an analogy between the two experiences.
Understatement deliberately makes something seem less important or serious than it really is. Calling a large dent 'just a scratch' downplays the damage.
A rhetorical question is asked for effect, not to get an answer. The speaker is expressing frustration, not genuinely asking for information.