Metaphors worksheet - Free Printable

Let’s go step by step through both exercises.

---

Exercise A: What two things are being compared?

We look at each metaphor and find the two parts that are being linked with “is” or “are”.

1. Learning is a piece of cake.
→ learning and cake (already done as example)

2. The security officer is a dragon.
→ security officer and dragon

3. His laughter is music to my ears.
→ laughter and music

4. I’m drowning in work.
→ me (or “I”) and someone drowning — but since it’s metaphorical, we compare “me” to “someone drowning”, so: me and drowning person
But more simply, the comparison is between “I” and “someone drowning” → so: I and drowning

Wait — actually, in metaphors like this, we usually say what’s being compared directly. So:

“I’m drowning in work” = comparing me to someone who is drowning, because of how much work there is.

So: I and drowning person

But for simplicity in school worksheets, they often just write the key nouns:

→ work and water/ocean? No — better to stick to the structure.

Actually, let’s think again: In “I’m drowning in work”, the metaphor compares the feeling of having too much work to drowning. But the two things being compared are:

→ Me (with work) and someone drowning

But to match the example (“learning” and “cake”), we should pick the main subject and the thing it’s being called.

So:

- Subject: I (or “me”)
- Compared to: someone drowning → but “drowning” isn’t a noun here… Hmm.

Actually, in many textbooks, for “I’m drowning in work”, they’d say:

→ work and ocean/water? Not quite.

Better approach: Look at the verb phrase. “Drowning in work” means work is like water you’re sinking in.

But the worksheet probably expects:

For #4: I and someone drowning

But let’s check standard answers for such metaphors.

Actually, common answer for “I’m drowning in work” is:

→ work and flood/ocean — no, that’s not right.

Wait — perhaps it’s simpler: The metaphor says “I am [like] someone drowning”, so the two things are:

→ I and a drowning person

Yes.

Similarly:

5. He is a couch potato.
→ he and couch potato

6. Red velvet cake is heaven.
→ red velvet cake and heaven

7. Money is the root of all evil.
→ money and root (of evil)

8. You are an angel.
→ you and angel

Okay, let’s list them clearly:

2. security officer — dragon
3. laughter — music
4. I — drowning person (but maybe just “me” and “drowning”) — wait, let’s see the pattern.

Looking back at example: “Learning is a piece of cake” → learning and cake.

So it’s the subject and the object after “is”.

So:

2. security officer — dragon
3. laughter — music
4. I — drowning? But “drowning” is not a noun. Actually, the phrase is “drowning in work”, which implies “I am like someone drowning”, so perhaps the comparison is between “my situation” and “drowning”, but that’s vague.

Alternative interpretation: In “I’m drowning in work”, the metaphor compares work to water that you drown in. But that’s stretching.

Actually, most educational resources treat this as:

“I’m drowning in work” → comparing the amount of work to being underwater/drowning

But for the purpose of this worksheet, since the example uses the direct subjects, let’s do:

For #4: I and someone who is drowning

But to keep it simple and matching the format, perhaps:

→ work and ocean? No.

Wait — let’s look at Exercise B to help us.

In Exercise B, for #4 “I’m drowning in work”, the meaning is “I have a lot of work.”

So the metaphor is saying that having a lot of work feels like drowning.

Therefore, the two things being compared are:

→ Having a lot of work and drowning

But again, for the blank, they want two nouns or short phrases.

Perhaps: me and drowning person

I think for consistency, we’ll go with:

4. I — drowning person

But let’s check online or standard answers.

Upon second thought, in many similar worksheets, for “I’m drowning in work”, they write:

→ work and flood — no.

Actually, I recall: sometimes they say the comparison is between “the speaker” and “a drowning person”.

So I’ll put:

4. I — drowning person

But to make it fit the blanks, perhaps just:

→ I and drowning

No, “drowning” is a verb.

Better: person and drowning victim — too long.

Let’s move on and come back.

Actually, looking at the structure of the other sentences:

All others are “X is Y”, so X and Y are clear.

#4 is “I’m drowning in work” — which is equivalent to “I am drowning in work”, so the metaphor is “I am [like] someone drowning”, so the two things are “I” and “someone drowning”.

For simplicity, we can write:

→ I and drowning person

Yes.

Similarly, for others:

5. He — couch potato
6. Red velvet cake — heaven
7. Money — root (of all evil) — but “root” is part of the phrase, so probably money and root
8. You — angel

Now for Exercise B: Match the metaphor to its meaning from the list.

List of meanings:

- He is not active.
- You are kind.
- Red velvet cake tastes good.
- Money causes problems.
- I love when he laughs.
- The security officer is fierce.
- It’s easy to learn
- I have a lot of work.

Now match:

1. Learning is a piece of cake. → It’s easy to learn
2. The security officer is a dragon. → The security officer is fierce. (dragons are scary/fierce)
3. His laughter is music to my ears. → I love when he laughs. (music to ears = pleasant sound)
4. I’m drowning in work. → I have a lot of work.
5. He is a couch potato. → He is not active. (couch potatoes sit around)
6. Red velvet cake is heaven. → Red velvet cake tastes good. (heaven = very good)
7. Money is the root of all evil. → Money causes problems. (root of evil = source of bad things)
8. You are an angel. → You are kind. (angels are kind/good)

Perfect.

Now back to Exercise A — we can use these to confirm.

For #4, since the meaning is “I have a lot of work”, the comparison is between “me” and “someone drowning”, so in Exercise A, we write:

4. I — drowning person

But to match the format of the example (“learning” and “cake”), which are single words, perhaps for #4, they expect:

→ work and water? But that’s not accurate.

Another way: In some interpretations, “drowning in work” compares work to a flood or ocean, but the sentence says “I’m drowning”, so it’s about the person.

I think for school level, they might accept:

4. I — drowning

But “drowning” is not a noun.

Perhaps: person and drowning individual — too wordy.

Let’s look for a standard approach.

Upon reflection, in many elementary worksheets, for “I’m drowning in work”, they write the comparison as:

→ the speaker and someone who is drowning

But since the blanks are short, perhaps:

→ I and drowning man — still not great.

Notice that in the example, “learning” and “cake” are both nouns.

In #4, “I” is a pronoun, “drowning” is a verb.

Perhaps the intended answer is:

→ work and ocean — but that doesn't fit because the sentence is "I'm drowning", not "work is an ocean".

I found a better way: In metaphor analysis, for "I'm drowning in work", the tenor is "I" and the vehicle is "drowning person", so we write "I" and "drowning person".

For the sake of completing the worksheet, I'll use:

4. I — drowning person

And hope it's acceptable.

Alternatively, some sources say the comparison is between "having too much work" and "drowning", so perhaps "too much work" and "drowning", but that's not matching the format.

Let's proceed with the following for Exercise A:

2. security officer — dragon
3. laughter — music
4. I — drowning person
5. he — couch potato
6. red velvet cake — heaven
7. money — root
8. you — angel

For #7, "Money is the root of all evil" — the comparison is between "money" and "root", as "root" is the thing it's being called.

Similarly, for #3, "laughter is music" — laughter and music.

For #4, if we must have two nouns, perhaps "situation" and "drowning", but that's forced.

Another idea: in "I'm drowning in work", the metaphor is that "work" is like "water", so comparison is between "work" and "water".

But the sentence doesn't say "work is water", it says "I'm drowning in work", implying work is the medium.

I think for consistency with the other items, and since the meaning in Exercise B is "I have a lot of work", the focus is on the person's state, so "I" and "drowning person" is best.

Perhaps the worksheet expects for #4: me and drowning

I'll go with that for now.

Let's finalize Exercise A:

1. learning — cake (example)
2. security officer — dragon
3. laughter — music
4. I — drowning (even though "drowning" is a verb, it's commonly used this way in such contexts)
5. he — couch potato
6. red velvet cake — heaven
7. money — root
8. you — angel

For #7, "root" might be incomplete, but it's "the root of all evil", so "root" is the key word.

Some might say "money" and "evil", but the metaphor is "money is the root", so it's money being compared to root.

Yes.

Now for Exercise B, we already matched:

1. It’s easy to learn
2. The security officer is fierce.
3. I love when he laughs.
4. I have a lot of work.
5. He is not active.
6. Red velvet cake tastes good.
7. Money causes problems.
8. You are kind.

Perfect.

So final answers:

Exercise A:

2. security officer, dragon
3. laughter, music
4. I, drowning (or "me, drowning person" — but I'll use "I, drowning" for brevity)
5. he, couch potato
6. red velvet cake, heaven
7. money, root
8. you, angel

To make #4 better, perhaps "person, drowning" but the subject is "I".

I think "I" and "drowning" is acceptable in this context.

Exercise B:

1. It’s easy to learn
2. The security officer is fierce.
3. I love when he laughs.
4. I have a lot of work.
5. He is not active.
6. Red velvet cake tastes good.
7. Money causes problems.
8. You are kind.

Now, to write the final answer as per instruction.

Since ExplainAnswer is false, TeachTopic is false, GeneratePractice is false, I only need to provide the Final Answer.

But the instruction says: "Complete ALL reasoning and explanations BEFORE writing the Final Answer."

I did that above.

Now for the Final Answer section, I need to provide the answers clearly.

Probably, list Exercise A and Exercise B separately.

So:

Final Answer:

Exercise A:

2. security officer, dragon
3. laughter, music
4. I, drowning
5. he, couch potato
6. red velvet cake, heaven
7. money, root
8. you, angel

Exercise B:

1. It’s easy to learn
2. The security officer is fierce.
3. I love when he laughs.
4. I have a lot of work.
5. He is not active.
6. Red velvet cake tastes good.
7. Money causes problems.
8. You are kind.

For #4 in Exercise A, to be more precise, let's change to "me, drowning person" but since the example used "learning" and "cake", which are the exact words, for #4, the words are "I" and "drowning", even if "drowning" is a verb.

In some curricula, they accept it.

I think it's fine.

Alternatively, upon double-checking, I recall that for "I'm drowning in work", the two things compared are often listed as "the person" and "someone drowning", but for simplicity, "I" and "drowning" is used.

So I'll keep it.

Final decision.