Simile Examples

A simile is a comparison between two different things using the word like or as to make the comparison. Similes are generally easier to identify than metaphors, but not always. Sometimes a speaker or writer may use the word like or as and not make any comparison. These are not similes. For example if I said, “I like pizza.” I am expressing a preference for pizza not making a comparison.

Simile
Comparing two things using the word like or as

By the time you finish working through these 100 examples of simile, you should have the hang of it. I have attempted to separate these similes into an easy and hard list. Here is the list of fifty easy similes:

Simile Examples for Intermediate Readers

  1. “Food?” Β Chris inquired, popping out of his seat like a toaster strudel.
  2. Grandpa lounged on the raft in the middle of the pool like an old battleship.
  3. If seen from above the factory, the workers would have looked like clock parts.
  4. The truth was like a bad taste on his tongue.
  5. The people who still lived in the town were stuck in place like wax statues.
  6. Cassie talked to her son about girls as though she were giving him tax advice.
  7. Alan’s jokes were like flat soda to the children, surprisingly unpleasant.
  8. My mother’s kitchen was like a holy place: you couldn’t wear your shoes, you had to sit there at a certain time, and occasionally we’d pray.
  9. The bottle rolled off the table like a teardrop.
  10. The handshake felt like warm laundry.
  11. She hung her head like a dying flower.
  12. Arguing with her was like dueling with hand grenades.
  13. The classroom was as quiet as a tongue-tied librarian in a hybrid car.
  14. Janie’s boyfriend appreciated her as an ape might appreciate an algebra book.
  15. The clouds were like ice-cream castles in the sky.
  16. The shingles on the shack shook in the storm winds like scared children.
  17. When he reached the top of the hill, he felt as strong as a steel gate.
  18. When the tree branch broke, Millie fell from the limb like a robin’s egg.
  19. She swam through the waters like she was falling through a warm dream.
  20. They children ran like ripples through water.
  21. Mikhail scattered his pocket change in front of the beggars like crumbs of bread.
  22. Her hair was as soft as a spider web.
  23. Each dollar bill was a like a magic wand to cast away problems.
  24. The man held the blanket like a memory.
  25. The ice sculptor’s hands fluttered like hummingbird wings.
  26. I’m about as awesome as a flying giraffe.
  27. You are soft as the nesting dove.
  28. Andre charged down the football field like it was the War of 1812.
  29. The stars looked like stupid little fish.
  30. Her laughter was like a warm blanket or a familiar song.
  31. The river flows like a stream of glass
  32. Blood seeped out of the wound like red teardrops.
  33. Paul carried his science project to school like he was transporting explosive glass.
  34. She looked at me like I was speaking in some strange alien tongue.
  35. The town square was buzzing like a beehive.
  36. Kelsey followed her dreams like most kids would follow a big sister.
  37. Kyle looked at the test with a stare as blank as his notebook.
  38. The robins are as thick today as flakes of snow were yesterday,
  39. Her eyes are like the eyes of statues.
  40. The gray moss drapes us like sages.
  41. The music burst like a bent-up flood.
  42. The curtains stir as with an ancient pain.
  43. But now her hands like moonlight brush the keys with velvet grace.
  44. I flitted like a dizzy moth.
  45. The flowers were as soft as thoughts of budding love.
  46. The gray of the sea, and the gray of the sky, / A glimpse of the moon like a half-closed eye.
  47. Yes, the doors are locked and the ashes are white as the frost.
  48. A mist about your beauty clings like a thin cloud before a star.
  49. She went like snow in the springtime on a sunny hill.
  50. Then I knew those tiny voices, clear as drops of dew.

 

Simile Examples for Advanced Readers

Here are fifty examples of similes for advanced readers. Remember: a simile compares two different things and uses like or as to make the comparison.

  1. I dream of silent verses where the rhyme glides noiseless as an oar.
  2. Though they knew it not, their baby’s cries were lovely as jeweled butterflies.
  3. He kissed her as though he were trying to win a sword fight.
  4. The paparazzi circled like vultures above a tottering camel.
  5. She was as distant as a remote tropical island, uncivilized, unspoiled.
  6. Our hearts, though stout and brave, still, like muffled drums, are beating funeral marches to the grave.
  7. He had hidden his wealth, heaped and hoarded and piled on high like sacks of wheat in a granary.
  8. Pieces of silver and of gold / Into the tinkling strong-box fell / Like pebbles dropped into a well;
  9. The cabin windows have grown blank as eyeballs of the dead.
  10. What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
  11. Each face was like the setting sun, / As, broad and red.
  12. Barefooted, ragged, with neglected hair, she was a thin slip of a girl, like a new moon.
  13. A fatal letter wings its way across the sea, like a bird of prey.
  14. I will sing a slumberous refrain, and you shall murmur like a child appeased.
  15. For she knows me! My heart, clear as a crystal beam / To her alone, ceases to be inscrutable.
  16. Leaf-strewing gales utter low wails like violins,
  17. He spit out his teeth like stones.
  18. Talk of your cold: through the parka’s fold it stabbed like a driven nail.
  19. Dawn breaks open like a wound that bleeds afresh.
  20. Like winged stars the fire-flies flash and glance, / Pale in the open moonshine.
  21. The breath of her false mouth was like faint flowers, / Her touch was as electric poison.
  22. Then, as a hunted deer that could not flee, I turned upon my thoughts and stood at bay, wounded and weak and panting;
  23. There are thick woods where many a fountain, rivulet, and pond are as clear as elemental diamond.
  24. Years heap their withered hours, like leaves, on our decay.
  25. The ripples wimple on the rills, like sparkling little lasses.
  26. She was like a modest flower blown in sunny June and warm as sun at noon’s high hour.
  27. And the face of the waters that spread away / Was as gray as the face of the dead.
  28. As in depths of many seas, my heart was drowned in memories.
  29. Then like a cold wave on a shore, comes silence and she sings no more.
  30. And shout thy loud battle-cry, cleaving the silence like a sword.
  31. My soul is lost and tossed like a ship unruddered in a shoreless sea.
  32. The clouds like crowds of snowy-hued and white-robed maidens pass
  33. Dreams, like ghosts, must hide away; / ‘Tis the day.
  34. The evening stretches before me like a road.
  35. I would have hours that move like a glitter of dancers.
  36. Toby manipulated the people in his life as though they were chess pieces.
  37. And only to think that my soul could not react, but turned on itself like a tortured snake.
  38. There are strange birds like blots against a sky.
  39. She goes all so softly like a shadow on the hill, a faint wind at twilight.
  40. The horse-chestnuts dropped their buds like tears.
  41. They walk in awful splendor, regal yet, wearing their crimes like rich and kingly capes.
  42. Death is like moonlight in a lofty wood that pours pale magic through the shadowy leaves.
  43. I was sick of all the sorrow and distress that flourished in the City like foul weeds.
  44. As I read it in the white, morning sunlight, the letters squirmed like snakes.
  45. Oh, praise me not the silent folk; / To me they only seem / Like leafless, bird-abandoned oak.
  46. The windflowers and the lilies were yellow striped as adder’s tongue.
  47. I have seen old ships sail like swans asleep.
  48. For the world’s events have rumbled on since those days like traffic.
  49. And dance as dust before the sun, light of foot and unconfined.
  50. The fishes skim like umber shades through the undulating weeds.
  51. Gather up the undiscovered universe like jewels in a jasper cup.

Common Core State Standards Related to Simile

Anchor Standards

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.4 – Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.5 – Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.

View All CCSS Standards Related to Simile
ELA Standards: Literature

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.3.4 – Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, distinguishing literal from nonliteral language.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.4 – Determine 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.RL.5.4 – Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative language such as metaphors and similes.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.6.4 – Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of a specific word choice on meaning and tone.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.7.4 – Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of rhymes and other repetitions of sounds (e.g., alliteration) on a specific verse or stanza of a poem or section of a story or drama.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.8.4 – Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.4 – Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.4 – Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful. (Include Shakespeare as well as other authors.)

ELA Standards: Language

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.5 – Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships and nuances in word meanings.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.4.5a – Explain the meaning of simple similes and metaphors (e.g., as pretty as a picture) in context.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.4.5b – Recognize and explain the meaning of common idioms, adages, and proverbs.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.5.5a – Interpret figurative language, including similes and metaphors, in context.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.5.5b – Recognize and explain the meaning of common idioms, adages, and proverbs.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.6.5a – Interpret figures of speech (e.g., personification) in context.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.7.5a – Interpret figures of speech (e.g., literary, biblical, and mythological allusions) in context.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.8.5a – Interpret figures of speech (e.g. verbal irony, puns) in context.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.9-10.5a – Interpret figures of speech (e.g., euphemism, oxymoron) in context and analyze their role in the text.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.11-12.5a – Interpret figures of speech (e.g., hyperbole, paradox) in context and analyze their role in the text.

View Source
Common Core Lesson and Unit Plans
Understanding Common Core State Standards

Still looking for something?
Search here.





Leave a comment

163 Comments

  1. letitia

     /  September 13, 2015

    thnx helped with hmwrk

    Reply
  2. Danielle

     /  May 26, 2015

    I need help I need to find a simile that starts with the letter d

    Reply
  3. Abrar Hossain

     /  May 23, 2015

    THIS HELPED ME ALOT THANK U SOOOOOOOOOO MUCH

    Reply
  4. dachaini

     /  May 23, 2015

    THANK YOU SO MUCH THIS VERY HELPFULL TO ME

    Reply
  5. Shari I.U.Nagaiya

     /  May 19, 2015

    its so amazing,thanks and stay blessed.

    Reply
  6. sam

     /  May 18, 2015

    This helped me a lot

    Reply
  7. Jessica Elizabeth Roberts

     /  May 10, 2015

    Thanks helped me a lot in my hw!

    Reply
  8. Kanga

     /  May 10, 2015

    Thanks you so much! I am a Secondary 1 student, and tomorrow, Mid Term Exams starts. I wanted to boost my marks for English with similes, so this helped tremendously! Once again, Thank you!

    Reply
  9. At Atiya Dijonea Sara Sutherland, At

     /  March 5, 2015

    I also recommend using metaphor to on this website

    Reply
  10. At Atiya Dijonea Sara Sutherland, At

     /  March 5, 2015

    I recommend using this website by the way I am only 11 so it is a really big step to understanding similies and I stared writing sentence today and I got some for homework so imagine everyone in my class when they here my answers because this website is the best and everyone will be like wow because I am not the smartest one in the class and I am not the favorite Alysa is the favor it so use this website plz short for please it helps

    Reply
  11. tallest

     /  March 4, 2015

    Thanks a lot it helped with my essays

    Reply
  12. Barack Obama

     /  February 23, 2015

    Thanks a lot it helped my daughter complete her assignment

    Reply
    • Marcel

       /  March 4, 2015

      you can’t be Barack Obama no way but still this website helped me with my homework thanks a lot πŸ˜€

      Reply
    • dthghggg

       /  October 6, 2015

      you are a faker

      Reply
  13. brooke

     /  February 20, 2015

    This helped when I wan in class today thank you soooo much!!!

    Reply
  14. jamelle

     /  February 5, 2015

    This simile helps me to find the meaning and example to teach my classmate

    Reply
  15. Emma

     /  February 3, 2015

    That was actually really help full thank you so much Ms. Finch!

    Reply
  16. Delphine

     /  January 30, 2015

    wow this site helped me so much in my assignment, thanks for your kindness

    Reply
  17. None

     /  January 21, 2015

    This is a good website use it I love it so much… It is so good

    Reply
  18. keianna

     /  January 18, 2015

    It really helped with my home work so for that I THANK YOU. I really love this web site and it also have examples of Alliteration*

    Reply
  19. Bob smith

     /  January 13, 2015

    Needs more describing similes like her eyes were as green as grass

    Reply
  20. prachi

     /  January 8, 2015

    thanks a lot !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! luv u guys…………………………………

    Reply
  21. Rina

     /  January 6, 2015

    this helped a ton! thx!;)

    Reply
  22. ibrahimz hass

     /  January 2, 2015

    thanks this ting help ME a lot on my HOMEWORK

    Reply
  23. cecilia

     /  December 31, 2014

    thanks a lot I love this web site it helps ………β™₯β™₯
    β˜…thank uβ˜†

    Reply
  24. emily

     /  December 31, 2014

    it helps so much but I still couldn’t finish my pile of homework……

    Reply
  25. syed saaib hussain

     /  December 3, 2014

    good work done by your team !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!#$%

    Reply
  26. Eucheny Bobis

     /  November 17, 2014

    Now i anderstand figure of speech thank you website

    Reply
  27. Josh

     /  October 30, 2014

    πŸ™‚

    Reply
  28. Joshua Shriver

     /  October 27, 2014

    This was great it helped me a lot! Now I understand!

    Reply
  29. Nataly Bautista

     /  September 24, 2014

    It really help me alot

    Reply
  30. christea

     /  April 24, 2014

    This was great!! It helped me with a assignment I did on Similes and Metaphors

    Reply
  31. Kalina nimley

     /  April 8, 2014

    It help me a lot

    Reply
  32. Now I understand similes

    Reply
  33. May

     /  November 25, 2013

    Thank you. These are very helpful for using with my class tomorrow. Saves me making them up myself. Also, children can change some of the words to make them their own.

    Reply
  34. thanks it helped me review for the exam.

    Reply
  35. jeff

     /  September 2, 2013

    it helped doing my homework…thanks…

    Reply
  36. evelyn oparah

     /  August 19, 2013

    it helped me alot…tanks

    Reply
  37. Mrs. Anderson

     /  August 18, 2013

    Thank you for your website! This has helped tremendously with putting together my own lessons and examples. I appreciate it!

    Reply
  38. Bubba22501

     /  June 1, 2013

    this helped get ideas in my head thnx

    Reply
  39. Ruby

     /  March 4, 2013

    Your work is so useful! Thank-you so much! You’re amazing, beyond amazing, you’re a God. πŸ˜‰

    Reply
  40. it helped with my washington state book thanks!!!

    Reply
  41. novie

     /  January 31, 2013

    thank you very much!!!

    Reply
  42. tiffany

     /  January 28, 2013

    this helped a lot on my homework.THANKS!

    Reply
  43. mik

     /  November 25, 2012

    this helped a lot on my homework!!! Thanks!

    Reply
  44. Me

     /  November 5, 2012

    helped with my homework πŸ˜€

    Reply
  45. thanks it really help me to!!

    Reply
  46. anayiz eliana guardado

     /  September 18, 2012

    This really helped me with my homework thanx

    Reply
  47. elizabeth

     /  September 10, 2012

    thanks , this worked really well.

    Reply
  48. ryan

     /  May 7, 2012

    It helped for my homework

    Reply
  49. I really thought it was helpfull thx

    Reply
  1. Similes in Music and Movies Video | Chestnut ESL

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

By Using This Website You Agree to the Terms of Use and are aware of our privacy policy.