Most 5th grade figurative-language tests check the same six categories. If your students can identify those six in isolation AND in passage context, they will get 90%+ of the figurative-language items right. Most students learn the six in isolation, miss them in context, and lose points.
This post is the short list, the patterns I see students miss, and the one practice habit that pulls every score up.
The six devices state tests actually check
In rough order of how often they show up on 5th grade state-test items:
- 1.Simile — comparison using like or as
- 2.Metaphor — direct equation of two unlike things, no like or as
- 3.Personification — giving human qualities to non-human things
- 4.Hyperbole — deliberate exaggeration for effect
- 5.Idiom — fixed expression whose meaning is different from its literal words
- 6.In-context interpretation — given a passage, what does this figurative phrase tell you about the character/setting/mood?
Other devices (alliteration, onomatopoeia, allusion) show up occasionally but at low frequency. The six above are the ones to drill.
Where students lose points: the simile/metaphor confusion
The single most common error is calling a metaphor a simile (or vice versa). The fix is one mechanical question:
> "Does the sentence contain the word like or as?"
If yes → simile. If no → metaphor. There are technical edge cases (some teachers count "is" specifically as metaphor-only, etc.) but for state-test purposes, the like / as rule decides every simile/metaphor item correctly.
Drill this until it's automatic. Then add the second move: identify the two things being compared. "Her smile was as bright as sunshine" — comparing smile to sunshine. State tests sometimes ask "what is being compared" as a follow-up.
Where students REALLY lose points: personification
Personification is the device students MOST often miss. Why? Because it doesn't have a single signal word like like or as. The student has to recognize that a non-human thing is doing a human action.
The teaching move is to name the two pieces explicitly:
- 1.Find the subject. What is the sentence about?
- 2.Ask: is it human? If no, continue.
- 3.Find the verb or descriptor. What is the subject doing or what quality does it have?
- 4.Ask: is this action or quality usually used for humans? If yes, you have personification.
Example: "The leaves danced in the autumn wind."
- Subject: leaves (not human)
- Verb: danced (usually human)
- Result: personification
Once students learn to ask the two-step question, personification stops being the surprise category.
Hyperbole is easier than students think
Hyperbole is exaggeration meant to make a point. "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse." "I've told you a million times." "This bag weighs a ton."
The signal: the literal statement is impossible. No one can eat a horse. No one has been told a million times. No bag weighs a ton.
Teach students to ask: "Could this literally be true?" If no, it's probably hyperbole.
The trap: students sometimes call something hyperbole when it's really just emphasis or strong description. "The classroom was really loud" is not hyperbole. "The classroom was the loudest place in the universe" is. The exaggeration has to be extreme.
Idioms require explicit teaching
The hardest figurative-language category for 5th graders is idioms — because idioms are cultural shortcuts students have to learn by exposure. "Break a leg" doesn't logically mean "good luck." There's no reasoning that gets a student from one to the other. They have to know it.
The teaching move: keep a running list of the 30-40 most common idioms 5th graders see on state tests. Drill 5 a week. Test on Friday. After 2 months students know the bank.
A starter list:
- break a leg = good luck
- hit the books = study
- a piece of cake = something easy
- once in a blue moon = rarely
- raining cats and dogs = raining heavily
- under the weather = sick
- cost an arm and a leg = expensive
- let the cat out of the bag = reveal a secret
- spill the beans = reveal a secret
- the early bird gets the worm = act first to succeed
State tests pull from a fairly small bank. Knowing the bank is the entire game.
The practice habit that lifts every score: in-context
Identifying figurative language in isolated sentences is one skill. Identifying it in a passage and interpreting what it tells the reader is a harder, higher-leverage skill — and it's the one state tests reward most.
For every figurative-language exercise students do, add one in-context question at the end:
> "Her heart was a drum beating against her chest." > What does this tell the reader about how the character is feeling?
The student has to identify the device (metaphor), then interpret what it means in context (the character is nervous/scared because her heart is pounding hard).
This double-step is the actual state-test skill. Practice it on every exercise.
Practice with all six devices + in-context
I built a 40-question 5th grade figurative-language test-prep packet that hits all six categories plus in-context interpretation, in the multiple-choice format students see on state tests. Every answer has a teaching-quality explanation.
5th Grade ELA Test Prep: Figurative Language (40 Questions + Answer Key with Explanations) — $4
What's inside:
- Section 1: Identifying Similes and Metaphors (10 questions)
- Section 2: Personification (10 questions — the most-missed category)
- Section 3: Hyperbole and Idioms (10 questions including common test-tested idioms)
- Section 4: Figurative Language in Context (10 questions tied to short reading passages)
- Complete answer key with grammar-rule explanation for every question
Standards: L.5.5, RL.5.4. Single classroom license.
The bigger picture
Figurative language is one of those test categories where the gap between "I taught it" and "they remember it on the test" is huge. Students learn the names of the devices and then promptly forget which is which.
The fix isn't more lessons. It's more in-context practice with a tight feedback loop. The packet above is the second piece. The first piece is the in-context habit.
Good luck this test season.