Identify similes -- comparisons using "like" or "as" -- in text, and write original similes.
A simile compares two unlike things using the words "like" or "as." It helps a reader picture or feel something more vividly than a plain description would. You already know more similes than you think -- "as busy as a bee," "as brave as a lion," "as quiet as a mouse" -- but the most powerful similes are often the ones a writer invents fresh, instead of reusing one everybody has already heard.
Read these famous lines from "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star": "How I wonder what you are! Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky." The star is compared to a diamond using the word "like," which helps you picture exactly how bright and sparkling it looks.
Mastery looks like: They can identify a simile by its "like/as" comparison and write an original simile of their own.
Common stumbles: Confusing similes with metaphors by missing the "like/as" test; relying only on tired, overused similes instead of inventing a fresh comparison.
See it visually
Interactive, spoken-aloud tools that show this idea in motion.