Figurative Language Jeopardy

Students name the device behind each example, from simile to hyperbole to onomatopoeia. A free-to-copy ELA board played with phone buzzers.

6 categories · 30 clues · Final Jeopardy · everyone buzzes in from their phone

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Every clue on this board

This page is public, so anyone can read the answers — copy the board and swap a few clues before game day.

Similes

$200
This is the missing word that completes the simile: Her voice was as smooth as blank, a fabric known for its softness.
What is silk?
$400
This is the missing word that completes the simile: He ran like the blank, a natural force known for its speed.
What is wind?
$600
This is the missing connecting word in the simile: Her laughter sounded blank a bell.
What is like?
$800
This is the missing word that completes the simile: quiet as a blank, meaning almost silent.
What is a mouse?
$1,000
This is the missing word that completes the well-known simile: busy as a blank, an insect known for constant work.
What is a bee?

Metaphors

$200
This is the missing word that completes the metaphor: Time is a blank, always moving forward and never waiting.
What is a thief?
$400
This is the missing word that completes the metaphor: The classroom was a blank during the fire drill, meaning it was extremely chaotic and loud.
What is a zoo?
$600
This is the missing word that completes the metaphor: He has a heart of blank, meaning he is unkind and unfeeling.
What is stone?
$800
This is the missing word that completes the metaphor: The world is a blank, and all the men and women merely players, a famous line from Shakespeare.
What is a stage?
$1,000
This is the literary term for a metaphor that continues across several lines or an entire passage instead of appearing in a single sentence.
What is an extended metaphor?

Personification

$200
This is the missing verb that personifies the wind in the sentence: The wind blank through the empty streets, giving it the human ability to make a sorrowful sound.
What is howled?
$400
This is the missing verb that personifies the sun in the sentence: The sun blank down on the tired hikers, giving it the human ability to smile.
What is smiled?
$600
This is the missing verb that personifies the old house in the sentence: The old house blank in the wind, giving it the human ability to complain.
What is groaned?
$800
This is the missing verb that personifies the stars in the sentence: The stars blank down at the sleeping town, giving them the human ability to wink.
What is winked?
$1,000
This is the missing verb that personifies opportunity in the sentence: Opportunity blank on our door early that morning, giving it the human ability to seek entry.
What is knocked?

Hyperbole

$200
This is the missing word that completes the classic hyperbole: I've told you a blank times already, an exaggerated number no one could possibly count.
What is a million?
$400
This is the missing word that completes the classic hyperbole: I'm so hungry I could eat a blank, a large farm animal.
What is a horse?
$600
This is the missing word that completes the classic hyperbole: This suitcase weighs a blank, an exaggerated unit of weight far heavier than the bag really is.
What is a ton?
$800
This is the missing word that completes the classic hyperbole: I'm so tired I could sleep for a blank, an exaggerated length of time.
What is a year?
$1,000
This is the missing word that completes the classic hyperbole: That joke was so funny I nearly blank laughing, an extreme exaggeration of a reaction.
What is died?

Idioms

$200
This idiom, meaning to reveal a secret, involves a small animal escaping from a container.
What is let the cat out of the bag?
$400
This idiom, meaning something is very easy, compares a task to a dessert.
What is a piece of cake?
$600
This idiom, meaning to be extremely nervous or anxious, describes sitting on an uncomfortable seat.
What is on pins and needles?
$800
This idiom, meaning to postpone dealing with a problem, involves kicking an object along a street.
What is kick the can down the road?
$1,000
This idiom, meaning to die, uses the imagery of a container being tipped over.
What is kick the bucket?

Onomatopoeia and Alliteration

$200
This is the term for a word that imitates the natural sound it represents, such as buzz or splash.
What is onomatopoeia?
$400
This is the term for the repetition of the same beginning consonant sound in a series of nearby words, such as Peter Piper picked.
What is alliteration?
$600
This is the onomatopoeia word for the sound a snake makes.
What is hiss?
$800
This is the onomatopoeia word for the light ringing sound small bells make.
What is jingle?
$1,000
This is the missing word that completes the alliterative tongue twister: Sally sells seashells by the blank.
What is the seashore?

Final Jeopardy — Name the Device

In a sentence like the wind whispered through the trees, giving human abilities to something nonhuman is this figure of speech.

What is personification?

How to run this board

Figurative language review is a natural fit for Jeopardy because every question can be an example to classify. This board covers the big five devices plus a category on sound devices, all using original sentences rather than quoted song lyrics or novel excerpts, so nothing needs a citation.

Expect debate on the line between metaphor and personification; that argument is the lesson working. Let teams appeal a ruling once per game if they can defend their classification, and the discussion will do more than the points do.

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