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Common Core ELA4th GradeLanguage

L.4.5: Figurative Language and Word Relationships

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.4.5 · Cluster: Vocabulary Acquisition and Use.

Make a Vocabulary QuizAll 43 4th Grade ELA Standards

The Official Wording

Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.

Common Core State Standards, Grade 4, Language · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026

What L.4.5 Means in Plain English

Fourth graders explain what a simile or metaphor means in its sentence, recognize idioms, adages and proverbs like actions speak louder than words, and relate a word like brave to a synonym, fearless, and an antonym, cowardly. The skill is explaining the meaning, not just spotting the figure.

Third graders (L.3.5) told literal from nonliteral phrases like take steps and sorted shades of meaning, like knew and suspected. Fourth grade names the figures and sayings and explains them in context. Fifth grade (L.5.5) interprets harder figurative language and adds homographs to synonyms and antonyms.

L.4.5 I Can Statements

  • I can explain what a simile or metaphor means in its sentence.
  • I can explain what common idioms, adages and proverbs mean.
  • I can tell a word’s synonyms from its antonyms.

L.4.5 Worked Example

One idiom at the end of a busy week, read two ways: word for word, and as the saying it is.

Prompt

What does the idiom mean in this passage? “Ines joined the swim team, the chess club and the spring play, all in the same week. By Thursday she was asleep at the dinner table, and her dad said, ‘You’ve bitten off more than you can chew.’”

Not YetIt means Ines took too big a bite of her dinner.A word-for-word reading. Nothing in the passage is about eating, but she fell asleep at the table, and the student grabbed the one detail that seemed to fit.
Meets the StandardIt’s an idiom, so it isn’t really about food. It means Ines took on more than she can handle. Joining three activities in one week was the big bite, and falling asleep at the dinner table shows how worn out she is. Her dad is telling her she has too much going on.It names the figure, gives the meaning in plain words, and then proves it with two details from the passage: three activities at once, and how tired she is by Thursday.
Moves to Use
Ask whether the words could be literally true here. If not, the phrase is figurative.Say the meaning in plain words: took on more than she can handle.Back the meaning with details from the passage that fit it.For a simile or metaphor, name the two things compared and what they share.

Common Mistakes with L.4.5

Reading it literally

“It’s raining cats and dogs” drawn as animals falling from clouds, with no meaning written

Try this: Have students draw the literal picture and the real meaning side by side, then explain which one the sentence means.

Spotting, not explaining

“That’s a simile!” about as quiet as a mouse, and nothing about what it shows

Try this: Require two parts in every answer: name the figure, then say in plain words what it tells you about the character or scene.

Synonyms treated as twins

A student swaps inexpensive for cheap and calls a friend’s gift cheap in a thank-you note

Try this: Line up near-synonyms from mild to strong or kind to unkind, and have students explain why each fits a different sentence.

Where L.4.5 Fits

Comes BeforeL.3.5Tell literal from nonliteral phrases and sort shades of meaning, like knew and suspected.
AlongsideRL.4.4Work out words and phrases in stories, including ones from mythology like Herculean.L.4.4Work out unknown words from context, roots and a dictionary.
Comes NextL.5.5Interpret figurative language, explain idioms and proverbs, and use homographs.

Practice L.4.5

Vocabulary Quiz GeneratorFree ToolQuiz idioms and proverbs: give the saying in a sentence, and ask for its meaning in plain words.IdiomsProverbsGrade 4
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Quick Check

  1. What does “bitten off more than you can chew” mean?
  2. Which details in the passage support that meaning?
  3. Explain the proverb “Actions speak louder than words.”

L.4.5: Other Names

L.4.5CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.4.5

Common Core State Standards © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved. Official wording from the Common Core State Standards PDFs at corestandards.org, last checked October 14, 2026. The explanation, I can statements, example, mistakes and practice on this page are EMStudio’s own, written beside the official wording. They are not part of the standard.