Literary Devices & Figurative Language Flashcards

Literary Devices & Figurative Language flashcards — the free 30

Every question and answer on the free cards, written out. Check them against your own textbook before you spend anything.

Metaphor

Calls one thing another directly: the classroom was a beehive at recess.

Simile

Compares using like or as: the lake was as flat as a sheet of glass.

Personification

Gives human traits to non-human things: the wind rattled the windows angrily.

Hyperbole

Deliberate exaggeration: this backpack weighs a tonne.

Understatement

Says less than is meant: after the blizzard, a bit of snow fell.

Alliteration

Repeated beginning sounds: six swift swallows swooped south.

Assonance

Repeated vowel sounds inside words: the green sea sleeps.

Consonance

Repeated consonant sounds inside or ending words: the black rock cracked.

Onomatopoeia

A word that imitates a sound: the bacon sizzled and the kettle hissed.

Imagery

Language aimed at the five senses: damp leaves, cold air, woodsmoke.

Symbolism

An object standing for a larger idea: a single green shoot for hope.

Allegory

A whole story whose characters stand for ideas, as in a fable about ants.

Irony

A gap between what is expected and what is real, in three kinds: verbal, situational and dramatic.

Verbal irony

Saying the opposite of what is meant: lovely weather, during a downpour.

Situational irony

The outcome flips expectation: the swim coach who cannot float.

Dramatic irony

The reader knows what a character does not, like a coming storm.

Sarcasm

Verbal irony sharpened to mock: nice catch, after a dropped ball.

Foreshadowing

An early hint of what is to come: dark clouds massing in chapter one.

Flashback

A scene that jumps back in time to show an earlier event.

Suspense

The tension of not yet knowing: footsteps in an empty corridor.

Mood

The feeling a text gives the reader: a still, frosty morning feels calm.

Tone

The writer's attitude to the subject: playful, solemn, or urgent.

Theme

The idea a text explores: friendship costs something.

Motif

An image that recurs and builds meaning, like rain through a novel.

Allusion

A brief reference to a known text or event: an Achilles heel.

Idiom

A phrase whose meaning is not literal: it is raining cats and dogs.

Cliche

A phrase worn out by overuse: as cold as ice.

Pun

A joke on a word's double meaning or on two words that sound alike: the baker kneaded a break.

Oxymoron

Two contradictory words paired: deafening silence, bittersweet.

Paradox

A statement that seems to contradict itself yet holds truth.

Literary Devices & Figurative Language flashcards — questions people ask

How many cards are in the Literary Devices & Figurative Language flashcard deck?

The Literary Devices & Figurative Language deck on PuzzlePage has 111 cards. The first 30 are free to play and free to download with no account; the remaining 81 unlock for $2.99 as a one-time payment, or with the $11.99-a-month Study Pack that covers every deck on the site.

What is on the literary devices & figurative language flashcards?

Literary and figurative language terms from metaphor to meter, each with a one-sentence definition and a short, school-safe example a student can picture. Cards look like this: Metaphor → Calls one thing another directly: the classroom was a beehive at recess.; Simile → Compares using like or as: the lake was as flat as a sheet of glass.. The deck is written for 6–12 and filed under english & reading.

Can I study literary devices & figurative language flashcards online for free?

Yes. The first 30 cards of the Literary Devices & Figurative Language deck play free in any web browser at puzzlepage.app, with no account, no app and no card details. It works on a phone, tablet, Chromebook, laptop or classroom projector. Practice mode flips through the cards with nothing scored; quiz mode makes you answer each card before it flips, times the run and scores it.

Are the literary devices & figurative language flashcards accurate?

Every card in the Literary Devices & Figurative Language deck was read and fact-checked by a subject-matter specialist before it went on sale, as was every other card on PuzzlePage — 5,420 cards across 30 decks. The audit found and fixed real defects, and one deck was withdrawn from sale entirely rather than shipped with a known problem. That is the difference from a user-generated flashcard site, where the cards are whatever a stranger typed and nobody is accountable for them.

Can I print the literary devices & figurative language flashcards?

Yes. The Literary Devices & Figurative Language cards are available as a printable double-sided PDF to cut up, as well as playable in the browser. The first 30 cards are free to download; the full 111-card printable is included in the $11.99-a-month Study Pack.

How should I use the Literary Devices & Figurative Language deck to revise?

Start in practice mode and go through the Literary Devices & Figurative Language deck once without scoring, to find out which cards you already know — the deck is dealt in a different order every time you open it, so you are recalling the card rather than its position. Then switch to quiz mode, which times and scores the run and lets you re-run only the cards you missed. Use the "flip deck" control to swap which side is the question: recognising an answer is much easier than producing one, so a deck you find easy one way round is usually the harder and more useful drill the other way. Two or three short sessions across a week beat one long one, which is the whole reason flashcards work.

What grade level are the literary devices & figurative language flashcards for?

The Literary Devices & Figurative Language deck is written for 6–12. Because the cards are plain term-and-answer pairs, they are also used outside that band — by adults revising english & reading, and by teachers running them as a whole-class starter on a projector.