CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.6.5
The Standard
Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.
Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts · Language Standards
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students explain the meaning of figurative phrases in context. They identify relationships among words and distinguish differences in tone, strength, and connotation.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students explain a figurative phrase using evidence from its sentence. They sort words by relationship and choose among similar words based on tone, strength, or context.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may take idioms and personification literally. They may also treat synonyms as exact matches or assume every negative word has the same strength.
How to Assess It
- Give students a short passage with one figurative phrase and two near-synonyms. Ask them to explain the phrase and choose the better word for the tone.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Have pairs sort cards into similes, metaphors, personification, idioms, synonyms, antonyms, and cause-and-effect relationships, then defend two choices.
Ask students to compare stingy, thrifty, and economical, then write which word best describes a careful shopper and explain why.
Play a context clue relay where teams replace a bold word with the closest synonym while keeping the sentence's original tone.
Collect slogans from advertisements and have students identify figurative phrases and explain how specific word choices shape the product's image.
Free download
Printable L.6.5 Worksheet
A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.6.5, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.
PDF, US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white.
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