Idioms: What Do They Mean?
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Skill: Using context to explain the meaning of common idioms
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About this worksheet
An idiom is a phrase that means something different from what its words say. If it is raining cats and dogs, no animals are falling from the sky; it is just raining very hard. Idioms are everywhere in books, movies, and everyday talk, so understanding them is an important part of reading. This fifth-grade worksheet gives ten sentences, each with a common idiom printed in bold.
Below each sentence are three possible meanings. Students use the rest of the sentence as a clue, decide what the idiom really means, and circle the best answer. One wrong choice is usually the literal meaning, such as "full of pets" for raining cats and dogs. That helps students see the difference between what the words say and what the speaker means. The idioms include a piece of cake, under the weather, on cloud nine, and cost an arm and a leg.
How to use it: read each sentence aloud and ask, "Could this really happen? What is the speaker trying to say?" Point out the clue words: in the sentence about hitting the books, the word test is a strong hint. After finishing the sheet, ask your student to use two of the idioms in new sentences of their own, or to draw a funny picture of an idiom's literal meaning next to its real meaning.
The answer key circles the correct meaning for every idiom. This worksheet supports Common Core standard L.5.5.b (recognize and explain the meaning of common idioms, adages, and proverbs). Pair it with our Similes and Metaphors worksheet for more figurative language, and practice parts of speech with our Parts of Speech worksheet.