Creative Writing: Middle School: Literary Devices, List 1

If you need inspiration for your next story or poem, be sure to review this list of words related to creative writing. We won't keep you in suspense: you'll learn all about plot, characterization, dialogue, and more.
12 words 1038 learners

Learn words with Flashcards and other activities

Definition First
Print Flashcards

Other learning activities

Answer a few questions about each word. Use this to prep for your next quiz! Compete with other teams in real time to see who answers the most questions correctly! Test your spelling acumen. Read the definition, listen to the word and try spelling it!

Teaching tools

Create and assign quizzes to your students to test their vocabulary. Assign learning activities including Practice, Vocabulary Jams and Spelling Bees to your students, and monitor their progress in real-time.

Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. literary
    relating to or characteristic of creative writing
  2. rhetorical device
    a use of language that creates a literary effect
  3. figure of speech
    language used in a nonliteral sense
  4. trope
    a common or clichéd plot device, idea, or theme in a creative work
  5. imagery
    the use of vivid sensory language in literature
  6. symbol
    something visible that represents something invisible
  7. symbolism
    the practice of investing things with arbitrary meaning
  8. metaphor
    a figure of speech that suggests a non-literal similarity
  9. simile
    a figure of speech expressing a resemblance between things
  10. alliteration
    use of the same consonant at the beginning of each word
  11. repetition
    the act of doing or performing again
  12. onomatopoeia
    using words that imitate the sound they denote
Created on Tue Jul 26 13:56:46 EDT 2022 (updated Wed Jun 04 14:12:14 EDT 2025)

Sign up now (it’s free!)

Whether you’re a teacher or a learner, Vocabulary.com can put you or your class on the path to systematic vocabulary improvement.