Abstract: There has been a heated debate on the differences between simile and metaphor. Such dominant theories as comparison and categorization hold that the two do not have any difference in that they are involved in the same comprehension mechanism. To support the idea that simile and metaphor are distinct， the present study first selected 50 pairs of terms from four psycholinguistic papers by google search with linking topics and vehicles of simile (A is like B) and metaphor (A is B)， and then explored how the two forms are used in real contexts so as to understand their differences in comprehension mechanism. The results showed that similes are more likely to be accompanied by explanations， i.e.， they have grounds (81%)， whereas metaphors are less likely to give explanations， i.e.， they do not have grounds (67%). This means that simile is understood as an assertion of resemblance and metaphor as an assertion of categoricity.

Key words: simile, metaphor, Google search, comprehension mechanism