The difference between metaphors and similes tends to be regarded as the absence or presence of metaphorical indicators. However, we cannot explore all possible metaphorical indicators. Furthermore, we are able to define neither the types nor ranges of metaphorical indicators. There are possibilities for finding new metaphorical indicators and categorising their functions. Therefore, we explored clue phrases for the understanding of figurativity from large-scale simile examples. As a result, we found many clue phrases which have not been reported as metaphorical indicators in preceding studies. Most of the newly found clue phrases can be categorised into the expressions to differentiate between the topic and vehicle. The clue phrases are included with many simile examples. When the representative metaphorical indicators occurred in a simile expression, the clue phrases also co-occurred. The metaphorical indicators can be regarded as the degree to which the linguistically obtainable group of clue phrases in metaphorical expressions is grasped, while metaphors and similes should be a continuity of metaphorical expression with their gradations rather than two distinct sets.
