Idioms: Colours
Colour idioms is the B1 figurative collection built on chromatic metaphors. See red (become very angry), feel blue (feel sad), green with envy (very jealous), in the black (profitable), in the red (in debt), white lie (small harmless lie), out of the blue (unexpectedly), roll out the red carpet (welcome someone grandly), grey area (ambiguous territory), born with a silver spoon (born into wealth). Learners build the colour-idiom range.
This worksheet builds B1 fluency with colour idioms.
Worksheet preview
What’s inside:
- An idiom bank with 18 colour expressions organised by colour
- Matching task: idiom to meaning
- Gap-fill in contextual sentences
- Production task: write a short paragraph using three colour idioms
- Full Answer Key plus Teacher Notes
Common challenges: Colour-meaning conventions vary across cultures — green = envy in English is universal-Western; in some L1s green can mean different emotions. In the black/red are financial-specific. Distinguishing colour-as-literal from colour-as-idiom: I saw red curtains (literal) vs I saw red when she said that (figurative).
For: Adult and teenage learners (14+) at CEFR B1, in intermediate classes, 1:1 lessons, or self-study. Maps onto Cambridge B1 Preliminary (PET) and B2 First (FCE) Reading-Use of English. Part of the Daily Life Idioms collection — the natural next step is Idioms: General Everyday Expressions.
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