Literal - the normal meaning, from the dictionary. Figurative - using one word or a sentence with another meaning than the literal. I will give examples with the word fire: The fire is hot, now we can begin cooking - LITERAL (i am talking about a LITERAL fire that is LITERALLY hot) She had a fire in her eyes - FIGURATIVE/METAPHORICAL (meaning: she has passion in her eyes, her gaze seems to burn with intensity - a FIGURATIVE fire) Metaphorical means figurative basically. They are the same. A metaphor is a comparison, but instead of comparing, it replaces one concept with another. Maybe this is confusing. I can explain metaphors like this: COMPARISON: Her eyes are like two deep blue rivers. METAPHOR: Her eyes were two deep blue rivers. You see? I just removed the comparison, i removed the word 'like'. Instead of saying X is like Y, i say X is Y.