This study intends to compare and contrast the metonymic mappings motivating the formation of meaning behind denominal verbs in the English and Polish languages. Denominal verbs are created by word-formation processes that include paradigmatic derivation in Polish and conversion, affixation and back-formation in English. The author treats the conceptual metonymies behind the meaning of denominal verbs as illustrations of the EVENT-schema metonymies using concepts that belong to a particular EVENT schema to enter other concepts within the same EVENT schema. The study has demonstrated that one set of metonymies are capable of motivating meanings of denominal verbs in different ways resulting in creation of different types of verbs expressing the same meaning in English and Polish.