The Ph.D. thesis investigates the comprehension of metaphorical meaning in the second language (L2). The core tenets of the research involve: i) the degree of difficulty that resemblance metaphors cause to L2 learners in terms of comprehension, ii) the learners’ strategies based on the knowledge sources they use and iii) the role of the context and L1. The findings showed that the degree of metaphor difficulty is affected by the strong experiential basis of metaphor. Moreover, the high degree of figurativity, complexity, and linguistic/ cultural specificity seem to increase comprehension difficulties.