On each of the four dimensions of language use, metaphors with different properties display different frequencies:

• For linguistic structures (and the surface text), most metaphors are polysemous, few metaphors are monosemous; moreover, most metaphors are not signalled, some metaphors are.
• For conceptual structures (and the textbase), most metaphors are conventional, few metaphors are novel.
• For referential structures (and the situation model), most metaphors are indirect, few metaphors are direct.
• For communicative structures (and the context model), most metaphors are non-deliberate, few metaphors are deliberate.

Precise data are currently collected and refined across a wide range of genres and registers in corpus work across different languages. There are also reliable data on signalling and deliberateness, but none on salience, aptness, concreteness/abstractness, appropriateness, and other metaphor properties.

Combinations of frequencies yield distinct configurations of metaphor properties that can be organized as different metaphor types. For instance, by far the biggest group of metaphors in language use is polysemous (language), conventional (thought), indirect (reference), and non-deliberate (communication). For a more encompassing discussion of an emerging but still incomplete taxonomy, see Full article: The Ambiguity of Metaphor: How Polysemy Affords Multivalent Metaphor Use and Explains the Paradox of Metaphor.