It is likely that most metaphors are not comprehended metaphorically. This is because most metaphors are based in metaphor-motivated polysemy. This can be accounted for by the Construction-Integration model.

Thus, during Construction, the polysemy gets represented as two competing senses in the surface text, and as two competing concepts in the text base. These representations arise automatically and fast. However, during Integration, when the situation model is constructed, the automatic explosion of multiple meanings is constrained and integrated. A choice is then made for the most relevant sense and concept to project a referent into the situation model.

In most cases for metaphor, this referent derives from the conventionalized target-domain sense. This takes place via lexical disambiguation, which includes conceptual disambiguation and referential selection. The metaphor is consequently represented as an utterance about the target domain in the situation model, and as intended as such in the context model. This proces hence does not require analogy or cross-domain mapping, which means that the metaphor is not comprehended metaphorically.

The exception is when the metaphor is intended as a metaphor, whether this is conventional or novel. Then the conventional metaphor is made deliberately metaphorical by employing the analogical route from the source domain to the target domain. In that case, the situation model does refer to the source domain and becomes incoherent. This gets resolved by triggering analogy or cross-domain mapping, which connects the source domain elements to the target domain via some form of comparison. In that case, the source-domain referent facilitates an alien perspective on the target domain, and the context model shows that the metaphor is intended as a metaphor.

DMT solves the paradox of metaphor by claiming that and showing how not every metaphor in language and thought is comprehended as a metaphor; but that every metaphor in reference and communication is. These are deliberate metaphors, counting as metaphors between language users. This is based on the sender and/or receiver paying attention to the source domain as positing a number of referents in the situation model in order to serve as a basis for figurative comparison in the projected micro-world of the utterance.