Talking about similarities

Someone who is a dead ringer for another person (often someone who is famous) looks exactly like them. We also say that someone is the spitting image of someone else, meaning they look very similar. This idiom is often used to describe family resemblances:

He’s a dead ringer for the Harry Potter actor.

She’s the spitting image of her mother at that age.

Two other idioms relate especially to similarities within families. If two people, especially siblings, are like two peas in a pod, they are extremely similar, especially in appearance. Someone who is described as a chip off the old block is very similar to one of their parents, either in appearance or behaviour:

As children, they were practically identical – like two peas in a pod.

Dan’s son is a chip off the old block, isn’t he?

Two people who are cut from the same cloth are very similar, especially in character or behaviour:

As far as the voters are concerned, the two candidates are cut from the same cloth.

In UK English, when we say that there is little (to choose) between two people or things, we mean they are very similar, especially in their abilities or qualities:

In terms of athleticism, there is little to choose between the two teams.

The saying Birds of a feather flock together is sometimes used to observe that people who are similar in character and attitudes are often found together. The shortened phrase birds of a feather is sometimes used to refer to people with similar character and attitudes:

Politically, they were birds of a feather.