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Description: At present, very little is known about the processes underlying L2 speakers’ understanding of written metaphors and similes. This information would add to current theories on figurative language comprehension, which often do not take into account reader-related factors. In the present study, we used eye tracking to examine how native Finnish speakers (N = 63) read written English nominal metaphors (“education is a stairway”) and similes (“education is like a stairway”). Identical words were used in the topic–vehicle pair (education–stairway) in both conditions. After reading, participants evaluated familiarity of each topic-vehicle pair as metaphors. Participants’ English proficiency was measured using the Bilingual-language Profile Questionnaire and the Lexical Test for Advanced Learners of English (LexTale). The results showed that readers were more likely to regress within metaphors than within similes, indicating that processing of metaphors requires more processing effort than processing of similes. The familiarity of a metaphor and second language (L2) English proficiency modulated this effect. The results are discussed in the light of current theories on figurative language processing.