Abstract: Knowledge management (KM) plays an important role in the survival and development of organizations in modern society. This paper aims to explore the internal relations between KM and metaphorical cognition on two different levels, namely the theoretical construction and the practice of KM, from the perspective of metaphorical cognition. For one thing, metaphorical expression is pervasive in the theoretical literature of KM. According to our analysis, we find that different KM theories are derived from different conceptual metaphors. The discrepancy in conceptual metaphor reflects different focus of KM theories as well as the impact of relevant cultural backgrounds on the selection of metaphor. For another, metaphor is closely related to the creation and dissemination of knowledge in terms of KM practice. The creativity of metaphorical cognition is a powerful driving force behind knowledge creation. In addition, the economic and heuristic characteristics of metaphorical cognition are conducive to bridging the knowledge gap between different subjects and consequently improve the efficiency of knowledge dissemination.