Puns: Definition, Types, Examples, Uses, and Worksheets with Answers

Pun is a figure of speech that uses words in a non-literal and clever way to frame a sentence with two or more meanings at the same time. It must be noted that both meanings of a pun make sense. In simple terms, puns take an ordinary word and twist it to create something funny, witty, or even a little silly. Some puns even include a combination of more than one pun to make it more interesting or complex.

Puns in English focus more on:

• Words with double meanings (homographs and homonyms)
• Words with similar sound (homophones)
• Phrases that can be interpreted in more than one way

It can be said that puns are a type of figurative language that plays with the meaning, spelling, and sound of words to create something clever, humorous, or witty.

Puns Examples

• “The math teacher called me average. How mean!”
• “My friend’s bakery burned down last night. Now her business is toast.”
• “The thief who stole a calendar got twelve months.”

Puns: Cambridge Dictionary

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, a pun is “a humorous use of a word or phrase that has several meanings or that sounds like another word.”

Pronunciation: /pʌn/

Puns: Oxford Dictionary

According to the Oxford Dictionary, a pun is “the clever or humorous use of a word that has more than one meaning, or of words that have different meanings but sound the same.”

Also Read:

• Definition of Interjections
• Meaning & Definition of Gerunds

The different Types of Puns in English Grammar are as follows:

1. Homophonic Pun

Homophonic puns are puns that use words with the same/similar pronunciation but different meanings and spellings. These words are known as homophones (homo = same, phone = sound). To create homophonic puns, a word or a phrase is replaced with another word that sounds same or similar. These puns create confusion as the listener hears one word, but the speaker might mean to say the other identical word.

Examples:

• “The duck said to the bartender, ‘Put it on my bill.’” (bill means ‘a restaurant check’ or ‘a duck’s beak’)
• “I accidentally swallowed some food coloring. The doctor says I’m okay, but I feel like I’ve dyed a little inside.” (dyed means ‘to die’ or ‘to make something a different color’.)
• “A boiled egg is hard to beat.” (beat means ‘hard to mix’, or ‘hard to defeat’)

2. Homonymic Pun

Homonymic puns use words with the same spelling and/or pronunciation, but different meanings. These words are known as homonyms and they create double meanings in a sentence, making it humorous or witty. Simply put, homonymic puns have one word with two meanings, but one joke.

Examples:

• “Being struck by electricity can be shocking.” (shocking means ‘electric shock’ or ‘causing emotional surprise’.)
• “The horse is stable.” (stable means ‘mentally balanced’ or ‘shelter for horses’.)
• “I used to be a baker, but I couldn’t make enough dough.” (dough means ‘slang for money’ or ‘unbaked bread mixture’.)

3. Homographic Pun

Homographic puns use words which have same spelling but different meanings. These words are known as homographs. They might have different pronunciations. As the sentence makes sense in both ways, it makes the pun funnier to the listener. A better way to make a homographic pun is by making the audience read the sentence instead of listening.

Examples:

• “Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.” (flies like means ‘time passes quickly’ or ‘fruit flies enjoy bananas’.)
• “The fisherman was caught by his own net income.” (net income means ‘caught in a fishing net’ or ‘actual income after expenses’.)
• “I used to be a banker, but I lost interest.” (interest means ‘financial earnings’ or ‘emotional engagement’.)

4. Compound Pun

Compound puns are puns that use two or more puns in a sentence. They can be two or more homonymic, homophonic, or homographic puns, or a combination of types of puns. This can make the resulting pun complex, forcing the listener to put more effort into their brain to process the pun.

Think of these puns as a movie with multiple stories, punchlines, or twists, or a pun combo meal.

Examples:

• “Corduroy pillows are making headlines.” (includes sleep, media, and fashion humor) (headlines means ‘news headlines’ or ‘imprints of pillow lines on your head’.)
• ”I am reading a book on anti-gravity. It’s impossible to put down.” (includes reading and science humor) (put down means ‘to stop reading’ or ‘physically put down, which prevents anti-gravity’.)
• ‘I gave all my dead batteries away - free of charge.” (free of charge means ‘no cost’ or ‘no electric charge in the batteries’.)

5. Visual Puns

As the name suggests, visual puns use image-based humor that visually represents the double meaning in a sentence. To understand a visual pun, one must carefully connect the image with its meaning.

A visual pun often uses drawings, symbols, or scenes to show the literal meaning of the pun. Visual puns are usually used in Editorial Cartoons, Advertisements, Logos, Children’s picture books, Memes, and Arts & Graphic Design.

Examples:

• Copycat (A cat sitting on a photocopy machine): It means someone who imitates others
• Nacho Cheese (A person holding cheese labeled ‘Not Yo Cheese’): It is a joke about stealing cheese and has food wordplay.
• Knight Night (A sleeping knight in armor): It shows medieval and bedtime ideas.

6. Equivoque Puns

Equivoque puns deliberately use a word or phrase with two or more interpretations, one being the literal meaning and the other being sarcastic, figurative, or ironic. It is usually done to make the sentence sound humorous or clever.

Examples:

• “Local High School Dropouts Cut in Half.” – News Headline (Cut in Half means ‘the number of dropouts has reduced by 50%’ or ‘dropouts have been literally cut’.)

• “Marriage is the triumph of imagination over intelligence.” And “Second marriage is the triumph of hope over experience.” – Oscar Wilde (On one hand, the sentence means ‘You’re hopeful the marriage will go better this time’, on the other hand, it means ‘You’re ignoring your bad experience of first marriage, making you ironically foolish.”)

• “Is your refrigerator running?” “Then you better catch it!” (running means ‘functioning’ or ‘literally moving/running away’.)

Visual Puns

Also Read:

• Synonyms: Meanings & Practice Questions with Answers
• Types of Tenses
• Collective Nouns: Meaning & Types

Writing your own puns can be an interesting task if you know how to play with words skillfully. Let’s learn how to give wit or humor to a sentence and create a pun of our own.

1. First of all, select a word of your choice with more than one meaning, i.e., a homonym, or sounds like another word, i.e., homophones. For beginners, let’s take a word that we see in common phrases or idioms. For example, Jam.

JAM has two meanings:

1. A sweet fruit spread
2. Traffic congestion

2. Now, think of real-life situations where you can use each meaning in a sentence.

For example,

• Jam (fruit spread): You eat it with bread in the morning.
• Jam (traffic): You get stuck on the road while going to the office.

3. Try to make a sentence that uses the same chosen word and depicts both meanings, or surprises the reader/listener with a second meaning.

For example,

“I got stuck in a jam while making toast!”

4. After writing the pun, ensure that it makes literal and figurative sense and sounds witty or clever when interpreted differently.

For example: “I got stuck in a jam while making toast!”

• Literal Meaning: stuck in a traffic jam
• Figurative Meaning: stuck with too much jam on a toast

Tips:

• Keep it short and easy to read
• Make it funny or witty
• Make it unexpected
• Makes grammatical sense
• Ensure people get both meanings
• Not too forced

Examples of Puns:

Puns Worksheet

What do you think about idioms and puns? Are they the same or different? Well, the answer is neither yes nor no. Idioms and puns are closely related to each other.

On one hand, an idiom is a phrase used in everyday conversation with no literal meaning, but has a figurative meaning which somehow makes sense and is understood by people. Idioms are used to express one’s idea creatively.

Example: “Kick the bucket.”

• Literal Meaning: to physically kick the bucket.
• Figurative Meaning: to die

On the other hand, a pun is a form of wordplay that creates a joke or sarcasm by using words with multiple meanings or similar sounds.

Example: “I let the cat out of the bag – now I need a new shopping bag.”

• To reveal a secret
• A real cat escaping a real shopping bag.

Puns often use idioms as a base to create a witty sentence or dialogue. This means that idioms are not puns, but we can create puns from an idiom. To transform an idiom into a pun, words with different meanings are added to create humor.

Converting Idioms into Puns

Let’s convert some famous idioms into interesting puns:

Also Read:

Puns and wordplay are often confused as the same, which is not the actual case. Let’s understand how they are different from one another.

Examples of Puns in English

In the movie Kung Fu Panda, Master Oogway said, “One often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it.” In this line, both irony and expectations are expressed, which is a form of philosophical pun.

In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Mercutio said, “Ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man.” Here, the word ‘grave’ has two different meanings: ‘a burial place’ and ‘serious in nature’. This double meaning makes the line witty and tragic.

Examples of Wordplay in English

In the famous TV show F.R.I.E.N.D.S., Chandler Bing once said, “I’m not great at the advice. Can I interest you in a sarcastic comment?” Here, instead of offering advice, which is expected from people during emotional situations, Chandler offers sarcasm, totally changing the meaning in a witty way, making it a conversational wordplay.

Famous play ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ by Oscar Wilde revolves around the character Earnest (name), which is a wordplay on the word “Earnest”, meaning sincere. The play is a perfect example of wordplay with both humor and social satire.

Example of Puns

The following are the common mistakes we make while using Puns in a conversation and respective tips to avoid them:

1. Forceful use of wordplay

Wordplay should come naturally in a sentence. Twisting a sentence to make a pun out of it makes the sentence unclear, and the joke is ruined. Therefore, one must ensure that while conversing with someone, the pun comes naturally. Also, avoid using a pun if you are not sure whether or not it fits into the sentence.

2. Overuse of puns

Don’t try too hard to be funny by forcefully using puns in a short span. It can be annoying or lose the interest of the listener. To avoid this mistake, use puns only when it’s necessary to add humor to a conversation. Saying the right pun at the right time can only get a good laugh/reaction from others.

3. Use of puns in serious situations

Never use puns in emotional, sensitive, or professional conversations, as it seems disrespectful. Always read the room before using puns. Ensure to use a pun in light-hearted and informal settings.

4. Use of offensive puns

Some puns can sound inappropriate on sensitive topics like religion, race, gender, etc. Avoid using puns that can sound even slightly disrespectful. Do not try to be funny using puns with such topics, as it can hurt the feelings of the listener.

5. Use of complex puns

Some puns include complex vocabulary or cultural references that can be difficult to understand. People may not get these jokes. To avoid such an embarrassing situation, know your audience first and then use puns based on the listener’s interests.

Also Read: