Pun: meaning, definitions and examples

Used in casual conversations, jokes, or headlines to create a humorous effect by exploiting different meanings of words or homophones.

• Have you heard about the mathematician who’s afraid of negative numbers? He will stop at nothing to avoid them.
• I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me.

Used in writing styles like poetry, puns, and riddles to entertain or engage the audience by being clever with the language.

• The title of the book 'Life of Pi' is a play on words involving the mathematical term 'pi' and the protagonist’s name, Pi.
• In Alice in Wonderland, the Mock Turtle’s song is full of playful wordplay: ‘Will you, won’t you, will you, won’t you, will you join the dance?’

Used in creative writing, advertising, and conversations where the speaker wants to be clever by exploiting the multiple meanings of words or similar-sounding words.

• The furniture store keeps lumbering along, never missing a sale.
• Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.

Used in literature, comedy scripts, or everyday conversation to create humor or ambiguity by using a phrase that can be understood in two ways, often with one interpretation that is risqué or inappropriate.

• In the movie 'The Naked Gun,' the character says, 'Nice beaver,' while referring to a stuffed beaver the woman is holding.
• The chef gave her a hot dog, which had a double entendre meaning that could be taken in more than one way.

A pun is a humorous way of using a word so that more than one meaning is suggested. It's often used in casual conversations and in creative writing to add humor or wit.

• I went to a seafood disco last week... and pulled a mussel.
• Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.

A play on words is a form of wit in which the words that are used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement. This term is commonly used in both formal and informal settings to describe clever or amusing use of language.

• A bicycle can't stand on its own because it is two-tired.
• How do you organize a space party? You planet.

To make a wordplay joke means to create a joke that exploits the different meanings of a word or the fact that there are words that sound alike but have different meanings. This phrase is often used in a similar context as 'pun', especially in humorous writing or speech.

• Why don’t scientists trust atoms? Because they make up everything.
• Did you hear about the mathematician who’s afraid of negative numbers? He will stop at nothing to avoid them.