What is a Pun? — Definition, Types, and Examples
What is a pun?
A pun (also known as paronomasia) is a usually humorous use of a word or phrase that manipulates the sound or spelling of words with multiple meanings.
The example below plays off of the sound of the word “denial.”
Denial is not just a river in Africa.
While the denial means declaring something untrue, the sound it makes (“da [the] Nile”) suggests a reference to the African river.
Puns typically serve two purposes: humor and concealment.
While many puns are considered by many the lowest form of humor or “dad jokes,” they help authors develop a playful tone.
Authors purposely create a light-hearted atmosphere through the wordplay and quips of puns to add comic relief, which provides commentary on an issue of their choosing.
In Disney’s Finding Nemo, the protagonist, Marlin, uses “fronds” (large leaf) and “anemones” (sea plant) in place of friends and enemies.
There was a mollusk and a sea cucumber. The sea cucumber walks over to the mollusk and says, ‘with fronds like these, who needs anemones?’
Puns also can conceal or hint at a speaker’s feelings while providing them with protection, as the figure of speech hides their true feelings.
At the start of the play, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, a cobbler (shoemaker) comments to one of Caesar’s supporters when asked about his occupation.
A trade, sir, that, I hope, I may use with a safe / conscience; which is, indeed, sir, a mender of bad soles.
The cobbler uses his occupation to identify his trade and to suggest that the character questioning him has a bad “soul” due to his support of Caesar.
Types of puns
There are five types of puns commonly used in mediums ranging from television and movies to literature and poetry. These types include homophonic, homographic, visual, compound, and recursive.
Homophonic puns
Homophonic puns use homophones (words that sound the same but have different spellings) to create a humorous punchline using their double meaning.
The pony couldn’t speak – he was a little hoarse.
The pun takes advantage of the homonyms horse and hoarse.
A pessimist’s blood type is always B-negative.
Pessimists are usually negative, so the pun doubles the blood type as a motto: “be negative.”
Homographic puns
Homographic puns use words that are spelled the same but have different meanings or pronunciations.
"Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana." – Groucho Marx
The pun includes "flies" as both a verb (to move through the air) and as a noun (flying insects).
I knew someone who collected candy canes – they were all in mint condition.
This pun plays off the word mint, meaning new or pristine, and mint as a typical flavor of candy canes.
Visual pun
Visual puns revolve around images rather than words. The image itself could be a visual representation of a pun or a contradiction created by a caption.
Image: An artist creates a picture describing a fork in the road; however, instead of having two roads branch off into different directions, a fork is literally placed in the road.
Caption: "Fork in Road"
Compound pun
Compound puns contain two puns within the same sentence.
The hares escaped from the backyard, so the family combed the area.
"Combed" means looking for the hares (rabbits) and combing hair.
The bakery burned down last night, so now the business is toast.
“Toast” means twice-baked bread and that something is ruined.
Recursive pun
Recursive puns consist of two parts. For a recursive pun to function properly, someone must understand the first part of the pun for the second part to make sense.
May the fourth be with you.
The pun requires knowledge of the phrase "may the force be with you" from Star Wars.
Pun examples
The following chart provides examples of puns by type:
| Type of Pun | Examples |
|---|---|
| Homophonic | • The past and future left the room – it was tense.
• The bicycles couldn't stand on their own – they were two-tired. • The musicians always fought – they were never in a chord. |
| Homographic | • “You can tune a guitar, but you can’t tuna fish. Unless of course, you play bass.” – Douglas Adams
• Without geometry, life is pointless. • He had a photographic memory, but it was never developed. |
| Visual | • Pumpkin with the pi symbol captioned "Pumpkin Pie"
• Door wearing clothes with the caption "Door Man" • Giant electric fan placed in a stadium with the caption "Biggest Fan" |
| Compound | • The jungle quiz is very fair – cheetahs are always spotted.
• I went to a dance party at the ocean, and I ended up pulling a mussel and floundered all night. |
| Recursive | • Steve: "I'm hungry."
Mike: "Hi hungry, I'm Mike." • Pumbaa: It's our motto. Young Simba: What's a motto? Timon: Nothing. What's a motto with you? |
Puns in literature
For centuries, authors have incorporated the use of puns. Some common examples include the following:
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare – lie (untruth) vs. lie (down):
Romeo: I dreamt a dream tonight.
Mercutio: And so did I.
Romeo: What was yours?
Mercutio: That dreamers often lie.
Romeo: In bed asleep – while they do dream things true.
Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll – tail vs. tale:
"Mine is a long and a sad tale!" said the Mouse, turning to Alice, and sighing.
"It is a long tail, certainly…but why do you call it sad?'
The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde – Earnest (name) vs. earnest (adjective):
"I have finally realized, for the very first time, the very importance of being Earnest."