pun
Americannoun
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puns
plural
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the humorous use of a word or phrase so as to emphasize or suggest its different meanings or applications, or the use of words that are alike or nearly alike in sound but different in meaning; a play on words.
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the word or phrase used in this way.
verb (used without object)
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puns,
present (3rd person singular)
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punned,
past participle, past
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punning
present participle
verb
noun
verb
Usage
What is a pun? A pun is a humorous use of words with multiple meanings or words that sound similar but have different meanings, as in The gravekeeper buried the evidence under his desk. There are two ways to make a pun. The first involves using a word with more than one meaning to create humorous wordplay, as in The dentist put his assistants through some drills. A drill is both a tool a dentist uses and a training exercise. The second way is to use similar sounding words with different meanings to make humorous wordplay, as in The clown helped the children across the street. It was a kind jester. Here, jester, a type of clown, is used instead of the similar sounding gesture, meaning an action or a courtesy.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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punsimple
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punssimple
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have punnedperfect
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has punnedperfect
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am punningprogressive
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are punningprogressive
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is punningprogressive
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have been punningperfect progressive
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has been punningperfect progressive
Past
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punnedsimple
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had punnedperfect
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was punningprogressive
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were punningprogressive
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had been punningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of pun
First recorded in 1655–65; perhaps special use of pun, variant (now dialectal) of pound 1, in the sense “to mistreat (words)”
Compare meaning
How does pun compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
A pun is a play on words. If a bird flying overhead takes a poop on the cake you’re carrying, you could say “Isn’t that just the icing on the cake!” But only if you want to be punny. Friend of the double entendre and other witticisms, a pun is a comedic phrase that plays off of the sounds and double meanings of words. Puns can be quite clever, but often come off as silly, cheeseball attempts at humor. That's probably why any good comedian will tell you that "a pun is a short quip followed by a long groan."
Vocabulary lists containing pun
Literary Devices & Figures of Speech - Introductory
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Reading: Literature - Literary Devices & Figures of Speech - Middle School
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The AP English Exam: Rhetorical and Literary Terms 4
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
He is still building back his strength, no pun intended.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
That’s no longer true: A limited number of companies now drive most of its returns as they fuel the buildout of artificial intelligence, and an even smaller handful “chip” in the rest — pun intended.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 15, 2026
Maybe with “Cars” safely in the rearview mirror, and me having just exhausted my one bad pun per story with this sentence, Pixar can return to consistent greatness.
From Salon ● Jun. 6, 2026
But the Ashes hangover – pun intended – will linger over this England regime.
From BBC ● Jun. 3, 2026
An endless number of painfully dull classes have been rescued by a perfectly timed Cooley pun.
From "Thirteen Reasons Why" by Jay Asher
"I'm a physics teacher and I've got a terrible sense of humour," he confesses, so he particularly likes it if the students pick up on his fondness for corny puns.
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
Customers flipped out when they announced the sale, grilling the sisters — puns intended — about whether the restaurant would close.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 7, 2026
I’ll take it easy on the puns from here.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 7, 2026
Then there’s Deflategate, which involved underinflated balls and led to a suspension for Brady and some of the worst puns ever made.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 28, 2026
She doesn’t know anyone else yet, so she still thinks my puns are funny and my sketchbook is cool.
From "Clairboyance" by Kristiana Kahakauwila
Parton punned, adding, “That was such a baaad joke.”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 12, 2023
Perhaps the Anthropocene has already become an anthropomeme: punned and pimped into stuplimity, its presence in popular discourse often just a virtue signal that merely mandates the user to proceed with the work of consumption.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 1, 2016
He created sentences that punned with double meanings, and arranged elaborate pranks for his sister and friends — these often involved water balloons.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 8, 2014
Perhaps he still smarted at the “Joys and Sarris” subtitle of Kael’s 1963 screed; she had punned on a mispronunciation of his name, which rhymes with Harris, not Doris.
From Time ● Jun. 21, 2012
"My, what a rambunctious ram!" punned Roy; "he ramified all over, didn't he?"
From The Girl Aviators' Motor Butterfly by Margaret Burnham
For many years American Jewish writing seemed to be all about sons—sons launched from Chicago, Brooklyn and the Bronx, sons of overprotective mothers, comics punning on “the son also rises.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 18, 2025
It is left to directors to determine the size of the cast and to divide up Jelinek’s finely chiseled writing, which is by turns poetic, punning, allusive and philosophical.
From New York Times ● Apr. 29, 2024
Jean-Claude Van Damme’s Jean Clawed, Dolph Lundgren’s Svengeance and Danny Trejo’s Stronghold round out the punning group, whose lair is hidden beneath a record store cleverly called Criminal Records.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 28, 2022
That's not to say Passeportout is without humor as Verne clearly couldn't resist punning with that name.
From Salon ● Jan. 2, 2022
There were heraldic devices worked or stamped on the sides—enormous Mack eagles with two heads perhaps, or wyverns, or lances, or oak trees, or punning signs which referred to the names of the owners.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
