Pun

Pun: A play on words that exploits multiple meanings or similar sounds for wit.

A pun makes one word do two jobs at once; writers from Shakespeare to tabloid subeditors use it to smuggle a second meaning into an innocent sentence.

Pun examples

• "Ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man."

  — Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare

• "Now is the winter of our discontent / Made glorious summer by this sun of York."

  — Richard III, Shakespeare

• "Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest hangs its whole plot on the pun between the name Ernest and the virtue earnest."

  — The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde

• "I used to be a banker, but I lost interest."

  — original example

Browse the full literary devices glossary or everywriting tool and word bank.