a pun is a type of play on words
A site-specific wordplay painting from Above in Lima, Peru, commenting on the cocaine crisis and exportation. Word play or wordplay is a literary technique and 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. Word play is quite common in oral cultures as a method of reinforcing meaning. Examples of visual orthographic and sound-based word play abound in both alphabetically and non-alphabetically written literature (e.g. Chinese). Word play can enter common usage as neologisms. Word play is closely related to word games; that is, games in which the point is manipulating words. See also language game for a linguist's variation. Anyone who has ever heard a knock-knock joke, a Little Mary or Tom Swifty story, or a daffynition of a common word, has experienced the sometimes groan-inducing form of humor known as a pun. Puns are not always meant to be humorous, but they are meant to be a clever play on words. A person who is fond of making puns is called a punster. (The punster, it has been said, is a person who enjoys hearing his friends groan.). See Examples and Observations below. Also see: 1  200 Store Name Puns. 2  Antanaclasis. 3  Antistasis. 4  Asteismus. 5  Charles Lamb on Puns. Pun Examples. Paronomasia or pun is a word play, exploiting different meanings of the same word or a string of words, or similar-sounding words. This article gives you different examples of puns. Advertisement. Definition. A pun is a play on words, either on different senses of the same word or on the similar sense or sound of different words. Known in rhetoric as paronomasia. Puns are figures of speech based on the inherent ambiguities of language. Different Types of Puns. There are different types of puns. Homographic puns make use of multiple meanings from a single spelling (e.g., pen for writing instrument or animal enclosure). These are also referred to as antanaclasis. Homophonic puns use like sounds but with different spellings and meanings. This is also referred to as polyptoton. Examples of homophones are scent and sent, jeans and genes, waive and wave, and buy and bye. 1 The Equivoque--A Special Type of Pun.  2 A special type of pun, known as the equivoque, is the use of a single word or phrase which has two disparate meanings, in a context which makes both meanings equally relevant. A type of word play wherein one word has two meanings or where similar-sounding words are exploited, is known as pun. This gives an ambiguity to the sentence, which is purposely added for a humorous or rhetorical effect. According to Ambrose Bierce, pun is A form of wit, to which wise men stoop and fools aspire.
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