A pun is a play on words, which usually exploits words with multiple meanings or a homonym substitute that changes a sentence's connotation for humorous or rhetorical effect. Though they have made prominent appearances in jokes and advertisements, you can also use puns in storytelling. In fact, William Shakespeare’s famous plays have a ton of them. In this article, we explore the various types of puns with examples that illustrate each of them.

Homophonic Pun

A homophonic pun pairs words with similar sounds but different meanings. According to Professor Walter Redfern, this pun "treats homonyms as synonyms" for humorous or rhetoric effect. For example, "The wedding was so emotional that even the cake was in tiers." In this example, the word tiers in "the cake was in tiers" takes the place of its homophone tears and changes the common phrase "in tears." Here is another example: "Yesterday, I bet the butcher that she couldn’t reach the meat on the top shelf. She refused to take my bet since the steaks were too high.” This expression depends on the auditory vagueness, which the homophones steaks and stakes present. 

Homographic Pun

While the homophonic pun depends on the spoken word the homographic pun achieves its effect when you read it. Here, you exploit words with similar spelling but different meanings. This pun may not follow grammatical rules and may not make sense if you interpret it out of context. A prominent example comes from Douglas Adams: "You can tune a guitar, but you can't tuna fish. Unless, of course, you play bass." Here, Adams exploits the homophonic nature of "tune a" and "tuna" and gives us a homographic pun with bass /beis/ (a string instrument) and bass /bæs/ (a kind of fish). Also, notice that the sentence, "you can't tuna fish" is grammatically incorrect.

Homonymic Pun

People often consider homonymic and homographic puns as the same, but they are obviously different. The latter exploits words with similar spelling but with distinct sounds. And the former exploits words with similar spellings and similar sounds. Here is a marvelous example of a homonymic pun, "What is the difference between a jeweler and a jailer? A jeweler sells watches. A jailer watches cells." Here, cells and sells form a homophonic pun. But "watches" belong to two different parts of speech and have different meanings. One is a timepiece, and the other is the act of monitoring. Here is another example, "Two silk worms had a race. It ended in a tie." This pun plays on the double meaning of tie; one refers to race with two contestants finishing in the same position, the other is neckwear made of silk.

Recursive Pun

Recursive pun requires understanding the first half of the pun to understand the second half. For example, "A pi is not a pie." Pi is a mathematical symbol, and a pie is a circle. Another example is, "A Freudian slip is when you say one thing but mean your mother.” A Freudian slip is a concept by Sigmund Freud, which explains gaffes made by a speaker who has something else in mind. In this case, the expression is in itself a Freudian slip because the speaker means "another" but says "your mother" — a possible reference to the Oedipus complex. 

Compound Pun

A compound pun occurs when an initial pun extends to include two or more puns. Often the puns that follow build upon the connotation of the initial pun. A famous example is a statement by Richard Whately: "Why can a man never starve in the Great Desert? Because he can eat the sand which is there. But what brought the sandwiches there? Why, Noah sent Ham, and his descendants mustered and bred." Here, "sand which is" and "sandwiches" share homophonic qualities and make up the first pun. Then it broadens to include Ham/ham, mustered/mustard and bred/bread, both referring to sandwich ingredients and the descendant of Noah who populated the Great Desert.