Puns & Double Meanings
📋 What it is
A pun is a joke built on a word that has two meanings (or two words that sound alike).
🗣️ Coach says
Puns are word-play in action. “I’m reading a book about anti-gravity — it’s impossible to put down.” “Put down” means both “stop reading” and “set on a table.” Spotting BOTH meanings is the whole joke.
🧠 Memory hook
A pun works because ONE word carries TWO meanings at once. Find both.
😲 Whoa!
Shakespeare loved puns — his plays contain thousands, and Elizabethan audiences prized clever wordplay the way we prize a good comeback today.
✅ Quick check: In “The math teacher went to jail — she had too many problems,” what’s the double meaning?
Say your answer out loud first — then reveal.
“Problems” means both math questions AND troubles in life; the pun lives in that one word.
A pun turns on a single word carrying two meanings simultaneously.
🧪 Try it! (2 minutes)
Find a word with two meanings (bark, bat, ring) and build a one-line pun around it.