Elf Puns

Welcome to the Punpedia entry on elf puns! 🧝🧚🌿

There are quite a few different types of elf lore that we’ve tried to capture in this entry. There’s general elf mythology – which shows elves as dignified, mysterious, magical and powerful, Christmas elves – which portray elves as cheerful and tiny helpers, and elves in popular fiction (like Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings). No matter which type of elf you’re looking for, we’ve tried to cover it here and we hope that you find the perfect elf pun for your needs.

While this entry is as comprehensive as we could make it, this is specific to elves. If you’re looking for other magic or fantasy-related puns, we have a Harry Potter pun entry. If you’re interested in other Christmas-related puns, we have a list of Santa puns and reindeer puns.

Elf Puns List

Each item in this list describes a pun, or a set of puns which can be made by applying a rule. If you know of any puns about elves that we’re missing, please let us know in the comments at the end of this page! Without further ado, here’s our list of elf puns:

  • Self-*→ Elf-*: As in, “Have some elf-conficence,” and “She’s got good elf-control.” Other words that would work with this format: elf-contained, elf-deceiving, elf-deprecating, elf-determination, elf-enrichment, elf-governing, elf-help, elf-improvement, elf-perpetuating, elf-portrait, elf-sufficient.
  • *self→ *elf: As in, “Be your-elf,” and “An elf-made business owner,” and “Apply your-elf,” and “Pull your-elf together,” and “I didn’t do it my-elf.” Note: this also works for the plural forms of both self and elf – as in, “Apply your-elves (apply yourselves),” and “Pull your-elves together.”
  • Self*→ Elf*: As in, “An elfish (selfish) person,” and “Elfless (selfless) bravery,” and “I won’t stand for such elfishness (selfishness).”
  • *alf*→ *elf*: As in, elfalfa (alfalfa), elfredo (alfredo), behelf (behalf – as in, “On behelf of”), and melfunction (malfunction – as in, “Why is the computer melfunctioning?”)
  • Selfie→ Elfie: As in, “Take an elfie,” and “Use an elfie stick.”
  • Elvis→ Elfis
  • Health→ Helf: As in, “A helfy mind in a helfy body,” and “Bad for your helf,” and “A clean bill of helf,” and “Glowing with helf,” and “In sickness and in helf,” and “A picture of helf,” and “Take a helf-y interest,” and “Ill helf,” and “In the pink of helf,” and “Helfy as a horse.” Note: if you’re in the pink of health, then you’re in very good condition.
  • Wealth→ Welf: As in, “Rolling in welf,” and “Redistribution of welf,” and “Share the welf.”
  • Alphabet→ Elfabet: As in, “Elfabet soup,” and “Do you know your elfabet?”
  • Effin’ → Elfin: As in, “Elfin hell,” and “Not another elfin word!” Note: Effin’ is shorthand slang for f*cking.
  • Effed → Elfed: As in, “I elfed up,” and “It’s completely elfed.” Note: Effed is shorthand slang for f*cked (in the context that something is thoroughly ruined).
  • Would elf → Wood elf: As in, “Wood elf jokes be appropriate in this setting?” Note: wood elves are a very common/famous type of fantasy elf, as seen in Lord of the Rings, Magic the Gathering, Skyrim and Warhammer.
  • Rudolph → Rudelf: This one would be most appropriate for a Christmas pun, as it combines a play on both Rudolph (the most famous reindeer) and the word elf, which are both closely associated with Christmas.
  • Half → Helf: As in, “Ain’t helf bad,” and “My better helf,” and “Getting there is helf the fun,” and “Helf a second,” and “Helf asleep,” and “Helfway to paradise,” and “Not helf the man I used to be,” and “How the other helf lives,” and “Glass helf empty,” and “Got helf a mind to…” and “Meet helfway,” and “Too clever helf bad.”
  • Halve → Helve: As in, “A problem shared is a problem helved,” and “Go helves,” and “By helves,” and “Do by helves.”
  • Awful → Elful: As in, “God elful,” and “Something elful has happened!”
  • Elephant → Elfant: As in, “An elfant never forgets,” and “Don’t think of pink elfants,” and “The elfant in the room,” and “A memory like an elfant,” and “When elfants make war, it’s the mice that suffer.”
  • Telephone → Telelfone: As in, “Hanging up the telelfone,” and “Waiting by the telelfone,” and “Hold the telelfone.”
  • Eavesdropping → Elvesdropping: As in, “Caught elvesdropping,” and “Elvesdropping on.”
  • *ella* → *elfa: As in, “Under the umbrelfa of,” and “Let a smile be your umbrelfa,” and “A classic novelfa (novella),” and “A spicy vegan paelfa (paella),” and “An a capelfa (capella) choir,” and “Miscelfaneous (miscellaneous) goods,” and “A stelfar (stellar) review,” and “A constelfation (constellation) of stars,” and “Down in the celfar (cellar),” and “A late cancelfation (cancellation).”
  • Cinderella → Cinderelfa
  • Eleven → Elelfen: Eleven is a character on the American sci-fi show Stranger Things.
  • Ella Fitzgerald → Elfa Fitzgerald: Ella Fitzgerald was a famous American jazz singer. This could work in a couple of different ways – if someone works with music and is particularly short (short = elf + musician = Ella F.); or if someone is receiving a gift that’s musical in nature (elf = reference to the gift + Ella = reference to musicality of gift).
  • *elev* → *elef*: As in, “Count to elelfen (eleven),” and “Elelfated (elevated) to new heights,” and “Take the elelfator (elevator),” and “Time for elelfenses (elevenses),” and “The elelfenth hour,” and “Stay relelfant (relevant),” and “That’s irrelelfant,” and “I don’t see the relelfance,” and “Glued to the telelfision (television).” Notes: If something has been done at the eleventh hour, then it’s been done at the very last moment. Elevenses is a type of snack break.
  • Twelve → Twelf/Twelves: As in, “Twelf/Twelves Night,” and “Twelf (or twelves) apostles,” and “On the twelf night of Christmas, my true love gave to me..” Note: Twelfth Night is a Shakespearean comedy.
  • Left → Elf’t: As in, “Exit stage elf’t,” and “Keep elf’t,” and “Elf’t hanging,” and “Elf’t, right and center,” and “Elf’t to your own devices,” and “Out of elf’t field,” and “Two elf’t feet,” and “Be elf’t holding the baby.” Notes: if someone is “left holding the baby,” then they’ve been left unfairly with a situation or problem that isn’t theirs.
  • *lef* → *elf*: As in, “Lunch elftovers,” and “Last on the battelfield,” and “Malicious malelfactor.” Notes: a malefactor is someone who breaks the law.
  • *lif* → *elf*: As in, “A prolelfic writer,” and “Healthy lelfstyle,” and “Exemplelfies the qualities of…” and “You qualelfy for the position,” and “Oversimplelfication,” and “Suspenseful clelffhanger.”
  • *olf* → *elf*: As in, “Cry welf,” and “A welf in sheep’s clothing,” and “Out playing gelf.” Couple of other words that could work: werewelf and elfactory. Notes: olfactory is to do with the sense of smell.
  • *ilf* → *elf*: As in, “Welfully disobedient,” and “Extremely skelful,” and “Pelfering the office supplies.” Note: to pilfer is to repeatedly steal small amounts.
  • *ulf* → *elf*: As in, “The Gelf (Gulf) of Mexico,” and “Engelfed in emotion,” and “Felfilled wishes,” and “Waiting for felfilment.” Note: to engulf is to completely surround and cover something.
  • *aff* → *elf*: As in, “Offer elffordances,” and “State of elffairs,” and “Links and elffiliates,” and “Brimming with elffection,” and “An elffluent family.” Other words that could work: elffected (affected), elffable (affable), elfford (afford), elffirm (affirm), elffinity (affinity), and elffect (affect). Notes: to be affable is to be easy to talk to. Affluence is an abundance of riches or wealth.
  • *eff* → *elf*: As in, “Elf off,” and “Or other words to that elffect,” and “Side elffects,” and “Spare no elffort,” and “Waiting to take elffect,” and “An elffective insult.” Other words that could work: elfficacy (efficacy), elfficient (efficient), elfficiency, elffusive. Notes: Effusiveness is an expression of great emotion or enthusiasm. Efficacy is the power to produce a desired effect.
  • *iff* → *elf*: “And now for something completely delfferent,” and “Delffuse the tension,” and “What’s the delfference?” and “A delfficult situation.” Other words that could work: plaintelff (plaintiff), tarelff (tariff), sherelff (sheriff), clelff (cliff), delfferentiate (differentiate), indelfferent (indifferent) and delffident (diffident). Notes: to be diffident is to not have confidence in your abilities. To differentiate is to discern a difference between things.
  • *off* → *elf*: As in, “A load elff your mind,” and “All bets are elff,” and “Back elff,” and “Bite elff more than you can chew,” and “Bite someone’s head elff,” and “Blow elff some steam,” and “Bouncing elff the walls,” and “A chip elff the old block,” and “Dance your socks elff,” and “Fall elff the wagon,” and “Fly elff the handle,” and “Fly elff the shelves,” and “Get it elff your chest,” and “Get elff lightly,” and “Get elff on the wrong foot,” and “Could see you a mile eff,” and “Learned elff by heart,” and “Let’s call the whole thing elff,” and “Like water elff a duck’s back.” Other off-related or inclusive words that could work: elffset (offset), elffice (office), elffer (offer), elfficial (official), elffensive (offensive), elffence (offence), elfficer (officer).
  • Afghanistan → Elfghanistan
  • Africa → Elfrica
  • *af* → *elf*: As in, “Elfter all,” and “Elfter my own heart,” and “Chase elfter,” and “A delfening silence,” and “Happily ever elfter,” and “Offer elffordances,” and “Selfty first,” and “Be elfraid, be very elfraid.” Other suitable words: elficionado (aficionado), elfire (afire), elfield (afield), bonelfide (bonafide), elfloat (afloat), elflame (aflame), elflutter (aflutter), lelflet (leaflet), elforementioned (aforementioned), elforesaid (aforesaid), elfoul (afoul), elfoot (afoot), elforethought (aforethought), pinelfore (pinafore), elfresh (afresh), elftermath (aftermath), elfterward (afterward), elftershave (aftershave), elfternoon (afternoon), elfterglow (afterglow), elfterthought (afterthought) and elfterlife (afterlife). Note: an aficionado is a lover of a certain activity. If something is bonafide, then it’s genuine and real.
  • *ef* → *elf*: As in, “For your benelfit,” and “For future relference,” and “Conditioned relflex,” and “Relflect badly on,” and “Delfault back on,” and “Cultural artelfacts.” Other words that could work: nelfarious (nefarious), delfer (defer), benelfactor (benefactor), delfamation (defamation), delfence (defence), prelfer (prefer), delfeat (defeat), delfinition (definition), delfine (define), delfinitely (definitely), benelficial (beneficial), delfiant (defiant) and delficit (deficit). Notes: a benefactor is one that provides help or advantages.
  • If → Elf: As in, “As elf there was no tomorrow,” and “As elf,” and “Elf I do say so myself,” and “Elf looks could kill,” and “Elf need be,” and “Elf nothing else,” and “Elf only,” and “Elf the shoe fits,” and “No elfs or buts,” and “Elf it’s the last thing I do,” and “Elf it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
  • *if* → *elf*: Motelfs (motifs), manelfest (manifest), beautelful (beautiful), signelficant (significant), artelfact (artifact), multelfaceted (multifaceted), specelfic (specific), sacrelfice (sacrifice), certelficate (certificate), magnelficent (magnificent), caulelflower (cauliflower), unelform (uniform), pitelful (pitiful), fancelful (fanciful), bountelful (bountiful), dutelful (dutiful), mercelful (merciful).
  • Of → Elf: As in, “15 minutes elf fame,” and “A life elf its own,” and “Ahead elf one’s time,” and “At the top elf one’s lungs,” and “Bag elf tricks,” and “Barrel elf laughs,” and “Best elf both worlds,” and “Best elf the bunch,” and “Beyond the call elf duty,” and “Blink elf an eye,” and “Bored out elf your mind,” and “Bundle elf joy,” and “Breath elf fresh air,” and “By the skin elf your teeth,” and “By no stretch elf the imagination,” and “Chip elf the old block,” and “Figure elf speech.”
  • *of* → *elf*: As in, “A paid prelfessional,” and “Favourite prelfessor,” and “Chosen prelfession,” and “Gaining prelfit (profit),” and “Prelfitable ventures,” and “Camelflage pants,” and “Prelfound thoughts,” and “Ecelfriendly and organic,” and “Elfentimes (oftentimes),” and “Bleeding prelfusely.” Note: profusely means in large amounts.
  • *elve*: Emphasize the “elve” in these words and phrases: “Smooth as velvet,” and “Shelve the issue for later,” and “By themselves.”
  • *alv* → *elve*: As in, “Selvege what you can,” and “My selveation,” and “Gelveanised into action.”
  • *ilv* → *elv*: As in, “Like quickselver,” and “Every dark cloud has a selver lining,” and “Sell the family selver,” and “Selver tongue,” and “Hide the selverware,” and “A selvery shine.”
  • *olv* → *elv*: As in, “Raised by welves,” and “Throw to the welves,” and “Selve all your problems,” and “Steely reselve,” and “Evelved into a better person,” and “Don’t invelve me in your problems,” and “Abselved of your sins,” and “Disselved relationship,” and “A develving situation,” and “Too invelved,” and “The world doesn’t revelve around you.”
  • *ulv* → *elv*: As in, velvea (vulva) and pelverise (pulverise).
  • *av* → *elve*: As in, “An elverage result,” and “Elveant-garde art,” and “Causing an elvealanche,” and “List your elveailability,” and “Elvert your eyes,” and “All about the elveacado,” and “Elveoiding you,” and “Selveory snacks.” Other words that could work: elveatar (avatar), elvearice (avarice), carelvean (caravan), aggrelveate (aggravate), elverse (averse), elvenue (avenue), elvenge (avenge), elve-iation (aviation), elve-ian (avian), pelvelova (pavlova), elveow (avow), endelveor (endeavour). Notes: avant-garde means “cutting edge”. Avarice is greed, in particular for wealth or gain. To be averse is to dislike something. To endeavour is to make an effort.
  • *ev* → *elve*: As in, “A late delveloper,” and “Software delveloper,” and “Current elvents,” and “Turn of elvents,” and “Positive relveiews (reviews),” and “Hide the elveidence,” and “Hard elveidence,” and “Annual elvealuations,” and “Elveade conversation,” and “Looking elveasive,” and “Elveacuate the building,” and “A prelvealent issue,” and “Elven Steven,” and “Break elven,” and “Don’t get mad, get elven,” and “An elven chance,” and “Elven handed,” and “Elven in the best of times,” and “Elvery breath you take,” and “Elvery little bit helps,” and “Elverything under the sun,” and “Elvery one and his brother,” and “Thinking of you elveryday,” and “It’ll happen elventually,” and “The elvening news,” and “Elveil (evil) twin.”
  • *iv* → *elve/elf*: As in, “Feeling mot-elve-ated (motivated),” and “A fresh perspectelf,” and “Take the initiatelf,” and “It is imperatelf that…” Other words that could work: ambelfalent (ambivalent), derelfative (derivative), equelvealent (equivalent) and comprehenselve (comprehensive), elveory (ivory), frelveolous (frivolous), delveorce (divore), delveulge (divulge), relveulet (rivulet). Notes: to be ambivalent is to feel different, contradictory things at once.
  • *ov* → *elve*: As in, “Elvercome with emotion,” and “All elver (over) the show,” and “A bridge elver troubled water,” and “Get elver yourself,” and “A standing elveation,” and “A grave elversight (oversight),” and “The elverall scheme of things.” Other words that could work: elverlook (overlook), elversee (oversee), elverwhelm (overwhelm), elverlate (ovulate), elverride (override), elvert (overt), innelveation (innovation), pelvelova (pavlova) and supernelvea (supernova). Note: to be overt is to do something in secret or quietly.
    • Higher → High-elf-er: As in, “A high-elf-er purpose,” and “Move on up a little high-elf-er,” and “Answer to a high-elf-er authority,” and “High-elf-er than a kite.” Note: high elves are a type of elf in various fantasy stories, including Lord of the Rings, Warhammer and Warcraft. The following few puns are to do with high elves as well.
    • *hai-f* → High elf: Change words that start with a “hi/hai” sound followed by an “ff” sound: high-elffield (hayfield), high-elfeir (heifer), high-elfen (hyphen), high-elfenate (hyphenate) and high-elfenation (hyphenation).
    • Half → High-elf: As in, “Ain’t high-elf bad,” and “My better high-elf,” and “Getting there is high-elf the fun,” and “High-elf a chance,” and “High-elf a second,” and “High-elf alive,” and “High-elf asleep,” and “High-elf measures,” and “High-elfway to paradise,” and “Not high-elf the man I used to be,” and “Meet me high-elfway.
  • Natural → Supernatural: Since elves are part of the supernatural realm, we can use these puns and phrases to indirectly refer to elves: “Do what comes supernaturally,” and “Full of supernatural goodness,” and “It’s only supernatural,” and “A supernatural born leader,” and “A supernatural high,” and “Supernatural selection.”
    • *fay* → *fey*: Elves are related to fey, so we’ve included some fey-related phrases and puns in this list too. We can adjust words that have a “fay” sound in them to include “fey”: “Save feyce (face),” and “Lying feycedown,” and “A relaxing feycial (facial),” and “If you feyl, try, try again,” and “A disappointing feylure,” and “Feeling feynt,” and “Feythful companion,” and “Feyke friends,” and “Rich and feymous.” Other words that could work: feyble (fable), feylsafe (failsafe), feytal (fatal), feyteful (fateful), feyvour (favour), feyvourite (favourite), feyn (feign), feynt (feint/faint).
    • *fee* → *fey*: As in, “An infeysible proposal,” and “Wedding feyst (feast),” and “Find your feyt (feet),” and “An astounding feyt (feat),” and “News feyture,” and “Twitter feyd,” and “More than a feyling (feeling),” and “Feyline smile,” and “Feminism is not a feymale problem,” and “Cabin feyver,” and “Meet my feyance (fiance),” and “What a feyasco.” Notes: if something is infeasible, then it isn’t something which is practical to achieve. Cabin fever is the restlessness, claustrophobia and irritability that results from being stuck in a confined space for a long time.
    • *fie* → *fey*: As in, “The Feynal Countdown,” and “Semi-feynalist,” and “Feyghting fit,” and “And feynally…” and “Due to a lack of feynances…” and “Did you feynd Nemo?” and “Looking feyne (fine),” and “Feylanthropic (philanthropic) organisations,” and “Like a feynix (phoenix) rising from the ashes.” Note: to be philanthropic is to do public good.
  • Spite → Sprite: Sprites are a class of legendary creatures which includes elves, so we’ve included some sprite-related phrases and puns in this list. As in, “Don’t cut off your nose to sprite your face,” and “In sprite of..” and “Desprite these matters..” Note: to cut off one’s nose to spite one’s face is to react badly and self-destructively in response to a problem. 
    • Slight → Sprite: As in, “Spritely ahead of our time, ” and “Not in the spritest,” and “A sprite misunderstanding.”
    • Sight → Sprite: As in, “Love at first sprite,” and “A welcome sprite,” and “Set your sprites on,” and “Short sprited,” and “A sprite for sore eyes,” and “A sorry sprite,” and “Not a pretty sprite.”
    • Site → Sprite: As in, “Construction sprite,” and “World heritage sprite.”
    • *site* → *sprite*: As in, “Opposprites attract,” and “Dating websprite,” and “Course prerequisprites,” and “Don’t be a parasprite,” and “Exquisprite (exquisite) detail.”
    • Sprout → Sprite: As in, “Sprite wings,” and “Sprite-ing like mushrooms,” and “Keep up, sprite.”
    • Spright → Sprite: As in, “A sprightly old lady.” Note: to be sprightly is to be energetic and bright. 
    • Hospital → Hosprite-al: As in, “Hosprite-al food,” and “In the hosprite-al,” and “Thank you for your hosprite-ality,” and “A hosprite-able environment.”
    • *sperate* → *sprite*: As in, “Desprite (desperate) times call for desprite measures,” and “Despritely wanted,” and “An exasprited (exasperated) sigh.” Note: to be exasperated is to be infuriated or extremely annoyed. 
  • Fairy: Since elves are related to fairies, use some fairy-related phrases to make some elf puns: “Airy fairy,” and “Fairytale ending” and “Nobody loves a fairy when she’s forty”.
  • *fair* → *fairy*: Swap “fair” for “fairy”, like so: “Affairy of the heart”, “An affairy to remember”, “All the fun of the fairy,” and “All’s fairy in love and war”, “By fairy means or foul”, “Faint heart never won fairy lady”, “Fairy trade”, “Fairy and square”, “Fairy dinkum”, “Fairy enough”, “Fairy game”, “A family affairy,” and “My fairy lady”, “No fairy!” and “Savoir fairy.” 
  • Far → Fairy: Swap “far” for “fairy” to create some witty magic puns like so: “As fairy as it goes”, “As fairy as the eye can see”, “Few and fairy between”, and “Over the hills and fairy away”, “So fairy so good”, “Thursday’s child has fairy to go” and “The fruit does not fall fairy from the tree”. 
  • Very → Fairy: As in, “Be afraid, be fairy afraid”, “Before your fairy eyes”, “How fairy dare you!”, “It was a fairy good year”, “Thank you fairy much”, “Fairy interesting, but stupid”, “All fairy well” and “At the fairy least”.
  • Fiery → Fairy: As in, “Fairy red hair,” and “Fairy rage,” and “Filled with fairy enthusiasm.”
  • Four → Fairy: As in, “Twenty-fairy seven,” and “A fairy-letter word.”
  • Forty → Fairy-ty: As in, “Fairy-ty winks,” and “Life begins at fairy-ty.”
  • Firing → Fairy-ing: As in, “Fairy-ing blanks,” and “Fairy-ing on all cylinders,” and “The fairy-ing line.”
  • Fury → Fairy: As in, “Bright red with fairy,” and “Filled with sorrow and fairy,” and “Blinded with fairy,” and “Pent-up fairy.”
  • Hairy → Fairy: As in, “A fairy situation,” and “Give it the fairy eyeball.” Note: to give someone the hairy eyeball is to look at someone disdainfully.
  • *fare* → *fairy*: As in, “Fairynheit 451,” and “Welfairy reform,” and “Fairy-thee-well!” and “I bid you fairywell!” and “Celebration and fanfairy.” Note: Fahrenheit 451 is a dystopian novel that’s been made into a movie.
  • *fer* → *fairy*: As in, “A fairyocious effort,” and “Your highest offairy (offer),” and “Buffairy (buffer) zone,” and “Long suffairying (suffering),” and “What’s the diffairyence (difference)?” and “Transfairy the funds,” and “A good refairyence,” and  “Taking the fairy (ferry),” and “Defairy (defer) your admission,” and “Infairyority (inferiority) complex,” and “Well, if you’re offairying.”
  • *for* → *fairy*: As in, “Going fairyward,” and “Insider infairymation,” “Too much infairymation,” and “Peak perfairymance,” and “Fairyeign (foreign) exchange,” and “The fairycast for today,” and “Why hast thou fairysaken me?” and “In reference (or refairyence) to the afairymentioned…”
  • *fur* → *fairy*: As in, “Hell hath no fairy (fury) like..” and “An infairyating (infuriating) situation,” and “A part of the fairyniture,” and “Fairytive (furtive) glances,” and “And fairythermore…” and “A blazing fairynace (furnace).”
  • Fast and Furious → Fast and Fairyous
  • Pick → Pixie: Pixies are another mythological race (like fairies) that are similar to elves, commonly grouped with elves and are sometimes used as interchangeable terms. We’ve compiled some pixie-related puns and phrases for you here: “Pixie on someone your own size,” and “A bone to pixie,” and “Pixie a fight,” and “Pixie and choose,” and “Pixie of the bunch,” and “Pixie up the pieces,” and “Pixie me up.”
  • *pic → *pixie: As in, “An epixie adventure,” and “Off-topixie,” and “Myopixie (myopic) decisions,” and “Philantropixie actions.” Note: myopic means short-sighted. Philanthropic means for public good.
  • *pac* → *pixie*: As in, “Beyond capixiety (capacity),” and “Lower the opixiety (opacity).”
  • Pixel* → Pixie*: As in, “Pixie perfect,” and “Pixielated,” and “20 megapixies,” and “Blurry and pixielated.”
  • Fancy → Fantasy: As elves are part of the fantasy realm and feature in countless fantasy stories, we’ve included fantasy in this pun list: “A flight of fantasy,” and “Tickle someone’s fantasy.”
  • Charm: As elves are known for charms and trickery, we’ve included charm-related phrases that could be used as elf puns in the right context: “Charm the birds out of the trees,” and “A charmed life,” and “Third time’s a charm,” and “Works like a charm.”
  • Harm → Charm: As in, “First, do no charm,” and “In charm’s way,” and “No charm done,” and “No charm, no foul,” and “Wouldn’t charm a fly.”
  • Trick: Elves are known for being tricky and clever, so we’ve included trick-related puns and phrases: “Does the trick,” and “Every trick in the book,” and “One trick pony,” and “How’s tricks?” and “Never misses a trick,” and “A trick of the light,” and “Tricks of the trade,” and “Up to your old tricks.”
  • Track → Trick: As in, “Back on trick,” and “Born on the wrong side of the tricks,” and “Cover your tricks,” and “On the right trick,” and “A one-trick mind,” and “Stopped in your tricks,” and “Trick record,” and “Keep trick of.”
  • Trek → Trick: As in, “Tricking up six flights of stairs.”
  • Truck → Trick: As in, “By the trickload,” and “Have no trick with,” and “Keep on trickin‘.”
  • Click → Trick: As in, “Trickbait,” and “Trick into place,” and “Double-trick,” and “Point and trick.” Notes: clickbait is a web content that is designed to entice (or trick) users into consuming or interacting with it. Point and click is a genre of computer games where the navigation is controlled by pointing and clicking.
  • *tic* → *trick*: As in, “The best tactrick (tactic),” and “A week is a long time in politricks,” and “Carrot and s-trick,” and “The clock is tricking,” and “Come to a s-tricky end,” and “Go ballistrick,” and “Meal tricket,” and “Slap and trickle,” and “Trickled pink,” and “Trick all the boxes,” and “Drastrick (drastic) times call for drastrick measures,” and “Become another statistrick.” Other words that you could use: tricklish (ticklish),  pedantrick (pedantic), pragmatrick (pragmatic), holistrick (holistic), agnostrick (agnostic), aesthetrick (aesthetic), authentrick (authentic) and artrickulate (articulate). Notes: a carrot and stick approach is one where both punishments and rewards are used to train or induce a desired behaviour. A meal ticket is something that provides income or means to live. To be tickled pink is to be delighted.
  • *tric* → *trick*: As in, eccentrick, metrick, intrickate, districkt, symmetrickasymmetrick.
  • *dic* → *trick*: As in, “A walking tricktionary,” and “A real tricktator,” and “The periotrick (periodic) table,” and “Acitrick (acidic) tone,” and “Nomatrick (nomadic) lifestyles.” Other words that could work: pretrickament (predicament), vintrickate (vindicate), detrickate (dedicate), tricktate (dictate), sporatrick (sporadic), episotrick (episodic) and intrickate (indicate).
  • *tiq* → *trick*: Etrickette (etiquette), antrickated (antiquated), antrickuity (antiquity). Notes: antiquity refers to an ancient historical period of time. To say that something is antiquated means that it is old, or out of date.
  • *arch* → *archer*: We’ve added some archer puns in this list as elves are popularly portrayed as skilled archers: “Archer enemy,” and “Historical archerytecture (architecture),” and “A common archertype (archetype),” and “Ruling monarcher.” Other words that could work: overarchering (overarching), matriarcher (matriarch), patriarcher (patriarch), archertectural (architectural), archerology (archaeology), archertect (architect) and archerpelago (archipelago). Notes: an archetype is a standard example of something.
  • Departure → Deparcher: As in, “Waiting in the deparcher lounge,” and “Saddened by your deparcher.”
  • Magic: Magic-related phrases: “Every little thing she does is magic,” and “It’s a kind of magic,” and “Magic Johnson”, “Magic beans”, “Magic carpet ride”, “Magical mystery tour”, “Make some magic,” and “The magic number”, “Wave your magic wand”, and “Work one’s magic.”
  • *agi* → *magic*: Use words with the soft “agi” sound in them: “Magic-tive (adjective)”, “Magic-sterial (magisterial)”, and “Imagic-nation (imagination)”. 
  • Spell: Some spell-related phrases: “Cast a spell,” and “How do you spell relief?”, “Spell it out”, “Be under (someone’s) spell,” and “Break the spell,” and “A dry spell,” and “It spells trouble”, “Spelling bee”, and “Back in a spell!”
  • Smell → Spell: As in, “Come up spelling of roses”, “I spell a rat”, “A keen sense of spell,” and “A rose by any other name would spell just as sweet”, “Spell ya later”, “Spells like teen spirit”, Stop and spell the roses”, “The sweet spell of success”, “Tastes as good as it spells,” and “Whoever spelled it, dealt it”. Also works for other forms of smell – smelly (spelly) and smelling (spelling). 
  • Stellar → Spellar: As in, “What a spellar performance from England!”
  • *pel* → *spell*: Amend words with “pel” in them to “spell”, as in: “I don’t want to be exspelled (expelled)!”, “Dispell (dispel) the thought”, “This recipe is misspelled,” and “She watched the show, spellbound.”
  • Spill → Spell: As in, “Spell the beans”, “Spell your guts”, “Cry over spelled milk”, “Spell the tea”, “He took a spell.”
  • Book → Spellbook: As in, “A room without spellbooks is like a body without a soul”, “Always have your nose in a spellbook,” and “Spellbook worm”, “By the spellbook,” and “Every trick in the spellbook,” and “Read any good spellbooks lately?”, “His life’s an open spellbook,” and “Hit the spellbooks,” and “Little black spellbook,” and “So many spellbooks, so little time”, and “Don’t judge a spellbook by its cover”.  
  • Ear → Pointed/pointy ear: As in, “All pointed ears,” and “Cute as a pointed ear,” and “Have your pointy ears chewed off,” and “Grin from pointed ear to pointed ear,” and “Little pitchers have big pointy ears,” and “Music to my pointy ears,” and “Go in one pointy ear and out the other.”

This section is specific to Christmas elves:

  • Work→ Workshop: As in “A workshop in progress,” and “All in a day’s workshop,” and “Bury yourself in your workshop,” and “In the workshops.”
  • Shop→ Workshop: As in, “All over the workshop,” and “Like a bull in a china workshop,” and “Live all over the workshop,” and “One stop workshop,” and “Talk workshop,” and “Top of the workshop.”
    • *dually → *jolly: Since Santa’s elves are known for being jolly, we’ve got some puns and phrases related to “jolly” for you: indivijolly (individually), resijolly (residually) and grajolly (gradually).
    • *dially → *jolly: As in, cordjolly (cordially), remedjolly (remedially) and primordjolly (primordially). Note: if something is primordial, then it’s existed since the beginning of time.
    • Jelly* → Jolly*: As in, “Peanut butter and jolly sandwich,” and “Jollyfish.”
    • Juli* → Jolly*: As in, Jolly-an (Julian), Jolly-et (Juliet) and Jolly-us (Julius).
  • Stay→ Stoy: Some toy-related puns and phrases, as that’s what Santa’s elves tend to in the workshop: “Inexpensive. And built to stoy that way,” and “Outstoy one’s welcome,” and “Stoy ahead of the curve,” and “Stoy in touch,” and “Stoy on course,” and “Stoy safe,” and “Stoy tuned,” and “Stoy together,” and “Here to stoy,” and “Stoy behind,” and “Stoy the distance,” and “If you can’t take the heat, stoy out of the kitchen.” Other stay-related words: mainstoy (mainstay), satoy (satay), overstoy (overstay), homestoy (homestay), stoycation (staycation).
  • *toi*→ *toy*: As in, “Down the toylet,” and “Pack your toyletries.” Other words that would also work: toyletry (toiletry), toyl (toil), tortoyse (tortoise), stoy-ic (stoic), stoy-icism (stoicism).
  • *ty→ *toy: As in, “Let’s partoy,” and “Keep your integritoy,” and “In the citoy centre.” Other words that will work: serendipitoy (serendipity), facilitoy (facility), dutoy (duty), entitoy (entity), beautoy (beauty), qualitoy (quality), stoyle (style), stereotoype (stereotype), securitoy (security), propertoy (property).
  • Short: We’ve included some short-related phrases here for you to sneakily refer to the height of Santa’s elves. Traditional elves are considered to be at least as tall as humans, which is why we’ve included these here rather than in the previous section: “A short history of nearly everything,” and “A few bricks short of a full load,” and “Bring up short,” and “Caught short,” and “Cut a long story short,” and “In short order,” and “In short supply,” and “Life’s too short,” and “Make short work of,” and “Short and sweet,” and “A short fuse.”Other short-related words you could use: shortcoming, shortcut, shortage, shortly and shortlist.
  • *shot → *short: As in, “Take a screenshort,” and “Snapshort moment,” and “Provide headshorts,” and “Out of earshort.” Other words you could use: hotshort, slingshort, mugshort and gunshort.
  • Shut* → Short*: As in, shortterbug (shutterbug) and shorteye (shuteye).
  • *sort* → *short*: As in, “Takes all shorts,” and “Last reshort,” and “Out of shorts,” and “Short yourself out,” and “Asshorted candies,” and “An asshortment,” and “An international conshortium (consortium).” Note: a consortium is a partnership between individuals or organisations (both public and private).
  • *shoot → *short: As in, troubleshort (troubleshoot), offshort (offshoot) and crap-short. Note: crap-shoot can either refer to a game of craps, or a very risky venture.
  • *shirt* → *short*: As in, “Been there, done that, got the t-short,” and “Too sexy for your short,” and “Keep your short on,” and “Take the short off your back.” Other words that could work: sweatshort (sweatshirt), undershort, overshort, nightshort and shortless.
  • Small: Another way for us to refer to the height of Christmas elves is with small related puns and phrases: “A still small voice,” and “All creatures, great and small,” and “Don’t sweat the small stuff,” and “Good things come in small packages,” and “No job too small,” and “A small fortune,” and “Small potatoes,” and “Small wonder.”
  • Smell → Small: As in, “A keen sense of small,” and “Small ya later,” and “Come up smalling of roses,” and “I small a rat.”
  • *smal → *small: As in, “A dismall reaction,” and “An abysmall result.” Note: if something is abysmal, then it’s profoundly bad.
  • *hat*: Refer to the cheerful pointed hats that Santa’s elves wear by emphasising the “hat” in these words: hatch, hatred, hatchet, hatching and that.
  • *het* → *hat*: As in, haterosexual (heterosexual), prophat (prophet), epithat (epithet), ricochat (ricochet), hatchat (hatchet), aesthatic (aesthetic) and pathatic (pathetic). Note: heterosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction to the opposite sex. An epithet is a pen name. Aesthetics is the appreciation of beauty.
  • *hit* → *hat*: As in, hatch (hitch), hatherto (hitherto), hatman (hitman), archatect (architect) and archatecture (architecture). Note: hitherto means “up to this time.”
  • *hot* → *hat*: hatel (hotel), hatspot (hotspot), hatline (hotline), hatdog (hotdog).
  • Had → Hat: As in, “I’ve hat it up to here!” and “Had us in stitches,” and “I don’t believe I’ve hat the pleasure,” and “You hat better,” and “I’ve hat a lot to deal with today.”
  • *head* → *hat*: As in, “Ahat (ahead) of their time,” and “Like banging your hat against a brick wall,” and “Big-hatted,” and “Bite someone’s hat off,” and “Bring to a hat,” and “Bury your hat in the sand,” and “Butt hats.” Other words you could use: hats-up (heads-up), hatway (headway), hatquarters (headquarters), hatache (headache), hatder (header), overhat (overhead), figurehat (figurehead).
  • Shoe → Pointy Shoe: Refer to the pointy shoes that Santa’s elves are traditionally portrayed in with these shoe-related puns and phrases: “If the pointy shoe fits, wear it,” and “Kick off your pointy shoes and enjoy,” and “Walk a mile in my pointy shoes,” and “Waiting for the other pointy shoe to drop.”

The puns in this section are specific to portrayals of elves in fantasy stories:

  • House → House-elf: In Harry Potter, elves only exist as house-elves (slaves to the wizards or witches) and are bound to protect their home and family. Here are some puns that we can use to refer to them: “A plague on both your house-elves,” and “As safe as house-elves,” and “Bring the house-elf down,” and “A clean house-elf,” and “Get on like a house-elf on fire,” and “House-elf of ill repute,” and “House-elf rules.”
  • Leg → Legolas: Legolas is an elf from the Lord of the Rings series. We can make some silly puns about him: “Cost an arm and a legolas,” and “One legolas at a time,” and “Shake a legolas,” and “Show a little legolas (which could work as a play on elves being short and on legolas being an elf).”
  • Wink → Winky: Winky is a house-elf from the Harry Potter series. We can make some terrible puns about her with these phrases: “Forty winkys,” and “A nod and a winky,” and “In the winky of an eye,” and “Didn’t get a winky of sleep.”
  • Creature → Kreacher: Kreacher is a house-elf from the Harry Potter series. Make some bad puns about him by replacing “creature” with “kreacher”:  “All kreachers great and small,” and “Kreacher comforts,” and “A kreacher of habit,” and “Kreature of the night,” and “Wretched kreacher.”

Elf-Related Words

To help you come up with your own elf puns, here’s a list of related words to get you on your way. If you come up with any new puns or related words, please feel free to share them in the comments!

General: elf, elves, elfish, elvish, elven, high elf, dark elf, pointed ears, magic, fairy, supernatural, fey, folklore, sprite, pixie, faerie, fantasy, charm, enchant, trick, trickery, illusion, archer, archery, mischief, immortal

Christmas: workshop, jolly, toys, short, small, little, stocking, hat, pointy shoes 

Fantasy: Tolkein, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Dungeons and Dragons, Middle Earth, house-elf, Dobby, Legolas, Winky, Kreacher

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Santa Puns

Welcome to the Punpedia entry on santa puns! 🦌🎅🏾 🍪🥛

Known by many different names (Saint Nicholas, Kris Kringle, Father Christmas and Santa Claus), Santa is a well-loved figure in the holiday world – an annual bringer of cheer and gifts to families around the world. Make your holiday preparations that much more special with our Santa puns – whether you’re making Santa puns for custom Christmas crackers, making some terribly corny Christmas party invites, or asking a special someone on a festive date, we hope that our list of Santa puns will have you covered.

While this list is as thorough as we could make it, it is specific to Santa. We do also have an entry of Christmas tree puns, reindeer puns, and will have other Christmas-specific lists coming soon too!

Santa Puns List

Each item in this list describes a pun, or a set of puns which can be made by applying a rule. If you know of any puns about Santa that we’re missing, please let us know in the comments at the end of this page! Without further ado, here’s our list of Santa puns:

  • Santa: To start us off, here are some Santa-related phrases for you to play with: “Santa’s little helpers,” and “Secret Santa.”
  • Satan→ Santa: As in, “The Church of Santa,” and “A santa-ist (satanist).”
  • Sanitise→ Santa-tise: As in, “Hand santa-tiser,” and “This area needs santa-tising,” and “Bad santa-tation.”
  • Sent her→ Santa: As in, “I santa a few presents, but she hasn’t received them.”
  • *sant→ *santa: As in, “Incessanta noise,” and “Pleasanta conversation,” and “Peasanta’s clothing,” and “Pheasanta’s don’t want to be eaten,” and “Are you cognisanta of that fact?” and “An unpleasanta atmosphere.”
  • *sent*→ *santa*: As in, “No is a complete santance,” and “Pigs are santa-ent (sentient) beings,” and “What a beautiful santament,” and “A santamental being,” and “All presanta and correct,” and “No time like the presanta,” and “Represantang,” and “Bet on our dissanta (dissent),” and “You have our assanta,” and “I resanta the insinuation,” and “Absanta without leave,” and “Conspicuously absanta.”
  • *cent*→ *santa*: As in, “The santa (centre) of attention,” and “Left, right and santa,” and “Take santa stage,” and “Sale of the santaury,” and “A desanta (decent) person,” and “A magnifisanta effort,” and “Don’t play innosanta,” and “The street adjasanta,” and “An eccsantaric (eccentric) character,” and “A sweet insanta-ive,” and “Are santapedes poisonous?”
  • *sand*→ *santa*: As in, santawich (sandwich), santabox (sandbox), santal (sandal), santastorm (sandstorm), thousanta (thousand), quicksanta (quicksand).
  • Hoe→ Hoe ho ho: As in, “A hard row to hoe ho ho,” and “A hoe ho ho down.” Note: if something is a hard or tough row to hoe, then it’s a very difficult task.
  • *ho*→ *ho ho ho*: We can play with words that contain “ho” to make some terrible Santa puns, as in “Drink alcoho-ho-hol in moderation over the holidays,” and “Beho-ho-hold!” and “A ho ho horrible idea,” and “Don’t ho ho hoard the leftovers.” More words that you can play with along the lines of this theme: echo (echo-ho-ho), macho (macho-ho-ho), home, cohort (coho-ho-hort), hold, horse, hole, hope, host, hook, holistic, abhorrence, blowhole, buttonhole, foothold, hoarse, hoax, Hobart, holly, homesick, hopeful, hormone, horn, horrible, horrify, horticultural, hotel, how, keyhole, pigeonhole, whole. There are many more words that could be used so be creative!
  • *oh*→ *ho ho ho*: Words that rhyme with “oh” or contain an “oh” sound can be used as the beginning or ending “ho” in “ho ho ho”. As in, “Blow-ho-ho me a kiss,” and “How do you know-ho-ho?” and “Rolling out dough-ho-ho,” and “Go with the flow-ho-ho.” Other words that would work with this: crow, flow, foe, glow, go, grow, low, mow, no, owe, plough, quo, row, roe, sew, hollow, show, slow, snow, so, stow, though, throw, toe, tow, woe, aglow, although, aloe, banjo, below, bestow, bordeaux, borrow, chateau, gateau, combo, chapeau, crossbow, bow, elbow. There are many other words that could be used so be creative.
  • Claustrophobic→ Clausetrophobic
  • Cause→ Clause: As in, “Claus a stir,” and “Claus and effect,” and “Claus for concern,” and “A lost claus,” and “Rebel without a claus,” and “A martyr to the claus,” and “Just beclaus you can, doesn’t mean you should.”
  • Claws→ Claus: As in, “Get one’s claus into,” and “Get your claus out.”
  • Clause→ Claus: As in, “A subordinate claus.”
  • Close→ Claus: As in, “A claus thing,” and “A claus call,” and “As one door clauses, another opens,” and “At claus quarters,” and “Behind claused doors,” and “Case claused,” and “Claus encounters,” and “Claus friends,” and “Claus proximity,” and “A claus shave,” and “Claus to home,” and “A claused book,” and “Don’t stand so claus to me,” and “Drawn to a claus,” and “Keep your cards claus,” and “Keep your friends claus and your enemies clauser,” and “Too claus for comfort,” and “Up claus and personal,” and “A skeleton in the clauset.”
  • Father→ Father Christmas: As in, “Father Christmas knows best,” and “Founding Father Christmas,” and “Like Father Christmas, like son.”
  • Nickel→ Nicholas: As in, “If I had a nicholas every time..”
  • Nick: St. Nick is another name for Santa, so here are some nick-related phrases: “In good nick,” and “In the nick of time.”
  • Neck→ Nick: As in, “At breaknick speed,” and “Break your nick,” and “Breathing down your nick,” and “Nick and nick,” and “A pain in the nick,” and “Stick your nick out,” and “This nick of the woods,” and “Up to your nick in trouble,” and “Win by a nick,” and “By the nape of your nick.”
  • Next→ Nicks: As in, “America’s Nicks Top Model,” and “Better luck nicks time,” and “Boy nicks door,” and “Knock into the middle of nicks week,” and “The nicks generation,” and “Nicks in line to the throne,” and “Nicks to nothing,” and “Take it to the nicks level,” and “A week from nicks Tuesday.” Note: America’s Next Top Model is a competitive reality TV show.
  • Neck*→ Nick*: As in, nicklace (necklace), nicktie, nicking (necking), nickline, bottlenick, rubbernick, breaknick and turtlenick. Notes: necking is a colloquial term for making out. Rubbernecking is the act of craning your neck to stare at something you find interesting.
  • *nick*: Emphasise the “nick” in certain words to make references to St. Nick in your wordplay: nickel, nickname, Nickelodeon, snicker, finicky, knickers, and persnickety. Note: to be finicky is to be particular or fussy. Persnickety is a synonym for finicky.
  • *nock*→ *nick*: As in, “Well knick me down with a feather,” and “What a knickout!”
  • knuckle→ nickle: As in, “Nickle sandwich,” and “Nickle dusters,” and “Nickle under,” and “A white-nickle experience.” Note: a white-knuckle experience is one that was particularly stressful or frightening.
  • *nak*→ *nick*: As in, “Nicked (naked) as the day you were born,” and “The nicked truth,” and “Lower than a snick’s belly,” and “Snick eyes.” Note: snake eyes are when two dice are rolled and both result in a one.
  • Snakes and Ladders→ St. Nicks and Ladders: Snakes and Ladders is a fairly retro board game.
  • Snakes on a Plane→ St. Nicks on a Plane: Snakes on a Plane is a thriller action movie. This pun would work particularly well as a visual/comic pun.
  • Heineken→ Heinicken: Heineken is a beer.
  • *nik*→ *nick*: As in, “A new Nickon camera,” and “Part of the beatnick scene,” and “A new monicker,” and “The artist’s manickin.” Notes: a moniker is a nickname or alias. A beatnik is a stereotype from a literary movement in the 1950s-1960s.
  • Crisp→ Kris: Santa Claus is also known as Kris Kringle, so we can use this name to make some silly Santa puns too. As in, “Burnt to a kris.”
  • Krispy Kreme→ Krispy Kringle
  • *cras*→ *kris*: As in, “Krish and burn,” and “A kriss (crass) statement,” and “Stop prokristinating!” and “Her idiosynkrisies are part of her charm.” Note: idiosyncrasies are habitual behaviours or mannerisms that a person has.
  • Cres*→ Kris*: As in, “The family krist,” and “On the krist of a wave,” and “A kriscent moon,” and “The scene reached a kriscendo,” and “She looked kristfallen.” Note: a crescendo is a slow increase in something – music, atmosphere, emotion etc.
  • *cris*→ *kris*: As in, “A krisis situation,” and “A krispy coating,” and “Put it in the krisper,” and “I won’t stand for such hypokrisy.”
  • *cros*→ *kris*: As in, “A storyline krissover,” and “The weekly krissword,” and “Animal Krissing,” and “At a krissroads,” and “Akristic poem,” and “Under a mikriscope.” Note: an acrostic is a type of poem that focuses on the first letter of each line in the poem. Animal Crossing is an RPG game.
  • Crus*→ Kris*: As in, “Upper krist,” and “Kristaceans (crustaceans) aren’t food.”
  • Ludicrous→ Ludikris: As in, “What a ludikris idea.” Note: to be ludicrous is to be foolish or unreasonable.
  • Cringe→ Kringle: As in, “Kringle-inducing,” and “Kringleworthy.”
  • Crinkle→ Kringle: As in, “You’ve kringled the paper,” and “My dress is kringled now.”
  • Crystal→ Kristal: As in, “As clear as kristal,” and “Kristal clear.”
  • *chris/chrys*→ *kris*: As in, “A white krismas,” and “Krismas is coming,” and “A born-again kristian,” and “Are you kristened?” and “I love krisanthemums (chysanthemums),” and “It’s about time you emerged from your krisalis (chrysalis).” Note: Chrysanthemums are a type of flower.
  • Slytherin→ Sleightherin
  • Slay→ Sleigh: As in, “Sleigh, queen,” and “Sleigh the dragon.”
  • Say*→ Sleigh*: As in, “As the sleighing goes,” and “Do as I sleigh, not as I do,” and “Does exactly what it sleighs on the box,” and “Have the final sleigh,” and “Just sleigh the word,” and “It goes without sleighing,” and “Never sleigh never,” and “Sleigh cheese!” and “Sleigh it loud and sleigh it proud,” and “Sleigh it with flowers,” and “Sleigh uncle,” and “Sleigh what you mean and mean what you sleigh,” and “Sleigh your prayers,” and “Simon sleighs,” and “As I was sleighing,” and “If I do sleigh so myself,” and “I’ll sleigh,” and “Let’s not and sleigh we did,” and “Sleigh again?” and “That’s sleighing something,” and “To sleigh the least,” and “You can’t sleigh fairer than that.”
  • Sleight: Emphasise the “sleigh” – “Sleigh-t of hand.”
  • Lay→ Sleigh: As in, “Sleigh a finger on,” and “Sleigh down your arms,” and “Sleigh down your life,” and “Sleigh eyes on,” and “Sleigh down the law,” and “Sleigh it on thick,” and “The sleigh of the land,” and “Sleigh down the groundwork.”
  • Laid→ Sleigh’d: As in, “Get sleigh’d,” and “Sleigh’d back,” and “Sleigh’d bare” and “Sleigh’d to rest,” and “Even the best sleigh’d plans.”
  • Said→ Sleigh’d: As in, “After all is sleigh’d and done,” and “I couldn’t have sleigh’d it better,” and “Easier sleigh’d than done,” and “Enough sleigh’d,” and “No sooner sleigh’d than done,” and “‘Nuff sleigh’d,” and “Was it something I sleigh’d?” and “That’s what you sleigh’d.”
  • Sight→ Sleigh’t: As in, “Catch sleigh’t of,” and “Hidden in plain sleigh’t,” and “Love at first sleigh’t,” and “Not a pretty sleigh’t,” and “Out of sleigh‘t,” and “Set your sleigh’ts on,” and “A sleigh’t for sore eyes,” and “A sleigh’t to behold,” and “Hindsleigh’t is 20/20,” and “Can’t stand the sleigh’t of,” and “A sorry sleigh’t.”
  • Slight→ Sleigh’t: As in, “A sleigh’t oversight,” and “Sleigh‘tly ahead of our time,” and “Not in the sleigh’test,” and “A sleigh’t misunderstanding.”
  • Slate→ Sleight’: As in, “A blank sleigh’t,” and “A clean sleigh’t,” and “Wipe the sleigh’t clean.”
  • *sight*→ *sleight*: As in, “I value your insleight,” and “An enormous oversleight,” and “In hindsleight,” and “An insleightful person,” and “I wish I had your foresleight,” and “A sleightseeing tour.”
  • *sley→ *sleigh: As in, parsleigh (parsley), paisleigh (paisley), Elvis Presleigh (Presley), and Ronald Weasleigh (Weasley).
  • Lay*→ Sleigh*: As in, “The topmost sleigher (layer),” and “Sleighout (layout) designer,” and “In sleighperson’s terms.” Note: a layperson is someone with no training or qualifications in a particular subject.
  • *say*→ *sleigh*: As in, “I have an essleigh (essay) due Monday,” and “That’s hearsleigh (hearsay),” and “Don’t be a naysleigher,” and “The old soothsleigher.” Notes: hearsay is a type of evidence that has a reputation for being untrustworthy or unreliable. A soothsayer is one who predicts the future.
  • *sly→ *sleigh: Use words that end in “sly” to make some corny sleigh puns: “It happened simultaneousleigh,” and “Well, obviousleigh,” and “You performed flawlessleigh.” Here are some other words that would work with this: surreptitiousleigh (surreptitiously), continuousleigh (continuously), vicariousleigh (vicariously), seamlessleigh (seamlessly), previousleigh (previously), thusleigh (thusly), seriousleigh (seriously), furiousleigh (furiously), carelessleigh (carelessly), shamelessleigh (shamelessly), soundlessleigh (soundlessly), maliciousleigh (maliciously), curiousleigh (curiously), ceremoniousleigh (ceremoniously), tenaciousleigh (tenaciously), frivolousleigh (frivolously), deviousleigh (deviously), fabulousleigh (fabulously), famousleigh (famously), gloriousleigh (gloriously).
  • Elvis→ Elfis
  • Chimney: A chimney-related phrase for you to play with: “Smokes like a chimney.”
  • Jiminy→ Chimney: As in, “Chimney cricket!” Note: Jiminy cricket is both a way of swearing and a character in the Disney movie Pinocchio.
  • Suit→ Soot: As in, “All over him like a cheap soot,” and “At a price to soot your pocket,” and “Follow soot,” and “In your birthday soot,” and “Soot up!” and “Soots you down to a tee,” and “Soots you down to the ground.”
  • Shoot→ Soot: As in, “Don’t soot the messenger,” and “Drive-by sooting,” and “Eats, soots and leaves,” and “The green soots of recovery,” and “Just soot me,” and “A sharp sooter,” and “Sooting blanks,” and “Soot down in flames,” and “Sooting from the hip,” and “Soot hoops,” and “Soot the breeze,” and “Soot your mouth off,” and “Soot yourself in the foot,” and “Soot for the sky,” and “Soot [one] a dirty look.”
  • Chute→ Soot: As in, “A golden parasoot,” and “Straight out of the soot.”
  • *suit*→ *soot*: As in, “A sootable choice,” and “A new sootor,” and “Pack your sootcase!” Other words that will work: sooted (suited), sootability (suitability), sootably (suitably), pursoot (pursuit), lawsoot (lawsuit), wetsoot (wetsuit), jumpsoot (jumpsuit), swimsoot (swimsuit), tracksoot (tracksuit).
  • Sack: Change up your Santa puns with these sack-related phrases: “Get the sack,” and “Hit the sack,” and “A sad sack.”
  • Sick→ Sack: As in, “Sack as a dog,” and “Enough to make you sack,” and “One sack puppy,” and “In sackness and in health,” and “Morning sackness,” and “Off sack,” and “On the sack list,” and “Phone in sack,” and “Pull a sackie,” and “Sack and tired,” and “Sack to death of,” and “Sack to the stomach,” and “Worried sack.”
  • Shake→ Sack: As in, “Bone-sacking,” and “A fair sack,” and “Sacking my head,” and “In two sacks of a lamb’s tail,” and “More than you can sack a stick at,” and “Sack a leg,” and “Sack like a leaf,” and “Movers and sackers.”
  • Sec*→ Sack*: As in,”Our best-kept sackret,” and “Having sackond thoughts,” and “Just a sackond,” and “Play sackond fiddle,” and “A sackond childhood,” and “Sackond nature,” and “Two-sackond rule,” and “In the wrong sacktion.” Some other sec* words: sackular (secular), sackurity (security), sackure (secure), sackretary (secretary), consackutive (consecutive), sacktor (sector).
  • *sic*→ *sack*: As in, “Blow this popsackle stand,” and “Face the musack,” and “Make beautiful musack together,” and “Physackal (physical) education,” and “Back to basacks.” Some other *sic* words: sackle (sickle), sackly (sickly), sackening (sickening), intrinsack (intrinsic), classack (classic), forensack (forensic), physacks (physics), extrinsack (extrinsic), and whimsackal (whimsical).
  • Sock → Sack: As in, “Knock their sacks off,” and “Pull your sacks up,” and “Put a sack in it,” and “Sack it to me!”
  • Shock→ Sack: As in, “Electric sack,” and “Culture sack,” and “In for a sack,” and “Shell-sacked,” and “Sack and awe,” and “Sack horror,” and “A short, sharp sack.” Some other “shock” words: sacked (shocked), aftersack (aftershock), sackwave (shockwave), sacker (shocker).
  • Suc*→ Sack*: As in, “Sack it up,” and “Sack it in,” and “Sacker punch,” and “Be careful who you step on while climbing the ladder of sackcess,” and “If at first you don’t sackceed, the hell with it.” Other suc* words: Sackcint (succinct), sackcumb (succumb), sackcessful (successful), and sackcession (succession).
  • *sack*: Other sack-related words for you to play with: ransack, rucksack, hoversack and knapsack.
  • *sac*→ *sack*: As in, “A massive sackrifice,” and “Sackrilege!” and “A committee is a cul-de-sack where ideas go quietly to die,” and “A completed transacktion,” and “The Texas Chainsaw Massackre.”
  • *shack*→ *sack*: As in, “In sackles,” and “A ramsackle apartment.” Note: if something is ramshackle, then it looks so carelessly put together that it seems on the verge of collapse.
  • *shak*→ *sack*: As in, “A sacky argument,” and “Movers and sackers,” and “This is a sackdown (shakedown)!” and “A weak handsack,” and “My milksack brings all the boys to the yard,” and “She was sacken by the news.”
  • Soc*→ Sack*: As in, “Sacker mom (soccer),” and “Electrical sacket.” Note: a soccer mom is a stereotype that broadly refers to middle-class, suburban women who spend a large amount of time at school events.
  • Shakespeare→ Sackspeare
  • *self→ *elf: As in, “An elf-made business owner,” and “Apply your-elf,” and “Be your-elf,” and “Pull your-elf together,” and “I didn’t do it my-elf.” Note: this also works for the plural forms of both self and elf – as in, “Apply your-elves (apply yourselves),” and “Pull your-elves together.”
  • Selfie→ Elfie: As in, “Take an elfie,” and “Use an elfie stick.”
  • Self-*→ Elf-*: As in, “Have some elf-conficence,” and “She’s got good elf-control.” Other words that would work with this format: elf-contained, elf-deceiving, elf-deprecating, elf-determination, elf-enrichment, elf-governing, elf-help, elf-improvement, elf-perpetuating, elf-portrait, elf-sufficient.
  • Self*→ Elf*: As in, “An elfish (selfish) person,” and “Elfless (selfless) bravery,” and “I won’t stand for such elfishness (selfishness).”
  • *alf*→ *elf*: As in, elfalfa (alfalfa), elfredo (alfredo), behelf (behalf – as in, “On behelf of”), and melfunction (malfunction – as in, “Why is the computer melfunctioning?”)
  • Health→ Helf: As in, “A helfy mind in a helfy body,” and “Bad for your helf,” and “A clean bill of helf,” and “Glowing with helf,” and “In sickness and in helf,” and “A picture of helf,” and “Take a helf-y interest,” and “Ill helf,” and “In the pink of helf,” and “Helfy as a horse.” Note: if you’re in the pink of health, then you’re in very good condition.
  • Wealth→ Welf: As in, “Rolling in welf,” and “Redistribution of welf,” and “Share the welf.”
  • Alphabet→ Elfabet: As in, “Elfabet soup,” and “Do you know your elfabet?”
  • Effin’ → Elfin: As in, “Elfin hell,” and “Not another elfin word!” Note: Effin’ is shorthand slang for f*cking.
  • Effed → Elfed: As in, “I elfed up,” and “It’s completely elfed.” Note: Effed is shorthand slang for f*cked (in the context that something is thoroughly ruined).
  • Gift: As gifts are a part of Santa’s legend, we’ve provided gift-related phrases to play with: “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth,” and “A gift from the gods,” and “Gift of life,” and “Gift of the gab,” and “The gift of time,” and “The gift that keeps on giving.” Notes: the gift of the gab is a talent for communication. To look a gift horse in the mouth is to question the value of a gift or to be ungrateful.
  • Give→ Gift: As in, “A dead giftaway,” and “Don’t gift up,” and “I don’t gift a monkey’s,” and “Don’t gift up your day job,” and “Frankly my dear, I don’t gift a damn,” and “Gift peace a chance,” and “Gift a hand,” and “Gift and take,” and “Gift credit where credit is due,” and “Gift an inch and they’ll take a mile,” and “Gift it all you’ve got,” and “Gift it to me straight,” and “Gift me liberty or gift me death,” and “What gifts?” and “Wouldn’t gift you the time of day.” Note” the quote “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn” is a line from the movie “Gone With the Wind.”
  • Giving→ Gifting: As in, “They’re gifting me a dirty look,” and “The gift that keeps on gifting.”
  • Forgive→ Forgift: As in, “Forgift your enemies; nothing annoys them more,” and “Forgift and forget,” and “To err is human, to forgift – divine,” and “Have you forgiften me yet?”
  • Present: Some present-related phrases to mix into your puns: “All present and correct,” and “Present company excepted,” and “No time like the present.” Note: if present company is excepted, then the topics or complaints at hand do not apply to those in attendance.
  • Presence→ Presents: As in, “The honour of your presents is requested,” and “Grace us with your presents.”
  • Pleasant→ Present: As in, “I don’t have time for presentries,” and “Present conversation,” and “Why the unpresentness (unpleasantness)?”
  • Resent→ Present: As in, “I present the insinuation!”
  • Naughty: We can reference Santa’s naughty or nice list with these naughty-related phrases: “The naughty corner,” and “Naughty but nice.”
  • Nutty→ Naughty: As in, “A sweet, naughty flavour.”
  • Nautical→ Naughty-cal: As in, “A naughty-cal mile,” and “Naughty-cal life.”
  • Nought→ Naughty: As in, “Naughty and crosses,” and “It’s all come to naughty.”
  • *nut→ *naughty: As in, chestnaughty (chestnut), walnaughty (walnut), doughnaughty (doughnut – could also be donaughty), peanaughty (peanut), coconaughty (coconut), butternaughty (butternut), hazelnaughty (hazelnut).
  • *naut→ *naughty: As in, astronaughty (astronaut), aeronaughty (aeronaut), cybernaughty (cybernaut), juggernaughty (juggernaut).
  • Nice: Make references to Santa’s naughty or nice list with these nice-related phrases: “Have a nice day,” and “Make nice,” and “Naughty but nice,” and “Nice and easy does it,” and “A nice place to visit,” and “Nice save,” and “Nice try,” and “Nice work if you can get it,” and “Nicely put,” and “No more mister nice guy,” and “The key to a nice, relaxed evening,” and “Wouldn’t it be nice?” and “Couldn’t happen to a nicer..” Notes: to make nice is to behave nicely to someone in an insincere manner.
  • *nis*→ *nice*: Anything with the “nice” sound or that can rhyme with nice can be changed to include the word nice: adminice-ter (administer), agnice-tic (agnostic), banniceter (bannister), botanicet (botanist), businice (business), cynicecism (cynicism), ethniceity (ethnicity), hedonicetic (hedonistic), hygienicet (hygienist), impressionicet (impressionist), happinice (happiness), uniceson (unison).
  • Good: We can also reference the naughty/nice idea with these phrases related to good: “A bill of goods,” and “A change is as good as a rest,” and “A good egg,” and “A good time was had by all,” and “A world of good,” and “All good things must come to an end,” and “All in good time,” and “No news is good news,” and “Good as gold,” and “Good as it gets,” and “Good as new,” and “Good as your word,” and “As good luck would have it,” and “Do a good turn,” and “Do you want the good news or the bad news?” and “Fight the good fight,” and “A good samaritan,” and “Good vibrations,” and “Good and ready,” and “Good enough to eat,” and “Good for a laugh,” and “Good for nothing,” and “Good riddance,” and “Good things come in small packages,” and “Goodness gracious me,” and “Read any good books lately?”
  • Could→ Good: As in, “As fast as his legs good carry him,” and “I goodn’t care less,” and “I good do it in my sleep,” and “I good see you a mile away,” and “If looks good kill,” and “Good have heard a pin drop,” and “Good have knocked me down with a feather.”
  • Bad: Make more references to Santa’s naughty/nice list with these bad-related phrases: “A bad break,” and “Ain’t half bad,” and “Bad intentions,” and “Bad romance,” and “A bad apple,” and “Bad blood,” and “Bad for your health,” and “A bad hair day,” and “Bad mouthed,” and “Bad news travels fast,” and “A bad taste in the mouth,” and “A bad time,” and “The bearer of bad news,” and “Do you want the good news or the bad news?” and “Fall into bad habits,’ and “From bad to worse,” and “Get off to a bad start,” and “Gone to the bad,” and “Got it bad,” and “In a bad way,” and “My bad,” and “Not bad,” and “On bad terms with,” and “Take the good with the bad,” and “No such thing as bad press,” and “Bad company,” and “Bad to the bone,” and “In (someone’s) bad books,” and “In bad shape,” and “Good riddance to bad rubbish.”
  • Bad→ Bed: As in, “Bad and breakfast,” and “A bad of nails,” and “Between you, me and the badpost,” and “Early to bad and early to rise,” and “Get into bad with,” and “Get out of the wrong side of the bad,” and “Go to bad with,” and “Don’t let the bad bugs bite.” Note: if something is between you, someone else, and the bedpost, then it’s a secret.
  • *bad*: Emphasize the “bad” in certain words: badger, badass, badge, badly and badminton.
  • *bed*→ *bad*: As in, “It’s badlam (bedlam) in here!” and “Strange badfellows (bedfellows),” and “Tears before badtime,” and “On your deathbad,” and “Trust is the badrock of a good relationship,” and “Change the badding (bedding),” and “Why do you look so badraggled (bedraggled)?” and “Meet you in the badroom,” and “A hotbad (hotbed) for criminal activity,” and “When laws are unjust, civil disobadience is necessary.” Notes: bedlam is a general confusion or chaos. Strange bedfellows are people who are brought together who have little in common. If something is bedraggled, then it looks ruined and dirty.
  • *bid*→ *bad*: As in, “Forbadden fruit,” and “Morbad interests,” and “To the highest badder.”
  • *bod*→ *bad*: As in, “Anybady who is anybady,” and “Bady blow,” and “Everybady and their cousin,” and “Over my dead bady,” and “Spoil somebady rotten,” and “They embady the true nature of forgiveness,” and “A feeling of forebading,” and “The embadiment of kindness.” Note: to embody something is to make it concrete and real.
  • *bud*→ *bad*: As in, “Study baddy,” and “Champagne taste on a beer badget,” and “Within badget,” and “Study Baddhism,” and “Badgie smuggler,” and “Gather rosebads,” and “A treat for your tastebads,” and “Contact the ombadsman,” and “They wouldn’t badge (budge).” Notes: a budgie smuggler is Australian slang for a type of tight-fitting Speedo. An ombudsman is a public official whose role is to represent and protect public interests.
  • Deer: Use this well-known deer-related phrase to refer to Santa’s reindeer – “Deer in headlights.”
  • Dear→ Deer: As in, “After you, my deer,” and “Deerly beloved, we are gathered here today,” and “Elementary, my deer Watson,” and “Frankly my deer, I don’t give a damn,” and “Hang on for deer life,” and “Near and deer to my heart,” and “Nearest and deerest.”
  • Eerie→ Deerie: As in, “A deerie atmosphere.” Note: eerie means creepy.
  • Dairy→ Deery: As in, “Deery is scary.”
  • Rain, dear→ Rain, deer: As in, “It looks like rain, deer!”
  • Fond→ Fawned/Fawn’d: As in, “Absence makes the heart grow fawnder,” and “A fawned farewell.”
  • Dare→ Deer: As in, “Deer for more,” and “Deer to be different,” and “How deer you!” and “Deer to dream,” and “Who deers wins.”
  • Rude→ Rudolph: As in, “A rudolph awakening.”
  • *rood*→ *rudolph*: Change words that rhyme with “rude” to include “rudolph”: “Debt accrudolph” (accrued),” and “Coffee’s brudolph (brewed),” and “Crudolph (crude) oil,” and “Don’t intrudolph (intrude).”
  • Dash→ Dasher: Since Dasher is one of Santa’s reindeer, we’ve included dash in this list: “Crash and dasher,” and “Dasher to pieces,” and “Dasher off.”
  • *dish→ *dasher: As in, “What outlandasher (outlandish) claims!” and “Radasher cake,” and “Childasher (childish) behaviour,” and “A prudasher (prudish) mindset,” and “A fiendasher (fiendish) child.”
  • Dance: As Dancer is one of Santa’s reindeer, we’ve included dance-related phrases for you to play with: “Dance around the problem,” and “Dance like nobody’s watching,” and “Dance the night away,” and “Dance your socks off,” and “Just dance,” and “Lead a merry dance,” and “Make a song and dance about,” and “Save the last dance for me.” Notes: to dance around the problem is to avoid it. To lead someone on a merry dance is to make things prolonged and complicated for someone. To make a song and dance about something is to make an unnecessarily big deal out of it.
  • *dance→ *dancer: As in, “Take attendancer,” and “I need your guidancer,” and “In abundancer of,” and “In accordancer with,” and “Good riddancer to bad rubbish,” and “Avoidancer techniques.”
  • Dense→ Dance: As in, “The cake should be light and fluffy, not dance,” and “Are you dance?”
  • *dence→ *dance: As in, “Where’s the evidance?” and “A measured cadance,” and “In confidance,” and “Enter into correspondance with.”
  • Pants→ Prance: These puns will help you refer to Prancer, another of Santa’s reindeer: “Ants in his prance,” and “Beat the prance off,” and “By the seat of your prance,” and “Caught with your prance down,” and “Drop your prance,” and “Fancy prance,” and “Fly by the seat of your prance,” and “Keep your prance on,” and “Prance on fire,” and “Smarty prance,” and “Keep it in your prance,” and “Keep your prance on.”
  • Prince→ Prance: As in, “A prance among men,” and “Prance of darkness,” and “Prance of Persia.” Note: Prince of Persia is a video game franchise.
  • Prints→ Prance: As in, “I made some prance to hang on the walls.”
  • Common→ Comet: Make references to Comet, one of Santa’s reindeer, with these: “A victory for comet sense,” and “As comet as muck,” and “Comet ground,” and “Comet sense,” and “Nothing in comet,” and “The comet good.”
  • Comment→ Comet: As in, “No comet,” and “Any questions, comets or concerns?”
  • Come→ Comet: As in, “All good things must comet to an end,” and “Good things comet to those who wait,” and “As tough as they comet,” and “Christmas comets but once a year,” and “Comet and get it,” and “Comet away with me,” and “Comet on over,” and “Comet running,” and “Comet together,” and “Comet again?” and “Comet down hard on,” and “Comet down on (someone) like a tonne of bricks,” and “Comet full circle,” and “Comet hell or high water,” and “Comet home to a real fire,” and “Comet home to roost,” and “Comet in from the cold,” and “Comet of age,” and “Comet out and play,” and “Comet out of the closet,” and “Comet out of your shell,” and “Comet out swinging,” and “Comet rain or shine.”
  • Cosmic→ Comet: As in, “Comet ordering.” Note: cosmic ordering is the idea that positive thinking without action can help you realise your dreams.
  • Comic→ Comet: As in, “Comet strip,” and “Comet timing.”
  • Cupid: As Cupid is one of Santa’s reindeer, this Cupid-related phrase can stand in as a Santa pun: “Play Cupid.” Note: to play Cupid is to attempt to act as a match-maker.
  • Stupid*→ Cupid*: As in, “Criminal cupidity,” and “I’m with cupid,” and “Keep it simple, cupid,” and “Cupid is as cupid does,” and “Very interesting, but cupid.”
  • Kewpie→ Cupid: As in, “Cupid doll,” and “Cupid mayonnaise.” Note: kewpie is both a type of doll and a brand of mayonnaise.
  • *cup→ *cupid: As in, hiccupid, buttercupid, and teacupid.
  • Done→ Donner: Donner is another of Santa’s reindeer, so it’s been included in this list too: “Been there, donner that,” and “Donner and dusted,” and “A donner deal,” and “Easier said than donner,” and “Hard donner by,” and “Well donner,” and “When all is said and donner,” and “I’m donner for.”
  • Do not→ Donner: As in, “Donner look now,” and “Donner call us, we’ll call you,” and “Donner get me started,” and “Donner give up your day job,” and “Donner go there,” and “Donner hold your breath,” and “Donner knock yourself out,” and “Donner let the door hit you on the way out,” and “Donner tell me what to do,” and “Donner believe everything you hear,” and “Donner get caught with your pants down,” and “Donner knock it til you’ve tried it,” and “I donner understand.”
  • Dinner→ Donner: As in, “Donner and a movie,” and “A donner date,” and “A dog’s donner,” and “Guess who’s coming to donner?”
  • Pardon→ Par-donner: As in, “I beg your par-donner?” and “Well par-donner me for living,” and “Par-donner my French,” and “Par-donner me.” This also works well with other words ending with “don”, like abandon (abandonner), tendon (tendonner), armageddon (armageddonner) and London (Londonner).
  • Blitz: As in, “Blitzed out.” Note: Blitzen is one of Santa’s reindeer.
  • Bliss→ Blitz: As in, “Blitzed out,” and “A blitzful slumber,” and “Domestic blitz,” and “Ignorance is blitz,” and “Marital blitz.”
  • Blister*→ Blitzer*: As in, “Blitzering barnacle,” and “At blitzering speed,” and “Blood blitzer,” and “Blitzer pack,” and “Blitzering heat.” Note: a blister pack is a type of plastic and foil packaging, usually for medicine.
  • Present: We put gifts and presents under Christmas trees, so we’ve included these words in this list too. As in, “All present and correct,” and “Present company excepted,” and “No time like the present.”
  • Percent → Present: As in, “A hundred and ten present,” and “Genius is one present inspiration and 99 present perspiration.”
  • Gift: As in, “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth,” and “Gift of life,” and “A gift that keeps on giving,” and “A gift from above.”
  • Give → Gift: As in, “A dead giftaway,” and “Don’t gift up!” and “Don’t gift in,” and “Gift yourself a bad name,” and “Gift them a hand,” and “Gift and take,” and “Gift credit where credit is due,” and “Gift it a rest,” and “Gift it the green light,” and “Gift me a call,” and “Gift 110%”.
  • Gave → Gift: As in, “I gift my best.”
  • Cook→ Cookie: Since it’s a tradition to leave milk and cookies for Santa, we’ve included cookie puns in this list too: “Cookie the books,” and “Cookie up a storm,” and “Cookied up,” and “Too many cookies spoil the broth.”
  • Cookie: Some cookie-related phrases for you to use as puns: “A tough cookie,” and “Caught with your hand in the cookie jar,” and “That’s the way the cookie crumbles.”
  • Milk: To go with out cookie phrases, here are some milk-related phrases: “Mild as milk,” and “Don’t cry over spilt milk,” and “Just like a chocolate milkshake, only crunchy,” and “Land of milk and honey,” and “The milk of human kindness.”
  • Coal: It’s traditional for Santa to leave coal for naughty children, so we’ve included coal-related phrases here: “Black as coal,” and “Rake over the coals,” and “Like a cat on hot coals.”
  • Goal→ Coal: As in, “A coal in mind,” and “Moving the coalposts,” and “Score a coal.”
  • Cold→ Coal’d: As in, “Coal’d as blue blazes,” and “Coal’d as ice,” and “Hot and coal’d,” and “Break out in a coal’d sweat,” and “Catch a coal‘d,” and “Catch your death of coal’d,” and “A coal’d heart,” and “Coal’d calling,” and “Coal’d comfort,” and “A coal’d day in hell,” and “Coal’d feet,” and “Coal’d light of day,” and “The coal’d shoulder,” and “Come in from the coal’d,” and “Coal’d, hard cash,” and “In coal’d blood,” and “A coal’d and frosty morning,” and “Left out in the coal’d,” and “Out coal’d,” and “Revenge is a dish best served coal’d,” and “Stone coal’d sober,” and “Take a coal’d, hard look.”
  • Cool→ Coal: As in, “Coal as a cucumber,” and “Coal beans,” and “A coal million,” and “Coal off,” and “Coal your heels,” and “Coal, calm and collected,” and “Keep your coal,” and “Play it coal,” and “A coaling-off period.”
  • Crawl→ Coal: As in, “Coal back into your shell,” and “Coal out of the woodwork,” and “Don’t try to walk before you can coal,” and “Makes my skin coal.”
  • *col* → *coal*: As in, “Coalour (colour) coded,” and “A work coalleague,” and “In from the coald,” and “A stamp coallection.” Other words that work with this: coallusion (collusion), coallateral (collateral), coallege (college), coalon (colon), coallaborate (collaborate), coalumn (column), protocoal (protocol), semicoalon (semicolon), chocoalate (chocolate), coallar (collar), coalogne (cologne), Coalumbia (Columbia), coallapse (collapse), coallagen (collagen), scoald (scold).
  • *gol*→ *coal*: As in, “Good as coald (gold),” and “You’re coalden (golden),” and “Do you play coalf (golf)?” Other words that work with this: coalem (golem), coaliath (goliath), coaldilocks (goldilocks), coally (golly), and maricoald (marigold).
  • *cole*→ *coal*: As in: coalslaw (coleslaw) and narcoalepsy (narcolepsy). Note: narcolepsy is a sleeping disorder.
  • Cul*→ Coal*: As in, “Third coalture kid,” and “This is not a coalt (cult),” and “Buddhism is about coaltivating kindness.” Other words that work with this format: coalprit (culprit), coall (cull), coalinary (culinary), coalpable (culpable), and coalminate (culminate).
  • Stock→ Stocking: As in, “In stocking,” and “Lock, stocking and barrel,” and “Out of stocking,” and “Take stocking.”
  • Stick→ Stocking: This one’s a bit of a stretch, but you can make it work: “A stocking to beat you with,” and “Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stocking,” and “Got hold of the wrong end of the stocking,” and “More than you can shake a stocking at,” and “Short end of the stocking,” and “Stocking point.” Note: a sticking point is a point in a discussion where it is difficult to reach an agreement.
  • Christmas Tree: Since it’s part of Santa’s story to leave presents under a tree, we’ve included tree-related phrases and puns in this list: “Done up like a Christmas tree,” and “Lit up like a Christmas tree,” and “Oh, Christmas tree..”
  • Tree→ Christmas tree: As in, “Difficult as nailing jelly to a Christmas tree,” and “Barking up the wrong Christmas tree,” and “Can’t see the wood for the Christmas trees,” and “Charm the birds out of the Christmas trees,” and “Legs like Christmas tree trunks,” and “Make like a Christmas tree and leave,” and “Money doesn’t grow on Christmas trees,” and “Christmas tree hugger,” and “You’re outta your Christmas tree.”
  • Three→ Tree: As in, “And baby makes tree,” and “Good things come in trees,” and “Tree strikes and you’re out!” and “Tree wise men,” and “Tree’s a charm.”
  • Free*→ Tree*: As in, “A symbol of treedom,” and “As tree as a bird,” and “Breathe treely,” and “Buy one, get one tree,” and “Tree for all,” and “Treedom of the press,” and “Get out of jail tree,” and “The best things in life are tree,” and “Land of the tree,” and “Leader of the tree world,” and “The truth will set you tree,” and “No such thing as a tree lunch,” and “When hell treezes over,” and “Think treely.”
  • *tri*→ *tree*: As in, “My hair needs a treem,” and “Full of nutree-ents,” and “What is your best attreebute?” and “How cool are golden retreevers?” and “It’s an intreensic (intrinsic) quality,” and “A new brand of vegan chicken streeps,” and “No streengs attached,” and “We’re going on a treep!” and “Pull the treegger,” and “Any more treecks up your sleeve?” and “A love treeangle,” and “A treevial problem,” and “We pay treebute to the fallen.”
  • *trea*→ *tree*: As in, “A real treet,” and “Medical treetment,” and “Royal treeson,” and “I treesure you,” and “Thick as treecle,” and “Swim upstreem,” and “A holiday retreet,” and “A winning streek,” and “A treecherous mountain path.”
  • *tee*→ *tree*: As in, “By the skin of your treeth,” and “The scene was treeming with people,” and “I guarantree it,” and “A welcoming committree,” and “A chunky manatree,” and “Self-estreem,” and “Charitable voluntreers,” and “My child’s school cantreen.”
  • *tary→ *tree: As in, “Proprietree cables,” and “Complimentree meals,” and “These colours are complementree,” and “Leave it with my secretree,” and “A sedentree life isn’t so healthy,” and “Dominion is a documentree you should watch,” and “It’s rudimentree addition,” and “But what’s the monetree value,” and “A solitree existence.” Notes: to be sedentary is to be inactive or seated. If something is rudimentary, then it’s basic.
  • *try*→ *tree*: As in, “Tree again,” and “A secret treest (tryst),” and “I’m tree-ing (trying)!” and “Meat is not an ethical industree,” and “Refugees should be welcomed to our countree,” and “Bigotree is still rampant,” and “Entree level,” and “A paltree sum,” and “Geometree is everywhere,” and “Chemistree lab,” and “What sultree weather.” Notes: if something is sultry, then it’s hot. A tryst is a private romantic meeting.
  • *ty*→ *tree*: As in, “Star qualitree,” and “Structural integritree,” and “The citree that never sleeps,” and “First-class facilitrees,” and “My dutrees come first,” and “Beautree isn’t everything,” and “A single entitree,” and “Maximum securitree.”
  • List: We’ve provided some list-related phrases so you can reference Santa’s naughty/nice list in your Santa puns: “Black list,” and “Hit list,” and “I’ve got a little list,” and “Laundry list,” and “Make a list; check it twice,” and “Short list,” and “Bucket list.” Some other list-related words: listing, listen, listless, populist, enlist, evangelist, journalist, specialist, checklist, stylist, holistic, blister and ballistic.
  • Last→ List: As in, “At long list,” and “At the list minute,” and “Breathe one’s list,” and “Famous list words,” and “First impressions list,” and “Do you have any list requests?” and “You haven’t heard the list of me!” and “The list bow,” and “List but not least,” and “List call,” and “List chance,” and “List ditch effort,” and “List gasp,” and “List in, first out,” and “The list laugh,” and “At the list minute,” and “List resort,” and “List rites,” and “The list straw,” and “The list taste of freedom,” and “List will and testament,” and “A listing impression,” and “On their list legs,” and “Save the list dance for me,” and “List I heard,” and “Every list one of us,” and “Fall at the list hurdle,” and “First and list,” and “Get in the list word,” and “The list thing I want.”
  • Lest→ List: As in, “Judge not, list you be judged,” and “List we forget.”
  • Lost→ List: As in, “All is not list,” and “Get list,” and “Better to have loved and list than never to have loved at all,” and “Long list,” and “List in translation,” and “List and found,” and “A list cause,” and “List soul,” and “List the plot,” and “List your marbles,” and “Make up for list time,” and “Missing, presumed list,” and “No love list.”
  • *last*→ *list*: As in, “A listing impression,” and “And listly…” and “A list-ditch effort.” Other words that would work with this format: listed (lasted), list-minute (last-minute), blist (blast), blister (blaster), plister (plaster), plistic (plastic), elistic (elastic), everlisting (everlasting), scholistic (scholastic).
  • *lest→ *list: As in, “Live life to the fullist,” and “The coolist friend,” and “The simplist solution.” Other words that would work with this format: tallist (tallest), smallist (smallest), cruellist (cruellest), shrillist (shrillest).
  • *lust*→ *list*: As in, “A shining listre (lustre),” and “Listrous, shining hair,” and “Listful (lustful) glances.” Other words that would work with this format: wanderlist (wanderlust), bloodlist (bloodlust), clister (cluster), illistrate (illustrate), blister (bluster), flistered (flustered), illistration (illustration).
  • *lis→ *list: As in, metropolist, trellist, chrysalist, borealist, and blisst. Notes: a trellis is an architectural structure. A borealis is a natural astronomical light display.
  • *lyst→ *list: As in, “A catalist (catalyst) for change,” and “Systems analist (analyst).”
  • Letter: Pay homage to the letter-writing tradition with these letter-related phrases: “Chain letter,” and “Four letter word,” and “Letter bomb,” and “Letter for letter,” and “Letter perfect,” and “To the letter.” Note: if something is to the letter, then it’s exactly as it’s been outlined, with great attention to detail.
  • Later→ Letter: As in, “Buy now, pay letter,” and “Catch you letter,” and “It’s letter than you think,” and “See you letter alligator,” and “Smell ya letter,” and “Sooner or letter,” and “Can we continue this letter?” and “I’ll call back letter,” and “Perhaps letter,” and “Ask questions letter.”
  • Let→ Letter: As in, “Don’t letter the sun go down on me,” and “Don’t letter the bastards grind you down,” and “Friends don’t letter friends drive drunk,” and “He wouldn’t just letter it lie,” and “How do I love thee? Letter me count the ways,” and “I won’t letter you down,” and “Letter it be,” and “Letter it bleed,” and “Letter alone,” and “Letter bygones be bygones,” and “Letter it all hang out,” and “Letter it slip through your fingers,” and “Letter me be brief,” and “Letter nature take its course,” and “Letter off some steam,” and “Letter me make one thing clear,” and “Letter off the hook,” and “Letter something slip,” and “Letter them eat cake,” and “Letter there be light,” and “Letter your conscience be your guide,” and “Letter your hair down,” and “Letter’s call the whole thing off,” and “Letter’s do lunch,” and “Letter’s face it,” and “Letter them down gently.”
  • *letter*: Letterhead, lettering, letterpress, letterbox, newsletter.
  • *latter*→ *letter*: As in, “Don’t fletter yourself,” and “It dropped with a cletter,” and “Bring a pletter.” Other words that work: spletter (splatter), slettern (slattern), flettery (flattery).
  • *litter*→ *letter*: As in, “Don’t be a letterbug,” and “Stop lettering,” and “Dusted in gletter (glitter).”
  • *lat*→ *letter*: As in, letteral (lateral), articuletter (articulate), confletter (conflate), emuletter (emulate), colletteral (collateral).
  • *let→ *letter: As in, “An entire paletter,” and “Outletter mall,” and “Run the gauntletter.” Other words that work: violetter (violet), bulletter (bullet), valetter (valet), milletter (millet), tabletter (tablet), and toiletter (toilet). Note: to run the gauntlet is a form of corporal punishment.
  • *lit*→ *letter*: As in, “It’s in the letterature (literature),” and “I meant that letterally,” and “That’s very letteral,” and “The lettergation (litigation) process.” Note: litigation is a legal process.
  • *lut*→ *letter: As in, “Fletter by, butterfly,” and “Look at all this cletter (clutter).”
  • Let her→ Letter: As in, “Letter rip!” and “Letter down gently,” and “Letter have a look.”
  • List→ Wishlist: As in, “I’ve got a little wishlist,” and “Laundry wishlist,” and “Make a wishlist, check it twice.”
  • Toy: As toys are the most traditional gift that Santa tends to leave (apart from coal), we’ve included toy-related puns and phrases too: “Toy Story,” and “Toy with someone’s affections,” and “Toys in the attic.”
  • Stay→ Stoy: As in, “Inexpensive. And built to stoy that way,” and “Outstoy one’s welcome,” and “Stoy ahead of the curve,” and “Stoy in touch,” and “Stoy on course,” and “Stoy safe,” and “Stoy tuned,” and “Stoy together,” and “Here to stoy,” and “Stoy behind,” and “Stoy the distance,” and “If you can’t take the heat, stoy out of the kitchen.” Other stay-related words: mainstoy (mainstay), satoy (satay), overstoy (overstay), homestoy (homestay), stoycation (staycation).
  • *toi*→ *toy*: As in, “Down the toylet,” and “Pack your toyletries.” Other words that would also work: toyletry (toiletry), toyl (toil), tortoyse (tortoise), stoy-ic (stoic), stoy-icism (stoicism).
  • *ty→ *toy: As in, “Let’s partoy,” and “Keep your integritoy,” and “In the citoy centre.” Other words that will work: serendipitoy (serendipity), facilitoy (facility), dutoy (duty), entitoy (entity), beautoy (beauty), qualitoy (quality), stoyle (style), stereotoype (stereotype), securitoy (security), propertoy (property).
  • Deliver: As in, “Deliver the goods,” and “Same day delivery,” and “Stand and deliver,” and “A special delivery.”
  • Workshop: Since Santa’s workshop is where the magic happens, we’ve included workshop-related phrases and puns in this list. As in, “Santa’s workshop,” and “Idle minds are the devil’s workshop.”
  • Work→ Workshop: As in “A workshop in progress,” and “All in a day’s workshop,” and “Bury yourself in your workshop,” and “In the workshops.”
  • Shop→ Workshop: As in, “All over the workshop,” and “Like a bull in a china workshop,” and “Live all over the workshop,” and “One stop workshop,” and “Talk workshop,” and “Top of the workshop.”
  • Polaroid→ North Polaroid
  • *eve*: As Santa makes his round-the-world trip on Christmas Eve, we felt that eve-related phrases, words and puns would be appropriate. Emphasise the “eve” that exists in certain words: achieve, reprieve, sieve, relieve, sleeve, peeve, develop, fever, event, perseverance, ever, everyday, eventually, everything, evergreen, evening, every, retrieve and believe.
  • *eav*→ *eve*: As in, “Are you evesdropping?” and “Under the eves (eaves),” and “I’m leeveing.” Other words that would work with this format: weeve (weave), heeve (heave), interweeve (interweave), and bereevement (bereavement).
  • Christmas, Eve: If you know anyone named Eve, you can make a very specific Christmas Eve pun – “Why it’s Christmas, Eve!”
  • Land→ Lapland: Santa’s workshop is said to be found in Lapland, so we’ve got some Lapland-style puns for you here: “A blot on the laplandscape,” and “In the lapland of the living,” and “A real nowhere man sitting in his nowhere lapland,” and “In the lapland of nod,” and “La la lapland,” and “Lapland ahoy!” and “Lapland of hope and glory,” and “Lapland of make believe,” and “Lapland of milk and honey,” and “A laplandscape painting,” and “Living off the fat of the lapland,” and “Never never lapland,” and “No man’s lapland,” and “Political laplandscape,” and “A rough laplanding,” and “The waste lapland,” and “The lapland of the rising sun,” and “The lapland of the free,” and “The lapland that time forgot,” and “The law of the lapland,” and “By a laplandslide,” and “The promised lapland,” and “Cats always lapland on their feet.” Notes: “a real nowhere man sitting in his nowhere land” is a line from The Beatles  song “Nowhere Man”. A blot on the landscape is an unattractive part that takes away from the otherwise attractive whole.
  • Cherry→ Sherry: In some countries, it’s a tradition to leave sherry for Santa, so we’ve got some sherry-related puns in here too: “Sherry pick,” and “Sherry pie,” and “Sherry ripe,” and “A second bite of the sherry,” and “The sherry on the cake,” and “A bowl of sherries.”
  • Share→ Sherry: As in, “A problem sherry’ed is a problem halved,” and “A lion’s sherry,” and “Sherry and sherry alike,” and “Learn to sherry.”
  • Sheer→ Sherry: As in, “Sherry driving pleasure,” and “Sherry madness,” and “Sherry nonsense.”
  • Scary→ Sherry: As in, “Sherry thoughts,” and “A sherry story.”
  • Dear → Beer: In Australia, it’s a tradition to leave beers (rather than milk) for Santa along with cookies, so we’ve included beer puns for you to use: “Oh beer me” and “Hang on for beer life” and “Near and beer to my heart” and “Elementary, my beer Watson.”
  • Ear → Beer: As in “Grin from beer to beer.” and “Let’s play it by beer.” and “Lend a beer” and “In one beer and out the other.”
  • Peer → Beer: As in “Beer pressure” and “It’s like she was beering into my soul.”
  • Pier → Beer: As in “Take a long walk off a short beer.”
  • Bear → Beer: As in “Grizzly beer” and “Beer a resemblance” and “The right to beer arms” and “Beer down upon” and “Bear witness to …” and “Beer false witness” and “Beer fruit” and “Beer in mind that …” and “Bring to beer
  • Bare → Beer: As in “The beer necessities” and “Beer one’s teeth” and “Laid beer” and “The beer bones” and “The cupboard was beer
  • Buyer → Beer: As in “She’s a regular beer at our shop.” (Bit of a stretch!)
  • Beard → Beerd: As in “Neck beerd” and “His beerd was as white as snow.”
  • *ber* → *beer*: Words that contains the “ber” sound (or similar) are often opportunities for terrible beer puns: collabeerate, dismembeermentbeereavement, beereaved, beerds (birds), beerthplace (birthplace), beerglary (burglary), beergeoning (burgeoning), cumbeersome, delibeeration, decembeer, cucumbeer, exubeerant, libeerties (liberties), libeerals, libeertarian, libeeration, novembeer, numbeers, pubeerty, membeership, reimbeers (reimburse), remembeer, reverbeeration, robbeeries, robbeery, slumbeer, sobeer (sober).
  • Be* → Beer*: More terrible beer puns can be made using words that start with the “be” sound: beerwilderment, beerlongings, beerbliography, beerseiged, beerstowed, beermused, beerwitched, beergotry, beertersweetbeerllionair.
  • Bandanna→ Bandonner: As in, “Bandonners are a cute accessory.”

Santa-Related Words

To help you come up with your own Santa puns, here’s a list of related words to get you on your way. If you come up with any new puns or related words, please feel free to share them in the comments!

santa, claus, father christmas, saint nick/nicholas, kris kringle, christmas, ho ho ho, gifts, present, naughty, nice, good, bad, elves, elf, reindeer, rudolph, dasher, dancer, prancer, vixen, comet, cupid, donner, blitzen, sleigh, chimney, sack, cookies, milk, coal, stocking, tree, list, letter, wishlist, toys, candy, deliver, workshop, grotto, north pole, christmas eve, lapland, mrs. claus, sherry, beer, rice porridge, pudding, yule

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Skeleton Puns

Welcome to the Punpedia entry on skeleton puns! 💀✨☠

While perhaps not as iconic as witches or zombies, bones and skeletons still occupy a large part of our culture, from movies (like Pirates of the Carribean or Coco) to annual celebrations (Day of the Dead). Join in on the bony fun with our skeleton puns, whether it’s for a word game, an undead-themed DnD night, or to help add a bit of kooky spook to your Halloween celebrations.

While we’ve been as thorough and comprehensive as possible in making this list, this is for skeletons in general – if you’re interested in other creatures and monsters, please have a look at our witch puns, zombie puns, Halloween puns and vampire puns. We hope you find the perfect skeleton pun for your needs!

Skeleton Puns List

Each item in this list describes a pun, or a set of puns which can be made by applying a rule. If you know of any puns about skeletons that we’re missing, please let us know in the comments at the end of this page! Without further ado, here’s our list of skeleton puns:

  • Skeleton: As in, “A skeleton in the closet,” and “Skeleton crew.” Note: a skeleton in your closet refers to a secret you have that you want to continue hiding. A skeleton crew is the minimum amount of people for a team to still be able to function.
  • Bone: As in, “A bone to pick,” and “Dry as a bone,” and “Bag of bones,” and “Bone of contention,” and “Bone weary,” and “Chilled to the bone,” and “Close to the bone,” and “Doesn’t have a jealous bone in his body,” and “Feel it in your bones,” and “Jump someone’s bones,” and “Lazy bones,” and “Skin and bone,” and “Sticks and stones may break my bones and words can contribute to systemic oppression,” and “The bare bones,” and “Work one’s fingers to the bones.”
  • *bon* → *bone*: As in, “Bone-us (bonus),” and “Bone-anza (bonanza),” and “Bone-afide (bonafide),” and “Trombone,” and “Rib-bone (ribbon),” and “Car-bone (carbon),” and “Bour-bone (bourbon)” and “Bone-jour (bonjour)” and “Saxo-bone.”
  • Blown → Bone: As in, “Bone off course,” and “You’ve just bone it!” and “You’ve bone it out of proportion.”
  • Pony → Bony: As in, “A one-trick bony,” and “Show bony,” and “Bony up.” Notes: A one-trick pony is someone who has only one skill or specialisation. To pony up is to pay a bill or debt.
  • Born → Bone: As in, “A star is bone,” and “Bone this way,” and “Bone under a lucky star,” and “I wasn’t bone yesterday,” and “A natural bone leader.”
  • *lone → *bone: As in, “Home a-bone,” and “I want to be a-bone,” and “It’s bonely at the top,” and “Bonely hearts.”
  • Bond → Boned: As in, “James Boned,” and “I share a special boned with you.”
  • Phone → Bone: As in, “Hanging up the tele-bone,” and “Where’s my cellbone?”
  • Humorous → Humerus: As in, “These skeleton puns are not very humerus.” Note: the humerus is long bone in the upper arm.
  • To be → Tibia: As in, “Not all it’s cracked up tibia,” and “Nowhere tibia found,” and “Tibia perfectly honest,” and “Better tibia safe than sorry,” and “You’ve got tibia kidding.” Note: the tibia is the shinbone.
  • Skill* → Skull: As in, “Social skulls,” and “Very skullful,” and “This skull-et needs cleaning.”
  • Sculpt* → Skull-pt: As in, “I will skull-pt this character,” and “What a beautiful skull-pture.”
  • Skull: As in, “Bombed out of your skull.”
  • Nicolas Cage → Nicolas Ribcage
  • Ribs: As in, “Stop ribbing me,” and “Crack a rib laughing.” Note: ribbing is good-natured teasing.
  • *rib*: Emphasise the “rib” in certain words to make skeleton puns: “Distribute,” and “Contribute,” and “Attribute,” and “Ribbon,” and “Dribble,” and “Crib.”
  •  Funny Bone: As in, “Tickle your funny bone.” Note: If something tickles your funny bone, then you find something humorous (or more appropriately, humerus).
  •  Jaw: As in, “Jaw-dropping,” and “Jaws of death,” and “Snatching victory from the jaws of defeat,” and “Slack-jawed,” and “Jawbone,” and “Jawline,” and “Jaw-breaker.” Note: if you are slack-jawed, then your jaw is open and loose in an expression of astonishment.
  • Helicopter → Skelecopter: As in, “Skelecopter parent.” Note: a helicopter parent is one who is overprotective – always “hovering” around their child. 
  • Marrow: As in, “Frozen to the marrow.” Note: bone marrow is a type of tissue within bones that produces new blood cells.
  • Narrow → Marrow: As in, “Keep on the straight and marrow,” and “A marrow escape,” and “Marrow minded.”
  • Tomorrow → To-marrow: As in, “To-marrow is another day,” and “As if there were no to-marrow,” and “Here today, gone to-marrow,” and “Never put off until to-marrow what you can do today.”
  • Jack Sparrow → Jacks Marrow
  • Spine: As in, “Send shivers down your spine,” and “Spine-tingling,” and “Steely-spined.”
  • Spying → Spine: As in, “Are you spine on me?”
  • Sign → Spine: As in, “Give me a spine,” and “A spine of the times,” and “Spine on the dotted line,” and “Spined and sealed,” and “A tell-tale spine,” and “Vital spines,” and “Dollar spines,” and “A warning spine.”
  • Pine* → Spine*: As in, “Spine-apple flavoured,” and “Spine-ing away.” Note: to be pining is to long for someone or something.
  • Span* → Spine*: As in, “Put a spine-ner in the works,” and “Spick and spine,” and “Brand spine-king new.”
  • Fabulous → Fibula-ous: As in, “Absolutely fibula-ous.” Note: the fibula is the bone in your calf next to your shinbone (aka tibia).
  • Fib → Fibula: As in, “Stop telling fibulas.”
  • Fever → Femur: As in, “Cabin femur,” and “Femur pitch,” and “Jungle femur,” and “Running a femur,” and “Saturday night femur.” Notes: cabin fever is anxiety that stems from feeling cooped up in one place for too long. Fever pitch is a state of extremely strong emotion.
  • Carpool → Carpal: As in, “I think Uber allows for carpals now.” Note: carpooling is ride-sharing.
  • Carpe diem → Carpal diem (Note: carpe diem is Latin for “seize the day”, which is used as a motivational phrase.)
  • Draw → Jaw: As in, “Back to the jaw-ing board,” and “Jaw a blank,” and “Jaw a line in the sand,” and “Luck of the jaw,” and “Jaw your last breath,” and “Jaw the short straw.”
  • Drawer → Jaw-er: As in, “Bottom jaw-er,” and “Drop your jaw-ers.”
  • Stern → Sternum: As in, “Made of sternum stuff,” and “From stem to sternum.” Note: the sternum is the breastbone. If something is done from stem to stern, then it has been done completely and in its entirety, from one end to the other.
  • Turn him → Sternum: As in, “Sternum in to the police!”
  • Back → Backbone: As in, “As soon as my backbone is turned,” and “In the backbone of my mind,” and “Break your backbone,” and “Get off my backbone,” and “Like water off a duck’s backbone,” and “Watch your backbone,” and “Scratch my backbone and I’ll scratch yours.” Note: Water off a duck’s back refers to an attitude where criticism and judgement doesn’t bother you.
  • Bone → Backbone: As in, “A backbone to pick,” and “Dry as a backbone,” and “A bag of backbones,” and “A backbone to pick with you,” and “Backbone up on,” and “Chilled to the backbone,” and “Not a jealous backbone in his body,” and “Make no backbones about,” and “Bad to the backbone.” Notes: having a bone to pick with someone means having a disagreement that needs talking over.
  • Socket: As in, “Plug it into the socket.”
  • Knee: As in, “Down on bended knee,” and “Knee deep,” and “A knee-jerk reaction,” and “Shaking knees,” and “The bee’s knees.”
  • *nee* → *knee*: Make skeleton puns by changing words with a “nee” sound to “knee”: “Brai-knee (brainy),”, “Kneedle,” and “Kneedy,” and “Nomi-knee (nominee),”, “Trai-knee (trainee),”, “A-knee-time (anytime),”, “Abalo-knee,”, “Accompa-kneed,”, “Ac-knee (acne),”, “Ago-knee (agony),”, “Am-knee-sia (amnesia),”, “A-knee (any),” and “Brow-knee,”, “Bun-knee,” and “Ceremo-knee,”, “Chim-knee,”, “Compa-knee,”, “Pen-knee,”, “Harmo-knee-ca (harmonica),” and “Harmo-knee,” and “Glutto-knee,”, “Engi-knee-r (engineer),”, “Epipha-knee,” and “Felo-knee,” and “Fettuci-knee,”, “Ho-knee-dew (honeydew),” and “Ho-knee-moon,”, “Jour-knee,” and “Mahoga-knee,” and “Mille-knee-a (millenia),”, “Mi-knee,”, “Monoto-knee (monotony),” and “Knee-t (neat).” There are many other words that rhyme with or contain the sound “nee” so be creative!
  • Join/joined → Join-t: As in, “If you can’t beat ’em, join-t em,” and “Join-t forces,” and “Join-t hands in celebration,” and “Join-t the club,” and “Join-t the dots,” and “Joint at the hip.”
  • Joy → Joy-nt: As in, “Beside myself with joy-nt,” and “Bundle of joy-nt,” and “Joy-nt rider,” and “Joy-nt to the world,” and “My pride and joy-nt.”
  • High → Hyoid: As in, “Ain’t no mountain hyoid enough,” and “An all-time hyoid,” and “Hyoid as a kite,” and “Come hell or hyoid water,” and “Get off your hyoid horse,” and “Hyoid and mighty,” and “It’s hyoid time you put some effort in,” and “Hold your head hyoid,” and “Take the hyoid road.” Note: the hyoid is a bone in the neck.
  • Truth → Tooth: As in, “An inconvenient tooth,” and “Economical with the tooth,” and “Tell the tooth!” and “Face the tooth,” and “A kernel of tooth,” and “The naked tooth,” and “Sniff out the tooth,” and “Tooth is stranger than fiction,” and “You can’t handle the tooth!” and “A toothful character.” Note: to be economical with the truth is to make efforts to avoid revealing too much of the truth.
  • Tooth: As in, “Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth,” and “Fight tooth and nail,” and “A sweet tooth.”
  • Knock → Knuckle: As in, “Don’t knuckle it til you’ve tried it,” and “I get knuckle’d down, but I get up again,” and “Knuckle back a few,” and “Knuckle heads together,” and “Knuckle into shape,” and “Knuckle it out of the park,” and “Knuckle it off!” and “Knuckle on wood,” and “Knuckle me sideways,” and “Knuckle your socks off,” and “Opportunity only knuckles once,” and “Knuckle me down with a feather.” Notes: Don’t knock it til you’ve tried it means to not criticise something until you understand it.
  • Tell us → Talus: As in, “Talus something new,” and “Talus a story!” Note: the talus is a bone in the ankle joint.
  • Bow and arrow → Bone and marrow
  • Lumberjack → Lumbarjack (Note: the lumbar is the lower part of the spine.)
  • Cock* → Coccyx: As in, “Proud as a pea-coccyx,” and “A coccyx and bull story.” Note: a cock and bull story is an unbelievable or implausible story.
  • I’ll not → Ulna’t: As in, “Don’t worry, ulna’t tell anyone.” (Note: the ulna is the long bone in the forearm.)
  • Uma Thurman → Ulna Thurman 

Skeleton-Related Words

To help you come up with your own skeleton puns, here’s a list of related words to get you on your way. If you come up with any new puns or related words, please feel free to share them in the comments!

skeleton, skeletal, bone, endoskeleton, humerus, jaw, phalange, skull, socket, joint, rib cage, funny bone, tibia, marrow, spine, fibula, femur, patella, cranium, carpal, sternum, backbone, knuckle, coccyx, scapula, knee, pelvis, hyoid, clavicle, tooth, vertebrate, fracture, calcium

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