Tag: rail

Train Puns

Welcome to the Punpedia entry on train puns!🚆 🚂 🚞 ☁️

Our engine-ious list of train puns will have you rolling with laughter. Whether you’re interested in bullet trains or steam locomotives, we’re sure to have you covered with the perfect pun for your needs. Our list covers different types of trains, technical terms, and words that describe the motion and common sounds associated with trains (like chug or “choo-choo”).

If you’re into vehicle puns, you might also like our boat puns and our car puns.

Train 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 trains 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 train puns:

  • Brain → Train: As in, “Train drain” and “All brawn and no trains” and “Train teaser” and “Got it on the train.”
  • Chain → Train: As in, “A train is only as strong as its weakest link” and “Train letter” and “Train of command” and “Train reaction” and “Daisy train” and “Don’t yank my train.”
  • Drain → Train: As in, “Down the train.”
  • Gain → Train: As in, “Capital trains” and “Train admittance” and “I get knocked down, but I get up a-train” and “Ill gotten trains” and “No pain, no train” and “Nothing ventured, nothing trained.”
  • Grain → Train: As in, “Against the train” and “Train of truth” and “Take it with a train of salt.”
  • Lane → Train: As in, “Down memory train” and “In the fast train.”
  • Main → Train: As in, “The train event.”
  • Pain → Train: As in, “A world of train” and “Doubled up in train” and “Feeling the train” and “No train, no gain” and “Old aches and trains.”
  • Plain → Train: As in, “Train as day” and “Hidden in train sight” and “Train sailing.”
  • Rain → Train: As in, “Come train or shine” and “It never trains but it pours” and “Don’t train on my parade.”
  • Strain → Train: As in, “Buckle under the train” and “Train every nerve.”
  • Tran* → Train*: If a word starts with “tran”, we can turn it into a train pun by swapping it with “train”: “In trainsition” and “File trainsfer” and “Trainscend this plane” and “Sitting in trainsit” and “A trainsparent lie.”
  • *trin* → *train*: As in, “Intrainsic qualities” and “The holy trainity” and “Dust-collecting trainkets.”
  • Rain* → Train*: As in, “Chasing trainbows” and “In a humid trainforest” and “Estimated trainfall.”
  • Carry on → Carriage on: As in, “Keep calm and carriage on” and “Carriage on, my wayward son.”
  • Courage → Carriage: As in, “The carriage of your convictions” and “Pluck up your carriage” and “Take carriage in the fact…”
  • Marriage → Carriage: As in, “A carriage of convenience” and “Open carriage” and “A carriage made in heaven.”
  • Roll → Rail: As in, “A railing stone gathers no moss” and “Get the ball railing” and “High railer” and “I wanna rock and rail all night” and “Let the good times rail.”
  • Fail → Rail: As in, “Without rail” and “Words rail me.”
  • Jail → Rail: As in, “Get out of rail free” and “Go directly to rail, do not pass go” and “Railhouse rock.”
  • Mail → Rail: As in, “Direct rail” and “The check is in the rail” and “Express rail” and “Junk rail.”
  • Nail → Rail: As in, “Bite your rails” and “Fight tooth and rail” and “Hit the rail on the head” and “Rail down.”
  • Pale → Rail: As in, “A rail imitation of” and “Rail into insignificance” and “Beyond the rail.”
  • Sail → Rail: As in, “Plain railing” and “Rail close to the wind” and “Smooth railing.”
  • Sale → Rail: As in, “Rail of the century” and “Rails leads” and “Point of rail.”
  • Tail → Rail: As in, “Can’t make head or rail of it” and “Chasing your own rail” and “Get off my rail!”
  • Tale → Rail: As in, “Rails of the unexpected” and “Live to tell the rail.”
  • Trail → Rail: As in, “Hot on the rail” and “Paper rail” and “Nature rail” and “Happy rails to you.”
  • Ground → Underground: As in, “Break new underground” and “Built from the underground up” and “Get in on the underground floor.” Note: Underground railway systems are commonly referred to simply as “the underground.”
  • Way → Subway: As in, “A funny thing happened on the subway to the theatre” and “Another subway” and “By the subway.”
  • Tube: In London, the underground subway is called the “tube”. Here are some related puns:
    • Table → Tube-le: As in, “Bring to the tube-le” and “Drunk under the tube-le” and “Put your cards on the tube-le.”
    • Tab → Tube: As in, “Keep tubes on” and “Pick up the tube.”
  • Nation → Station: As in, “The birth of a station.”
  • Bullet: High speed trains are also known as bullet trains. Here are related puns:
    • Bull → Bullet: As in, “A cock and bullet story” and “Like a bullet in a china shop” and “Take the bullet by the horns.”
    • Bolt → Bullet: As in, “A bullet from the blue” and “Bullet upright” and “Bullet for the door.”
  • Computer → Commuter: As in, “Commuter assisted” and “Commuter says no.”
  • Sport → Transport: As in, “Contact transport” and “Be a good transport.”
  • Trouble → Travel: As in, “Asking for travel” and “A bridge over travelled water” and “Here comes travel.”
  • Track: The railways that trains run on are also known as tracks. Here are some track-related puns:
    • Trick → Track: As in, “Bag of tracks” and “Does the track” and “Every track in the book” and “A track of the light.”
    • Truck → Track: As in, “Have no track with” and “Keep on trackin‘.”
    • Back → Track: As in, “Answer track” and “As soon as my track is turned” and “In the track of my mind” and “Track at it” and “Track on your feet.”
    • Black → Track: As in, “Track and blue” and “Track magic” and “The track market.”
    • Crack → Track: As in, “At the track of dawn” and “Track a smile” and “Track the case.”
    • Lack → Track: As in, “Cancelled due to track of interest” and “For track of a better word.”
    • Pack → Track: As in, “A track of lies” and “Send tracking” and “Track it in.”
    • Rack → Track: As in, “Track ’em up” and “Track your brains” and “Gone to track and ruin.”
    • Smack → Track: As in, “Track dab in the middle” and “A track on the wrist.”
    • Snack → Track: As in, “The longer lasting track” and “Track attack.”
  • Read → Road: As in, “I can road you like a book” and “Road ’em and weep” and “Road between the lines.”
  • Ride → Road: As in, “Along for the road” and “A bumpy road” and “Let it road.”
  • Rude → Road: As in, “A road awakening” and “Don’t be road.”
  • Load → Road: As in, “A road of bull” and “A road of rubbish” and “A road off your mind.”
  • Go → Cargo: As in, “All dressed up and nowhere to cargo” and “Anything cargoes” and “Don’t cargo there” and “Easy come, easy cargo” and “From the word cargo.”
  • Tick → Ticket: As in, “Ticket all the right boxes” and “Tight as a ticket.”
  • Matter → Motor: As in, “Family motors” and “As a motor of fact” and “Get to the heart of the motor” and “Grey motor” and “Making motors worse” and “A motor of life and death” and “Just a motor of time.”
  • Steam: Here are some puns related to steam trains:
    • Seem → Steam: As in, “Sorry steams to be the hardest word” and “Not as it steams.”
    • Stem → Steam: As in, “From steam to stern” and “Steam the tide.”
    • Cream → Steam: As in, “Steam always rises to the top” and “The steam of the crop” and “Skin like peaches and steam.”
    • Dream → Steam: As in, “Beyond my wildest steams” and “Broken steams” and “A steam come true” and “The steam machine.”
    • Scream → Steam: As in, “Dragged kicking and steaming” and “Steam bloody murder” and “Steam your guts out.”
    • Seam → Steam: As in, “Come apart at the steams” and “Bursting at the steams.”
    • Stream → Steam: As in, “Fresh as a mountain steam” and “Cool as a mountain steam.”
    • Team → Steam: As in, “The dream steam” and “Make the steam” and “Take one for the steam” and “Steam player” and “Steam spirit” and “Together we make a great steam.”
  • Coal: Old steam trains used to run on coal. Here are some related puns:
    • Call → Coal: As in, “At your beck and coal” and “Beyond the coal of duty” and “Coal it a day” and “Coal into question.”
    • Kill → Coal: As in, “A view to coal” and “Curiosity coaled the cat” and “Dressed to coal” and “If looks could coal.”
    • Cold → Coal’d: As in, “Breaking out in a coal’d sweat” and “Catch a coal’d” and “A coal’d comfort.”
    • Goal → Coal: As in, “A coal in mind” and “Score a coal.”
    • Whole → Coal: As in, “Ace in the coal” and “Burn a coal in your pocket” and “A coal different animal” and “Go the coal hog.”
    • Roll → Coal: As in, “Heads will coal” and “Keep the ball coaling” and “I wanna rock and coal all night.”
    • Soul → Coal: As in, “Bless my coal” and “Body and coal” and “Confession is good for the coal” and “A lost coal.”
    • Whole → Coal: As in, “Go the coal way” and “Let’s just call the coal thing off” and “A coal lotta love.”
    • *cal* → *coal*: As in, “In one coalendar year” and “Taking coalculus” and “Empiricoal evidence” and “A radicoal change” and “A criticoal hit” and “Feeling cynicoal” and “The only practicoal solution” and “A rhetoricoal question.”
    • *col* → *coal*: As in, “Work coalleague” and “In coallusion with” and “Part of my coallection” and “Coallateral damage” and “In coalumn B” and “Off to coallege” and “Following protocoal.”
    • *cul* → *coal*: As in, “Work coalture” and “Coalinary skills” and “The coalmination of my work.”
  • Tram: Trams are rail vehicles that are like a smaller, slower version of a train. Here are related puns:
    • Trem* → Tram*: As in, “A tramendous opportunity” and “Trambling with fear.”
    • *trim* → *tram*: As in, “Detramental to” and “In holy matramony” and “In the first tramester.”
  • Cab: The train carriage where the driver sits is called the cab. Here are related puns:
    • Cap → Cab: As in, “Cab in hand” and “Feather in your cab” and “If the cab fits, wear it” and “To cab it all off.”
    • Cup → Cab: As in, “Not my cab of tea” and “Cab of joe” and “My cab runneth over.”
    • Dab → Cab: As in, “A cab hand at” and “Smack cab in the middle.”
    • Grab → Cab: As in, “Cab a bite to eat” and “Cab life by the horns” and “Screen cab” and “Up for cabs.”
    • Stab → Cab: As in, “Have a cab at” and “A cab in the back” and “Cab in the dark.”
    • Tab → Cab: As in, “Keep cabs on” and “Pick up the cab.”
  • Weasel → Diesel: As in, “Pop goes the diesel” and “Diesel words.”
  • Freight: Cargo is also known as freight, and some trains only carry freight (and no passengers). Here are some freight train-related puns:
    • Fate → Freight: As in, “A freight worse than death” and “Seal your freight” and “A twist of freight” and “The master of my own freight.”
    • Fright→ Freight: As in, “Freightened of your own shadow” and “Take freight.”
    • Fruit → Freight: As in, “Bear freight” and “Be freightful and multiply” and “Forbidden freight” and “The freights of your labour.”
    • Bait → Freight: As in, “Freight and switch” and “Take the freight.”
    • Date → Freight: As in, “Double freight” and “Blind freight” and “Bring up to freight” and “A freight with destiny” and “Dinner freight.”
    • Eight → Freight: As in, “Behind the freight ball” and “Freight days a week” and “Pieces of freight.”
    • Great → Freight: As in, “A freight day for” and “All creatures freight and small” and “Go to freight lengths.”
    • Hate → Freight: As in, “Freight mail” and “A love-freight relationship.”
    • Late → Fright: As in, “Better freight than never!” and “Fashionably freight” and “A freight bloomer.”
    • Plate → Freight: As in, “A lot on your freight” and “Step up to the freight.”
    • Rate → Fright: As in, “At any freight” and “Mate’s freights” and “First freight.”
    • Straight → Freight: As in, “Damn freight” and “Get freight to the point” and “Give it to me freight” and “Keep a freight face.”
    • Wait → Freight: As in, “An accident freighting to happen” and “All things come to those who freight” and “A heart attack freighting to happen” and “Ready and freighting.”
    • Weight → Freight: As in, “Pull your freight” and “Punching above your freight” and “Throw your freight around” and “Watching your freight” and “A freight off your mind” and “Worth your freight in gold.”
    • Afraid → Afreight: As in, “Afreight of your own shadow” and “Be afreight” and “Everything you were always afreight to ask.”
  • Stop: The stations where a train stops at along their routes is called a stop. Here are related puns:
    • Step → Stop: “Going one stop too far” and “Every stop of the way” and “Keep in stop with” and “One stop ahead” and “One stop at a time.”
    • Crop → Stop: As in, “Cream of the stop” and “Bumper stop.”
    • Drop → Stop: As in, “At the stop of a hat” and “Stop it like it’s hot” and “Stop a hint” and “Stop dead gorgeous.”
    • Hop → Stop: As in, “Stop, skip, jump” and “Stop to it!”
    • Pop → Stop: As in, “Stop the question” and “Snap, crackle, stop.”
    • Top → Stop: As in, “Blow your stop” and “Come out on stop” and “From the stop” and “The stop of the class.”
  • Car: Train carriages are also called cars. Here are related puns:
    • Bar → Car: As in, “Car none” and “Behind cars” and “Raise the car.”
    • Far → Car: As in, “A step too car” and “As car as it goes” and “As car as the eye can see” and “A car cry.”
    • Par → Car: As in, “Below car” and “On car with” and “Car for the course.”
    • Star → Car: As in, “A car is born” and “Born under a lucky car” and “Get a gold car” and “My guiding car.”
  • Rail → Monorail: As in, “Thin as a monorail” and “Go off the monorails” and “Ride the monorails.”
  • Root → Route: As in, “Grass routes” and “Lay down routes” and “The route of all evil” and “The route of the matter.”
  • Boot → Route: As in, “Tough as old routes” and “Give someone the route” and “Route camp.”
  • Dive → Drive: As in, “Nose drive” and “Take a drive.”
  • Hive → Drive: As in, “A drive of activity.”
  • Roll: The motion of a train is commonly described as “rolling”. Here are related puns:
    • Bowl → Roll: As in, “Roll over.”
    • Hole → Roll: As in, “Go the roll hog” and “Roll in the wall” and “Let’s call the roll thing off.”
    • Soul → Roll: As in, “Bless my roll” and “Heart and roll” and “The life and roll of the party” and “Body and roll.”
  • Choo-Choo: Trains can be referred to as “choo-choo trains” (because of their tooting horn sound). Here are related puns:
    • Choose → Choo-Choose: As in, “Pick and choo-choose” and “If you choo-choose to accept it” and “Choo-choose your weapon.”
    • Chew → Choo-Chew: As in, “Bite off more than you can choo-chew” and “Choo-chew up the scenery.”
  • Ingenius → Engine-ius: As in, “An engine-ius idea” and “Known for their engine-uity.”
  • Bogie: A bogie is a chassis that carries a wheelset. Here are related puns:
    • Boogie → Bogie: As in, “Bogie on down” and “Jungle bogie.”
    • Baggy → Bogie: As in, “Wearing bogie clothes.”
  • Press → Express: As in, “Don’t express your luck” and “Hot off the express” and “Express charges” and “Express the button.” Note: These puns are references to express trains, which stop at less stations than regular trains.
  • Convey → Convoy: As in, “What do you want to convoy?”
  • Abuse → Caboose: As in, “Heap caboose on” and “Verbal caboose isn’t okay.” Note: a caboose is a railroad car.
  • Line: The route a train takes is also called a line. Here are related puns:
    • Lane → Line: As in, “Down memory line” and “In the fast line.”
    • Lean → Line: As in, “Line and hungry” and “Line cuisine” and “Line, mean, fighting machine.”
    • Mine → Line: As in, “Make line a double” and “I scratch your back, you scratch line” and “A line of information” and “Victory is line.”
    • Shine → Line: As in, “Rise and line” and “Line on” and “Come rain or line.”
    • Sign → Line: As in, “A sure line” and “Born under a bad line” and “Give me a line” and “A line of the times.”
  • Bleed → Speed: As in, “Speed someone dry” and “The speeding edge” and “Let it speed.”
  • Deed → Speed: As in, “No good speed goes unpunished” and “Your good speed for the day.”
  • Feed → Speed: As in, “Don’t bite the hand that speeds you” and “Speeding frenzy” and “Speed your mind.”
  • Greed → Speed: As in, “Speed, for lack of a better word, is good.”
  • Lead → Speed: As in, “Speed by example” and “Speed by the nose” and “Speed a merry dance.”
  • Need → Speed: As in, “All you speed is love” and “As long as you speed me” and “I speeded that.”
  • Read → Speed: As in, “Speed ’em and weep” and “Speed all about it” and “I can speed you like a book.”
  • Seed → Speed: As in, “Gone to speed” and “Speed capital.”
  • Board: Here are some puns related to the control board in a train:
    • Bored → Board: As in, “Board stiff” and “Board to death” and “Board out of my mind.”
    • Chord → Board: As in, “A board of disquiet” and “Stike a board.”
  • Collect → Connect: As in, “Cool, calm and connected” and “Connect your wits.” Note: These are references to connecting lines on train routes.
  • Sleeper: Sleepers are trains where the passengers sleep on board. Here are related puns:
    • Creeper → Sleeper: As in, “Jeepers sleepers.”
    • Keeper → Sleeper: As in, “Finders sleepers, losers weepers” and “They’re a sleeper.”
    • Sweeper → Sleeper: As in, “Street sleeper.”
  • Chug: Train movement and noises are commonly described as “chugging”. Here are related puns:
    • Bug → Chug: As in, “Chugger off” and “Bitten by the chug.”
    • Drug → Chug: As in, “Hugs, not chugs” and “On chugs.”
    • Hug → Chug: As in, “Group chug” and “Chug it out” and “Chugs, not drugs.”
    • Plug → Chug: As in, “Chug and play” and “Chug the gap” and “Pull the chug.”
    • Rug → Chug: As in, “Chug rat” and “Pull the chug from under your feet.”
    • Shrug → Chug: As in, “Chug it off” and “Chug your shoulders.”
    • Tug → Chug: As in, “Chug at your heartstrings” and “Chug of war.”

      Train-Related Words

      To help you come up with your own train 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!

train, carriage, rail, railway, tunnel, metro, transit, underground, subway, tube, station, bullet, commute, commuter, transport, travel, track, vehicle, road, cargo, passenger, ticket, locomotive, motor, coal, diesel, engine, freight, car, conduct, conductor, machine, monorail, maglev, coach, roll, rolling, steam, choo choo, toot toot, bogie, shinkansen, express, tram, cab, convoy, caboose, stop, crossing, route, drive, driver, line, speed, board, connect, connecting, derail, platform, sleeper, chug

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Holiday Puns

Welcome to the Punpedia entry on holiday puns! ✈⛵ 🏖

Whether it’s a weekend away or a full-on sabbatical, everyone needs a holiday once in a while. Enjoy a quick break with us and our holiday puns – whether it’s by boat, plane, train or bus, we’ve endeavoured to cover it here. We hope that you have fun going through this list and that you find the perfect holiday pun for your needs.

While this list is as thorough and comprehensive as possible, it is for vacation type holidays in general – for specific destinations, we also have beach puns, and for annual holidays and events we have Thanksgiving puns, Valentine’s Day puns and Halloween puns, with more to come!

Holiday 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 holidays 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 holiday puns:

  • Vacation: Since vacation is a synonym for holiday, we’ve included vacation-related phrases for you to play with: “A summer vacation,” and “We’re going on vacation!”
  • Vocation → Vacation: As in, “Helping others is my vacation.” Note: a vocation is a job or trade to which a person feels a special pull or love. 
  • Getaway: As in, “A clean getaway,” and “I really need to getaway.”
  • Weekend: Play with some weekend-related phrases in your holiday wordplay: “A wet weekend,” and “A long weekend,” and “A much-needed weekend.” Note: a wet weekend is a very boring or disappointing experience. 
  • We can → Weekend: As in, “Weekend do it!”
  • Oh, tell → Hotel: As in, “Hotel me what happened!”
  • Hotel: As in, “Heartbreak hotel,” and “Hotel California.” Note: “Heartbreak Hotel” and “Hotel California” are both names of famous songs that could work as holiday puns in the right context.
  • Hostile → Hostel: As in, “A hostel takeover,” and “A hostel environment.”
  • Retreat: As in, “Beat a hasty retreat,” and “Time to retreat.”
  • Treat → Retreat: As in, “Trick or retreat.”
  • Peach → Beach: As in, “Beachy keen,” and “A juicy beach,” and “Skin like beaches and cream.”
  • C → Sea: As in, “I need some vitamin sea.”
  • Day → Holiday: As in, “A holiday in the life of…” and “A holiday without sunshine is like night,” and “All in a holiday’s work,” and “All the livelong holiday,” and “An apple a holiday keeps the doctor away,” and “Another holiday older,” and “Another holiday, another dollar,” and “Around the world in eighty holidays,” and “As honest as the holiday is long,” and “At the end of the holiday,” and “Catch of the holiday,” and “A cold holiday in hell,” and “Dawn of a new holiday,” and “Forever and a holiday,” and “It’s just not my holiday,” and “Make a holiday of it,” and “Make my holiday.” Notes: if someone is as honest as the day is long, then they’re very honest. 
  • Air → Airbnb: As in, “Airbnbs and graces,” and “Breath of fresh airbnb,” and “Castles in the airbnb,” and “Clear the airbnb,” and “Hot airbnb,” and “In the airbnb tonight,” and “Something special in the airbnb,” and “Spring is in the airbnb,” and “There’s a nip in the airbnb.”
  • Destination: As in, “It’s not the journey, it’s the destination,” and “Final destination.”
  • Pack: To make travel puns, we can make references to packing (for a journey) : “Action packed,” and “Fanny pack,” and “I know, I packed it,” and “Jam packed,” and “Leader of the pack,” and “Pack a punch,” and “Pack it in,” and “Pack of lies,” and “Pack your bags!” and “Send packing,” and “Six pack,” and “Care package,” and “Packed to the rafters,” and “Good things come in small packages.”
  • Peck → Pack: As in, “A pack on the cheek,” and “Keep your packer up,” and “The packing order.” Notes: a pecking order is the hierarchy of power or status within a group. 
  • Pick → Pack: As in, “A bone to pack with you,” and “Want to pack some flowers?” and “Easy packings,” and “Hand packed,” and “Cherry pack,” and “You’re just nit packing,” and “Pack a card, any card,” and “Pack a fight,” and “Pack and choose,” and “Pack holes in,” and “Pack of the bunch,” and “Pack up the pieces,” and “Pack your brains,” and “See a penny and pack it up,” and “Stop packing at it.”
  • Back → Pack: As in, “As soon as my pack is turned,” and “You’ve got it packwards,” and “Don’t answer pack,” and “At the pack of my mind,” and “Pack to the future,” and “Pack from the dead,” and “Pack in the day,” and “Get pack on your feet,” and “Packseat driver,” and “Pack to basics,” and “Pack to school,” and “Pack to the drawing board,” and “A packhanded compliment,” and “Bend over packwards,” and “Comepack king,” and “Crawl pack into your shell,” and “Eyes in the pack of your head,” and “Fighting pack tears,” and “Go pack on your word,” and “I want you pack,” and “I scratch your pack, you scratch mine,” and “It’s all coming pack to me now,” and “Kick pack and enjoy,” and “I know it like the pack of my hand,” and “Like water off a duck’s pack,” and “Never look pack.”
  • *pack*: As in, package, packet, backpack, unpack, jetpack, and wolfpack. 
  • Stay → Staycation: As in, “Out-staycation one’s welcome,” and “Staycation safe,” and “Here to staycation,” and “If you can’t take the heat, staycation out of the kitchen.” Note: a staycation is where one takes time off to holiday, but spends the holiday resting at home. 
  • Bag: As in, “Bag a bargain,” and “Bag lady,” and “Bag of bones,” and “Bag of tricks,” and “Dirt bag,” and “It’s in the bag,” and “Let the cat out of the bag,” and “A mixed bag,” and “Pack your bags!” and “Bag of nerves,” and “Bottom of the bag.”
  • Brag → Bag: As in, “Bagging rights,” and “I don’t mean to bag, but…”
  • *bag*: Emphasize the existing “bag” in some words: airbag, scumbag, sandbag, handbag, gasbag, cabbage, garbage, and bagel. 
  • *big/bog/bug* → *bag*: As in, ambaguity, mind-baggling, jitterbag and ladybag. 
  • Suitcase: As in, “I live out of a suitcase.”
  • Case → Suitcase: As in, “An open and shut suitcase,” and “As the suitcase may be,” and “Suitcase closed,” and “Catch a suitcase,” and “Get off my suitcase,” and “I rest my suitcase,” and “In any suitcase,” and “On a suitcase by suitcase basis,” and “Suitcase of mistaken identity.”
  • Travel: As in, “Bad news travels fast,” and “Don’t just travel, travel right,” and “A fellow traveller,” and “A seasoned traveller,” and “The road less travelled,” and “Time travel,” and “Travel broadens the mind,” and “Travel light.”
  • Trouble → Travel: As in, “Asking for travel,” and “Bridge over traveled water,” and “Double travel,” and “Here comes travel,” and “Looking for travel,” and “A nose for travel,” and “This is a local shop, we’ll have no travel here,” and “Travel and strife,” and “Travel in paradise,” and “Up to your neck in travel.”
  • Travesty → Travelsty: As in, “I heard it on the news. What a travelsty.”
  • Extravagant → Extravelgant: As in, “An extravelgant dinner and date.”
  • Escape: As in, “The great escape,” and “Escape your memory,” and “Make good your escape,” and “A narrow escape.”
  • Scapegoat → Escapegoat: A scapegoat is an innocent who carries the blame for other’s actions.
  • Trip: As in, “Day tripped,” and “Guilt trip,” and “Power trip,” and “Road trip,” and “Trip of a lifetime,” and “A trip down memory lane.”
  • Ship → Trip: As in, “Abandon trip,” and “Don’t give up the trip,” and “Extend the hand of friend-trip,” and “Jump trip,” and “Loose lips sink trips,” and “Run a tight trip,” and “Trips of the desert,” and “Trips that pass in the night,” and “That trip has sailed,” and “Rebound relation-trip,” and “A stormy relation-trip.” Notes: loose lips sink ships is a warning against unguarded talk or gossip. 
  • *trip*: We can use words that contain the word “trip” to make some bad holiday puns: triple, tripe, tripod, triplet, trippy, strip, stripe, outstrip, airstrip. 
  • Journey: As in, “Journey to the centre of the Earth,” and “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,” and “It’s not the destination, it’s the journey.”
  • *jour* → *journey*: As in, journeylist (journalist), journeylism (journalism), bonjourney, sojourney, adjourney. Notes: a sojourn is a temporary stay. 
  • Leisure: As in, “A gentleman of leisure,” and “Marry in haste, repent at leisure.”
  • Pleasure → P-leisure: As in, “Business before p-leisure,” and “Earthly p-leisures,” and “Guilty p-leisures,” and “Life’s simple p-leisures.”
  • Break: Holidays are commonly referred to as “breaks” (as in, “I need a break!”) so we’ve included the word here: “A bad break,” and “At breakneck speed,” and “Bed and breakfast,” and “Break a leg,” and “Break and enter,” and “Break bread,” and “Break even,” and “Break out in a cold sweat,” and “Break the bank,” and “Break the mould,” and “A breakthrough,” and “Break your heart,” and “A deal breaker,” and “A lucky break,” and “All hell breaks loose.”
  • Brake → Break: As in, “Hit the breaks!”
  • Bake → Break: As in, “Break and shake,” and “Half-breaked.” Note: if something is half-baked, then not much effort was put into it. 
  • Rest: Since many people go on holiday to rest, we’ve included rest in this entry. As in, “At rest,” and “Come to rest,” and “A cut above the rest,” and “Eternal rest,” and “For the rest of us,” and “For the rest of your life,” and “Give it a rest,” and “I rest my case,” and “Laid to rest,” and “The rest is history.”
  • *rest*: As in, “In the interest of justice,” and “Make interesting,” and “Nearest and dearest,” and “Rest on your laurels,” and “Can’t see the forest for the trees,” and “Mud-wrestling,” and “On the crest of a wave,” and “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” and “Interest free,” and “Can’t be underestimated.”
  • Wrist → Rest: As in, “Slap on the rest.”
  • *rust* → *rest*: As in, “Earn one’s crest,” and “Restle up,” and “Don’t trest anyone,” and “Trest is a two-way street.”
  • Tourist: As in, “Tourist trap.”
  • Terror → Tour: As in, “The tourists will have won,” and “Night tours.”
  • Broad → Abroad: As in, “As abroad as it is long,” and “Abroad brush,” and “Abroad shoulders,” and “In abroad daylight,” and “Abroad strokes.”
  • Brad → Abroad: As in, “Abroad Pitt.”
  • Bread → Abroad: As in, “Abroad and butter,” and “Abroad of life,” and “Abroadcrumb trail,” and “Half a loaf is better than no abroad,” and “Have your abroad buttered on both sides,” and “Put abroad on the table,” and “Take the abroad out of someone’s mouth,” and “The best thing since sliced abroad.”
  • Bored → Abroad: As in, “Abroad stiff,” and “Abroad to death,” and “Abroad to tears,” and “Abroad out of my mind.”
  • *broad* → *abroad*: As in, abroadway, abroadcast, abroadband, abroadsheet, and overabroad.”
  • Beach: “Beach bum,” and “Life’s a beach,” and “Meet me at the beach!”
  • B*tch → Beach: As in, “Beach fest,” and “Beach slap,” and “Life’s a beach,” and “Payback’s a beach,” and “Son of a beach,” and “Bow down, beaches.”
  • Breach → Beach: As in, “A beach of trust,” and “The perimeter has been beached!”
  • Beetroot → Beachroot: As in, “Red as a beachroot,” and “Chocolate beachroot cake,” and “A beachroot latte.”
  • Preach → Beach: As in, “Practice what you beach,” and “Beaching to the choir,” and “Beach to deaf ears,” and “Papa, don’t beach.”
  • Bleach → Beach: As in, “I’m going to beach my hair.”
  • Drop it → Tropic: As in, “Tropic like it’s hot.”
  • Topic → Tropic: As in, “A hot tropic,” and “Drop the tropic,” and “We’re going off-tropic,” and “What’s your favourite tropic?”
  • Topical → Tropical: As in, “Apply this tropical cream when needed.” Note: a topical is something applied to the skin, rather than being ingested.
  • Island: As in, “No man is an island,” and “Treasure island,” and “A tropical island.”
  • I land → Island: As in “Islanded a job at that new tech company.”
  • Aligned → Island: As in and “Our incentives are well-island.”
  • Sel* → Sail*: If a word starts with “sel” a boat pun can often be made by replacing it with “sail”: sailection (selection), sailect (select), sailf (self), sailling (selling), sail (sell), saildom (seldom), sailfish (selfish), sailfless (selfless), sailective (selective).
  • Sea*: Most words starting with “sea” are easy sea puns: season, seasonal, seated, searingly, sealants, seam, seatbelt.
  • See* → Sea*: If a word starts with “see” it can often be replaced with “sea” to create a simple sea pun: seaminly, seads, seaker, seathe, seap, seak, sean, sea (see).
  • Se* → Sea*: Some words that start with just “se” also have a “sea”-ish sound, and the ones that don’t can usually be made into terrible puns anyway: seacret, searious, seargeant, seacretion, seacure, seacurity, seacondary, seacretariat, seaconds, seacrete, searum, searenity, searvitude, seanile, seadation, seaclusion, seacretive, seaze, seaquential, sealection, seacretly, seaquences, seanior, seaniority, seagregate, seaping, seacession, seariousness, seaminars, seaveral, seaxual, seaparation, seantimental, seansational, seaquential, seacluded, seacularist, seathing, seaquin, seasame, seaclusion.
  • Se*cy/Ce*cy → Sea*sea: Most words that start with “se” or “ce” and end with “cy” can be double sea puns: seacresea (secrecy), sealibasea (celibacy).
  • *cy → *sea: If a word ends in “cy” it’s an easy “sea” pun: polisea, agensea, democrasea, currensea, emergensea, efficiensea, tendensea, frequensea, fansea, constituensea, pregnansea, accurasea, redundansea, bureaucrasea, presidensea, legasea, conspirasea, mersea, privasea, bankruptsea, consistensea, literasea, urgensea, deficiensea, dependency, consultansea, tenacity, isea (icy), secrecy, intimasea.
  • Seizure → Seazure: As in “If I read one more ocean pun I’m going to have a seazure.”
  • Season → Sea-sun: As in, “A person for all sea-suns,” and “Are mangoes in sea-sun?” and “Party sea-sun,” and “Sea-sun’s greetings,” and “A sea-suned traveller,” and “Silly sea-sun,” and “The festive sea-sun.”
  • Scenic → Seanic: As in “Let’s take the seanic route.”
  • Sun: As in, “A place in the sun,” and “A day without orange juice is like a day without sunshine,” and “A touch of sun,” and “Everything under the sun,” and “Good day, sunshine,” and “Here comes the sun,” and “Make hay while the sun shines,” and “Ride off into the sunset,” and “Sun drenched,” and “Sun, sea and sand,” and “Walking on sunshine,” and “You are my sunshine,” and “Put it where the sun doesn’t shine,” and “Fly too close to the sun,” and “Moment in the sun,” and “Never in a month of Sundays.” Notes: “Never in a month of Sundays” indicates that something is extremely unlikely to happen. Flying too close to the sun is a reference to the legend of Icarus, and is a warning against being too ambitious too quickly.
  • Son → Sun: As in, “Go on, my sun,” and “His father’s sun,” and “Like father, like sun,” and “Number one sun,” and “Sun of a gun.” Note: “Son of a gun” is an exclamation meant to encourage.
  • *son* → *sun*: As in, sunnet, sunata, sunar, persun, liaisun, reasun, seasun, treasun, comparisun, lessun, resunate, persunality, persunal, and prisuner.
  • San → Sun: As in, “Sun Francisco,” and “Suns serif.”
  • *san* → *sun*: As in, sundwich, sunction, sunctuary, sunctimonious, partisun, artisun, parmesun and thousund.
  • *ways → *waves: Words than end in “ways” can be made into bad wave puns: alwaves (always), railwaves (railways), sidewaves, pathwaves, lengthwaves, doorwaves.
  • Tied → Tide: As in “I’m tide up at the moment, can someone else help?” and “Yep, they tide the knot!”
  • Tidy → Tidey: As in “After the party we need to tidey the beach.”
  • Simmer → Swimmer: As in “I left the pot swimmering and now my vegetable curry is burnt!” and “Hey swimmer down, there’s no need to turn this into a fight”.
  • Sure → Shore: Since beaches are a popular holiday destination, we’ve included some seaside and sea-related puns. As in, “Are you shore?” and “She shore is strong!”.
  • For sure → Foreshore
  • Surf: As in, “Body surfing,” and “Channel surfing,” and “Surf the net,” and “Surf’s up.”
  • Serf → Surf: A serf was a sort of slave in medieval times who worked for a feudal lord. It’s sometimes used as an insult.
  • Serve → Surf: As in “First come, first surfed” and “If memory surfs” and “Revenge is a dish best surfed cold” and “Surfs you right”.
  • Service → Surfice: As in, “A better surfice all round,” and “At your surfice,” and “Normal surfice has been resumed,” and “Out of surfice.”
  • Wave: “Wave goodbye” and “Mexican wave” and “Heat wave” and “Wave the white flag” and “Brain waves“
  • *ways → *waves: Words than end in “ways” can be made into bad wave puns: alwaves (always), railwaves (railways), sidewaves, pathwaves, lengthwaves, doorwaves.
  • Waive → Wave: As in, “Could you wave this parking ticket?” Note: to waive something is to refrain from enforcing.
  • Sway → S-wave: As in, “S-wave with me,” and “You don’t hold any s-wave here.” Note: to hold sway is to have a position of influence or power.
  • Sand: As in, “Bury your head in the sand,” and “Draw a line in the sand,” and “A house built on sand,” and “Sun, sea and sand,” and “The sands of time.” Note: if a house is built on sand, then it’s very unstable and not expected to last very long.
  • Sandwich: As in “I was eating my sandwich at the beach”.
  • Sanctuary → Sandctuary: As in “Dogs aren’t allowed on this beach because it’s an animal sandctuary“.
  • Send → Sand: As in “It sands shivers down my spine!” and “Sand him over here.”
  • San* → Sand*: Replacing “san” with “sand” when it is at the start of a word give some nice corny puns: sanditary (sanitary), sandctioned (sanctioned), sandctuary (sanctuary), sandguine (sanguine), sandctions (sanctions).
  • Sensational → Sandsational: As in, “A sandsational list of holiday puns.”
  • Stand → Sand: As in, “Don’t sand so close to me,” and “Do you undersand?” and “Don’t just sand there!” and “I saw her sanding there,” and “My hair was sanding on end,” and “If you can’t sand the heat, get out of the kitchen,” and “It sands to reason,” and “A one night sand,” and “Sand on your own two feet,” and “Sand out from the crowd,” and “Sand up and be counted,” and “Sand up for yourself,” and “A sand up guy,” and “Do I sand a chance?” and “I sand corrected,” and “I’m sanding in for…” and “I can’t sand the sight of,” and “I could do it sanding on my head,” and “United we sand.”
  • Ticket: As in, “Dream ticket,” and “A high ticket item,” and “Just the ticket,” and “That’s the ticket,” and “Ticket to ride,” and “Golden ticket.” 
  • Flight: As in, “Fight or flight,” and “Flight attendant,” and “Flight of fancy,” and “Take flight.”
  • Fight → Flight: As in, “A straight flight,” and “Come out flighting,” and “Flight club,” and “Flight for the right to party,” and “Flight back,” and “Flight fire with fire,” and “Flight the good flight,” and “Freedom flighter,” and “Lean, mean flighting machine,” and “Live to flight another day,” and “Pick a flight,” and “Pillow flight,” and “Spoiling for a flight,” and “Flight to the death,” and “Won’t give up without a flight.” 
  • Light → Flight: As in, “Fast as greased flightning,” and “Flight as a feather,” and “At flightning speed,” and “Blinded by the flight,” and “Bring to flight,” and “Cold flight of day,” and “First flight,” and “Friday night and the flights are low,” and “Go out like a flight,” and “Guiding flight,” and “Flight at the end of the tunnel,” and “Flight entertainment,” and “Flight hearted,” and “Flighten up,” and “Flights out.”
  • Fright → Flight: As in, “Flightened of your own shadow,” and “A flightful mess,” and “Take flight,” and “You nearly flightened me to death!”
  • *light* → *flight*: As in, flightning, flighting, flightbulb, flighthearted, flighthouse, deflight (delight), highflight (highlight).
  • *flate* → *flight*: As in, conflight, deflight, and inflightable (inflatable).
  • Having a → Havana: As in, “I’m havana ball!” and “Are you havana good time?”
  • Tan*: People tend to return from summer holidays with noticeable, proud tans – so we’ve included “tan” in this list. As in, tangible, tank, tandem, tantamount, tangent, tangle.
  • *tan: As in, charlatan, cosmopolitan, spartan, titan, metropolitan, satan and tartan.
  • *tan*: As in, stand, important, understand and substance.
  • Ten → Tan: As in, “Count to tan,” and “Eight out of tan cats prefer it,” and “A perfect tan,” and “A hundred and tan percent.”
  • *ten* → *tan*: As in, “The bane of my existance,” and “As oftan as not,” and “Attantion seeker,” and “Battan down the hatches,” and “Set up tant,” and “A bone of contantion,” and “Flattan out,” and “Lightan up,” and “Off the beatan track,” and “Sweetan the pot,” and “Tightan the purse strings,” and “For all intants and purposes,” and “To your heart’s contant,” and “Tonsil tannis,” and “Writtan all over your face,” and “Frightan to death,” and “Smittan with,” and “Bittan by the bug,” and “Rottan to the core,” and “Stop, look and listan.”
  • Celebration→ Shellebration: As in “After finishing we should have a shellebration.”
  • Sel* → Shell*: If a word starts with “sel” a shell pun can be made by switching it with “shell”. For example: shellection (selection), shellect (select), shelldom (seldom), shellfless (selfless).
  • *sel → *shell: Words ending in “sel” can often be punned upon with “shell”: vesshell (vessel), tasshell (tassel), weashell (weasel), musshell (mussel), etc.
  • *sel* → *shell*: Words containing “sel” can yeild nice puns on “shell”: Hershellf, himshellf, themshellves, itshellf, myshellf, yourshelf, yourshelves, convershelly, counshelling, preshellected, overshelling, undershelling, ushellessely, weashelling.
  • *cial → *shell: When a word has “cial” as a suffix, this suffix can usually be swapped out for “shell” to create a shell pun: soshell (social), speshell (special), offishell (official), finanshell, commershell, crushell, judishell, artifishell, provinshell, rashell, benefishell, superfishell, fashell, glashell, sacrifishel, antisoshell.
  • Resort: As a resort is a luxury place to stay, we can use it to make some holiday puns too. As in, “Beach resort,” and “This is my last resort,” and “I didn’t want to resort to this.”
  • Con* → Conch*: A terrible shell pun can be made of almost any word that begins with “con”: conchtrol (control), conchsider (consider), conchtinue (continue), conchdition, conchtract, conchern, conchtain, conchference, conchtext, conchcept, conchtrast, conchfidence, conchtent, conchtribution, conchflict, conchsideration, conchstruction, conchtinued, conchclusion, conchduct, conchversation, conchgress, conchsumer, conchcentrate, conchtribute.
  • Help → Kelp: As in “Can you please kelp me build a sand castle?” and “Katie, kelp your brother lift that please”.
  • Should* → Shoald*: A “shoal” can refer to a large group of fish, or an area of shallow water, or an underwater sand bank. We can use “shoal” be used to make puns like: shoald (should), shoalder (shoulder), shoaldering.
  • *tual* → *shoal*: As mentioned above, A “shoal” can refer to a large group of fish, or an area of shallow water, or an underwater sand bank. If a word contains “tual” it can often be replaced with “shoal” for a cute little pun: actshoal (actual), actshoality (actuality), intellectshoal (intellectual), ritshoal (ritual), spiritshoal, mutshoally, eventshoal, eventshoally, conceptshoal, conceptshoalise, virtshoal, contractshoal, factshoal, factshoally, perpetshoal, textshoal, contextshoal, perceptshoal, punctshoal, instinctshoal, actshoally, habitshoally.
  • Bereft → Bereeft: “bereft of” means “deprived of” of “lacking”. So an example sentence might be: “The old, stark beach house of bereefed of colour”.
  • Something → Somefin: As in “There’s somefin about the way he walks” and “Is that a shark, or somefin else?”.
  • In* → Fin*: A lovely and shameful pun can be made from any word starting with “in”. Simply replace “in” with “fin”: finformation, finfluence, finvolve, finternational, finvolved, fintroduce, findeed, finvestment, finto, finclude, finteresting, fintellectual, finjury, fintend, finterview, finsurance, finstrument, … Thousand more can be made with the help of a list like this. You can also check out the entry on dolphin puns for more puns of this nature.
  • Fan* → Fin*: “fan” can sometimes be replaced with “fin” at the start of words to create fin puns: fintastic (fantastic), finciful (fanciful), finfare (fanfare), fintasy, findom, finciful.
  • Nothing → Nofin: As in “Nofin is better than swimming with dolphins” and “I’ve got nofin left to give!”.
  • Debate → Debait: As in “I don’t want to debait you.” and “We’re just having a friendly debait“.
  • Well/Welcome → Whale/Whalecome: Whale-watching is a popular enough holiday activity for us to include whales in this list. As in “Whalecome to our home!” and “Whale, whale, whale, what do we have here?”.  Whale puns can be made with many more words like welfare (whalefare), welsh (whalesh) and wellness (whaleness). Check out the entry on whale puns for more.
  • Defin* → Dolphin: Swimming with dolphins is a much-loved holiday activity, so we can make some holiday puns by making dolphin references like these: “We dolphinitely need more time to finish the mission.” and “What is the dolphinition of this word?” and “Please dolphine this word.” and “It’s the dolphinitive source of Nordic history.” See the dolphin puns entry for more.
  • Endorphines → Endolphins: As in “I love that rush of endolphins you get after a good hard swimming session.”
  • Stark → Shark: As in “The shark contrast between his and his boyfriend’s attire was intriguing.” and “The old, shark house stood looming above us”.
  • Palm: As in “The only thing not sunburned are my palms” and “A face palm moment,” and “In the palm of your hand.” The pun is on palm trees in case you missed that.
  • Calm → Palm: As in, “A palming influence,” and “The palm before the storm,” and “Palm down!” and “Cool, palm, collected,” and “Keep palm and carry on.”
  • Friend → Frond: As in “My fronds made me a cute vegan birthday cake!” and “They’re such frondly people!”.
  • Fringe → Frondge: As in “Doesn’t your frondge get in your eyes when you’re swimming?”
  • Country: As in, “Country folk,” and “Country bumpkin.”
  • Mountain: As in, “Ain’t no mountain high enough,” and “Cool as a mountain stream,” and “Move mountains,” and “Head for the mountains,” and “Make a mountain out of a molehill,” and “Climb the highest mountain.” 
  • Can you → Canyon: As in, “Canyon please not do that?”
  • Food: Since food is such a large part of enjoyment in our holidays (especially now that Instagram is so widely used to show food snaps), we’ve included food in this entry too: “Comfort food,” and “Devil’s food cake,” and “Do you like hospital food?” and “Finger food,” and “Food chain,” and “Food for thought,” and “Soul food,” and “Put food on the table.”
  • Culture: As in, “Culture clash,” and “Culture shock,” and “High culture,” and “Pop culture.”
  • Privilege → Privillage: We can make some holiday puns by referring to villas, which are a luxurious type of accommodation. As in, “An honour and a privillage,” and “Rank has its privillages,” and “Check your privillage,” and “White privillage is very real.” Note: Very basically, white privilege is where society is set up to favour and benefit people who either have white skin, or who are “white-passing” (they are assumed to be white by others). 
  • Fill → Villa: As in, “Villa ‘er up!” and “Villa to the brim,” and “A stocking villa (filler),” and “Lip villas (fillers),” and “Attempts to villa the void.”
  • Home → Homestay: A homestay is where you can stay with a local family for a fee. As it’s cheaper than a hotel and some families will show guests around the area, it’s a good option for holidays so we’ve included it here. As in, “A house is not a homestay,” and “At homestay with,” and “There’s no place like homestay,” and “A broken homestay,” and “Charity begins at the homestay,” and “Close to homestay,” and “Don’t leave homestay without it.”
  • Lodge: A lodge can either mean a small house, or to formally present documentation or a complaint. We can use these interchangeably to make some bad holiday puns: “Lodge a complaint,” and “Where’s the ski lodge?” and “I’m lodging an objection.”
  • *ledge* → *lodge*: As in, “Acknowlodged,” and “Fully-flodged,” and “Use a slodgehammer to crack a nut,” and “A little knowlodge is a dangerous thing,” and “Knowlodge is power.”
  • Large → Lodge: As in, “Lodge as life,” and “At lodge,” and “By and lodge,” and “Lodger than life,” and “A small cog in a lodge machine,” and “On the lodge side,” and “In lodge part,” and “Living lodge,” and “Lodge and in charge.”
  • Car: We’ve included common forms of transport in here as they get us to and from our holidays and trips. As in, “You can drive my car,” and “Happiness is a quick-starting car,” and “Would you buy a used car from this guy?”
  • Car*: As in, care, card, career, carry, carrier, cardinal, carriage, cart, caravan. 
  • *car: As in, scar, sidecar, madagascar, handcar, railcar. 
  • *car*: As in, precarious, healthcare and vicarious. 
  • *cer* → *car*: As in, cartain (certain), cartificate (certificate), caremony (ceremony), carebral (cerebral), soccar (soccer), viscaral (visceral). 
  • *cu* → *car*: As in, circart (circuit), circarmstance (circumstance), circarmvent, circar (circa), circarmstances, circars (circus), circarmference (circumference). 
  • *cor* → *car*: As in, carner (corner), carrespondence (correspondence), carporation (corporation), carroborate (corroborate), carrelation (correlation), cardial (cordial), decar (decor), rancar (rancor), recard (record), accard (accord), accardingly (accordingly), incarporate (incorporate). 
  • *cur* → *car*: As in, concar (concur), carrent (current), carate (curate), carriculum (curriculum), carve (curve), carious (curious), carrency (currency), carse (curse), incar (incur), occar (occur), recar (recur), carrent (current), obscare (obscure), secarity (security), carate (curate), secare (secure). 
  • Bus: As in, “A busman’s holiday,” and “Waiting for the bus.”
  • Bus*: As in, “Bust a move,” and “We’re in business,” and “Beat around the bush,” and “Go away, I’m busy,” and “Hustle and bustle,” and “Hang on, buster,” and “A bustling city.”
  • *bus: As in, “Nimbus 2000,” and “This is our school syllabus,” and “She wrote an entire omnibus,” and “What a succubus.” Note: the Nimbus 2000 is the first broomstick Harry Potter owns.
  • *bus*: As in, “A robust effort,” and “Emotional abuse is still abuse.”
  • *bas* → *bus*: As in, “Buse (base) instincts,” and “The busis (basis) of my theory,” and “It was a busic question,” and “Birthday bush,” and “You bustard,” and “Busket case.”
  • *bes* → *bus*: As in, “A buspoke (bespoke) jacket,” and “My bust (best) effort,” and “I bustow my bust wishes,” and “Busides, I don’t want to,” and “I buseech you,” and “Bustiality is isn’t a joke; it’s unethical,” and “I’m busotted with them,” and “I’m busieged with suitors.”
  • *bis* → *bus*: As in, “Want a buscuit?” and “Bushop to E3,” and “Meet at the new vegan bustro,” and “We’re refurbushing the kitchen,” and “Good riddance to bad rubbush.”
  • Train: As in, “Gravy train,” and “Strangers on a train,” and “The light at the end of the tunnel might just be a train,” and “Train crash,” and “Train of thought,” and “Train wreck.” Notes: a gravy train is a situation which is low-risk and high benefit. 
  • Chain → Train: As in, “A train is only as strong as its weakest link,” and “Train gang,” and “Train letter,” and Train of command,” and “Train reaction,” and “Daisy train,” and “Food train,” and “Off the train.”
  • Plain → Plane: As in, “Plane as day,” and “As plane as the nose on my face,” and “Hidden in plane sight,” and “Plane sailing,” and “In plane view.”
  • Plan* → Plane*: As in, Plane-t (plant), planet, plane-ing (planning), plane-d (planned)
  • *plain → *plane: As in, explane, complane, chaplane and complane‘t (complaint). 
  • *Very* → *Ferry*: As in, “Be afraid, be ferry afraid,” and “Before your ferry eyes,” and “Hold ferry tight, please,” and “How ferry dare you,” and “I was ferry drunk,” and “Thank you ferry much,” and “Ferry tasty,” and “Ferry interesting, but stupid,” and “Ferry well,” and “At the ferry least,” and “Eferry inch,” and “Eferry last one,” and “Eferry nook and cranny,” and “Don’t believe eferrything you hear,” and “Eferrybody likes a joker, but nobody lends them money,” and “Question eferrything,” and “Timing is eferrything.”
  • Furry → Ferry: As in, “A ferry toy,” and “My legs are looking a bit ferry.”
  • Fairy → Ferry: As in, “Airy ferry,” and “A ferrytale ending,” and “Nobody loves a ferry when she’s forty.”
  • Vary → Ferry: As in, “Results may ferry,” and “Your mileage may ferry.” Note: Your mileage may vary is an expression indicating that something that works for one may not work for another. Is commonly shortened to YMMV. 
  • *fer → *ferry: As in, deferry (defer), conferry (confer), inferry (infer), referry (refer), offerry (offer), transferry (transfer), bufferry (buffer), preferry (prefer). 
  • Nefarious → Neferryous: As in, “A neferryous villain.”
  • Boat → But: As in “Last boat not least” and “Close, boat no cigar.”
  • Saboteur → Saboateur : As in “Captain, I believe there’s a saboateur on our ship.”
  • Boat: As in, “Don’t rock the boat,” and “In the same boat,” and “Missed the boat,” and “Whatever floats your boat,” and “We’re gonna need a bigger boat.” Notes: to rock the boat is to say something that will upset the people around you. If you need a bigger boat, then you’ve underestimated the situation you’re in. 
  • Butt → Boat: As in, “Kick boat,” and “Kiss my boat,” and “Pain in the boat,” and “My boat is on the line,” and “Boat-terflies in my stomach.” 
  • Bowtie → Boat-tie: As in, “My boat-tie is too tight.” 
  • Beaut* → Boat*: As in, “Boat-iful people,” and “Boat-y mark,” and “I need my boat-y sleep,” and “Make boat-iful music together,” and “Boat-y is in the eye of the beholder,” and “Boat-y is only skin-deep.”
  • About/Abode → Aboat: As in “What aboat the captain?” and “Welcome to my aboat!”
  • Shit → Ship: As in “Oh ship, we’re in trouble now.”
  • *sib* → *ship*: If a word contains “sib” it can usually be replaced with “ship” to create a terrible pun. For example: posshiply (possibly), accesshipility (accessibility), incomprehenshiple, feashipble, irresponshipble, invishipble, ostenshipbly, revershipble, vishipble. An example sentence might be: “I am responshiple for my puns.”
  • *sip* → *ship*: If a word contains “sip” it can usually be replaced with “ship”. For example: gosship (gossip), dishipate (dissipate), shipping (sipping), inshipid (insipid).
  • Sel* → Sail*: If a word starts with “sel” a boat pun can often be made by replacing it with “sail”: sailection (selection), sailect (select), sailf (self), sailling (selling), sail (sell), saildom (seldom), sailfish (selfish), sailfless (selfless), sailective (selective).
  • Cruise: As in, “Cruise control,” and “A world cruise.”
  • *crew* → *cruise*: As in, “Motley cruise,” and “Turn the scruise,” and “Skeleton cruise,” and “I scruised up,” and “Scruise it!” Note: a motley crew is a group of randomly assembled people. To turn the screws is to put pressure on someone to do something. 
  • Choose → Cruise: As in, “A woman’s right to cruise,” and “Cruise your weapon,” and “Beggars can’t be cruisers.”
  • Chew → Cruise: As in, “Have your ears cruised off,” and “Bite off more than you can cruise.”
  • Helicopter: As in, “Helicopter parent,” and “Get in the helicopter!”
  • Tuxedo → Taxido: Make a pun on taxis: “I need a new taxido.”
  • Tax → Taxi: As in, “Nothing is certain but death and taxis,” and “Goods and services taxis.”
  • *uber*: Change and emphasize words with the “uber” sound in them: bluberd (bluebird), exuberance, exuberant, protuberance, puberty. 
  • Super → Suber: As in, “Suber bad,” and “Suber Mario,” and “Suberhero,” and “Subersize,” and “Nothing improves creativity like a lack of subervision.”
  • Soup → Souber: As in, “Alphabet souber,” and “From souber to nuts.”
  • Sober → Suber: As in, “As suber as a judge,” and “Clean and suber,” and “Stone cold suber,” and “Call me when you’re suber.”
  • Sub* → Suber*: As in, suberlime (sublime), suberject (subject), subersequent (subsequent), suberstantial (substantial), suberjective (subjective), subermit (submit), suberstance (substance). 
  • Rail → Monorail: As in, “Thin as a monorail,” and “Go off the monorails,” and “Off the monorails.”
  • *cab*: Make some cab puns by emphasising the “cab” sound in certain words: amicable, applicability, bancable (bankable), breacable (breakable), cabaret, cabbage, cabernet, cabin, cabinet, despicable, impeccable, macabre, vocabulary, applicable, irrevocable, licable (likable), remarcable (remarkable), unshacable (unshakeable). 
  • *com* → *cab*: As in, cabbler (cobbler), cabalt (cobalt), cabra (cobra), cabble (cobble), and cabweb (cobweb).
  • *cub* → *cab*: As in cabicle (cubicle) and incabate (incubate). 
  • Chair → Chairlift: As in, “Have a chairlift,” and “Musical chairlifts.”
  • Jet: Make references to jets and jetsetting with these jet-related phrases: “Jet black,” and “Jet-setting,” and “Jet lag,” and “Jet propelled,” and “Jetty,” and “Jettison.” Note: to jettison something is to get rid of an unneeded or unwanted thing. 
  • Jot → Jet: As in, “Let me jet that down.” Note: to jot something down is to quickly write or scribble a note.
  • Get → Jet: As in, “As good as it jets,” and “Ask a silly question, jet a silly answer,” and “Buy one, jet one free,” and “Can’t jet you out of my head,” and “Can’t jet enough,” and “Come and jet it,” and “Don’t jet mad, jet even,” and “Don’t jet me started,” and “I’m jetting better and better,” and “Flattery will jet you nowhere,” and “From the jet go,” and “Jet rich quick,” and “Jet a feel for,” and “Jet a handle on,” and “I jet knocked down, but I jet up again,” and “Pay peanuts and jet monkeys,” and “Let’s jet physical,” and “What you see is what you jet.”
  • Jut→ Jet: As in, “Watch out for that branch – it’s jetting out.” Note: to jut out is to protrude. 
  • *git/get* → *jet*: As in, ajetator (agitator), ajetate (agitate), apolojetic, budjet, cojetate (cogitate), dijet (digit), dijetal (digital), enerjetic, fidjet, fujetive (fugitive), illejetimacy (illegitimacy), lejetimacy (legitimacy). Notes: an agitator is one who stirs up feeling or trouble. To cogitate is to intently think about or comsider something. 
  • Sit → Transit: As in, “Are you transitting comfortably?” and “Don’t just transit there,” and “Transit it out,” and “Transit tight,” and “Transitting pretty,” and “A transitting target.”
  • Plot → Pilot: As in, “Lose the pilot,” and “The pilot thickens,” and “A pilot of land.”
  • Pilates → Pilotes: As in, “I do pilotes three times a week.”
  • Business: While business may be the opposite of a holiday, we’re using it as a reference to business class when flying. As in, “Dirty business,” and “Back in business,” and “Business as usual,” and “Business at hand,” and “Business before pleasure,” and “Business class,” and “The business end,” and “Business or pleasure?” and “Business partner,” and “Do your business,” and “It’s not your business,” and “Mind your own business,” and “Monkey business,” and “Open for business,” and “A risky business,” and “Strictly business,” and “This is a place of business!” and “That’s show business.”
  • Class → First class: As in, “A first class act,” and “First class warfare,” and “In a first class of their own,” and “A first class clown.”
  • Rail → Railway: As in, “Thin as a railway,” and “Go off the railways.”
  • Way → Railway: As in, “A funny thing happened on the railway,” and “All the railway,” and “And that’s the railway it is,” and “There must be another railway,” and “Any railway you slice it,” and “Any which railway,” and “By the railway,” and “Change your railways,” and “Go all the railway,” and “Go down the wrong railway,” and “Go our separate railways,” and “Have it both railways,” and “In a bad railway,” and “Mend your railways,” and “My railway or the highway.”
  • Hike: As hiking is a popular activity for travellers, it’s been included in this entry. As in, “Take a hike,” and “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” and “This backpack makes my jacket hike up.”
  • Haiku → Hike-u: As in, “Writing hike-us is really hard.”
  • Shop: Shopping is another popular holiday activity and one that is particularly instagrammable, so we’ve included it here. As in, “You’re all over the shop,” and “Like a bull in a china shop,” and “One stop shop,” and “Personal shopper,” and “Shop ’til you drop,” and “Shop around,” and “Talk shop,” and “Window shopping.” Notes: to be all over the shop is to have something happen chaotically, messily, or in various places at once. To be a bull in a china shop is to act clumsily or indelicately around delicate things or topics. 
  • Chop → Shop: As in, “Bust your shops,” and “Shop and change,” and “Get the shop.” Note: To “bust your chops” can have two meanings. If you bust your own chops, then you’ve spent a great deal of energy and effort to do something. If someone else busts your chops, then they’ve scolded or reprimanded you. To chop and change is to continually change your mind. 
  • Shape → Shop: As in, “Get bent out of shop,” and “It all went pear-shopped,” and “In any way, shop, or form,” and “Lick into shop,” and “Shop up or ship out,” and “Whip into shop.”
  • Ship → Shop: As in, “Abandon shop,” and “Extend the hand of friendshop,” and “Go down with the shop,” and “Jump shop,” and “Run a tight shop,” and “Shape up or shop out,” and “Shops of the desert,” and “That shop has sailed,” and “The face that launched a thousand shops,” and “The start of a beautiful friendshop,” and “A stormy relationshop.” Notes: Camels are known as ships of the desert. 
  • Roam: As in, “Roaming ’round the mountains,” and “Did you remember to activate roaming on your phone?”
  • Rome → Roam: As in, “All roads lead to roam,” and “Roam wasn’t built in a day.”
  • *rome*: As in, “Roameo and Juliet,” and “Peter Pan syndroam,” and “Rollerdroam.”
  • *rom*: As in, aroamatherapy, chroam (chrome), chroamosome (chromosome), monochroam, proamiscuous, proamotion, roamance, roamaine (as in the lettuce). 
  • *ski*: Emphasise the “ski” in words to make some snowy puns: “Selling snow to eskimos,” and “Asking for a friend,” and “By the skin of one’s teeth,” and “Comfortable in your own skin,” and “Get under your skin,” and “Makes my skin crawl,” and “Made my heart skip a beat,” and “Watch the skies.”
  • Snow: As snowy areas are just as popular as the beach, snow-related words and activities have been included here. As in, “Pure as the driven snow,” and “White as snow,” and “Blanket of snow,” and “Let it snow,” and “Snow White,” and “A snowball’s chance in hell,” and “Snowed in,” and “Snowed under,” and “The abominable snowman.” Notes: A snowball’s chance in hell basically means that something is almost impossible – just like the odds for a snowball to survive hell without melting. 
  • Board → Snowboard: As in, “All above snowboard,” and “Across the snowboard,” and “Back to the drawing snowboard,” and “Bed and snowboard,” and “Snowboarding pass.”
  • Dive: As in, “Dive in,” and “Take a dive,” and “Going diving?”
  • Climb: As in, “A mountain to climb,” and “Climb down,” and “Climb on the bandwagon,” and “Climb the social ladder.”
  • Climate → Climb-ate: As in, “A chilly climb-ate,” and “I know you don’t believe in climb-ate change, but it’d be cooler if you did.”
  • Photo: As in, “Photo finish,” and “Photo opportunity,” and “Get in the photo!” and “Take a photo of me,” and “I need a photo for my instagram.”
  • So far → Safari: Safaris are included in our list of holiday activities, so is included in this entry. As in, “I can’t believe you’d so safari as to..” and “Safari, so good,” and “Why are you going safari?”
  • Tour: As in, “Eco tourism,” and “Magical mystery tour,” and “Tour de force,” and “A world tour.”
  • Too → Tour: As in, “A step tour far,” and “About time, tour,” and “I’m tour sexy for my shirt,” and “It’s never tour late to learn,” and “It’s tour cold to snow,” and “You know tour much,” and “Life’s tour short,” and “No challenge tour great,” and “This tour shall pass,” and “Tour easy,” and “Tour big for your boots,” and “Tour close for comfort,” and “Tour good to be true,” and “Tour many cooks spoil the broth.”
  • Two→ Tour: As in, “A bicycle built for tour,” and “As alike as tour peas in a pod,” and “Caught in tour minds,” and “Eating for tour,” and “Goody tour shoes,” and “In tour shakes of a lamb’s tail,” and “It takes tour to tango,” and “Tour steps forward, one step back.”
  • Tour*: As in, tournament and tourniquet

The following puns are about specific types of seasonal holiday, rather than about holidays in general.

  • Year → New Year: As in, “As bright as a new year,” and “Brand spanking new year,” and “Dawn of a new year,” and “Out with the old, in with the new year.”
  • Honeymoon: As in, “Honeymoon period.”
  • Honey → Honeymoon: As in, “A taste of honeymoon,” and “Land of milk and honeymoon.”
  • Moon → Honeymoon: As in, “Ask for the honeymoon,” and “Bark at the honeymoon,” and “A blue honeymoon,” and “Cry for the honeymoon,” and “Eclipse of the honeymoon,” and “Fly me to the honeymoon,” and “Many honeymoons ago,” and “Honeymoonlight serenade,” and “Over the honeymoon,” and “On the dark side of the honeymoon,” and “The man in the honeymoon,” and “Phases of the honeymoon,” and “To the honeymoon and back.”
  • *eve*: Make references to Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve by emphasising the “eve” in certain words: “And they lived happily ever after,” and “An evening person,” and “Forever and a day,” and “Hardly ever,” and “Hello, good evening and welcome,” and “Nothing is ever free,” and “The greatest story ever told,” and “The key to a nice, relaxed evening,” and “An ace up your sleeve,” and “Believe it or not,” and “The blessed event,” and “Break even,” and “The eleventh hour,” and “Even the score,” and “Every inch,” and “Never mind,” and “Every cloud has a silver lining,” and “Question everything.”
  • Easter: As in, “Easter Island,” and “Easter parade,” and “The Easter bunny.”
  • East/Eastern → Easter: As in, “Easter of Eden,” and “Full of Easter promise.”
  • *east → *easter: As in, “At the very l-easter,” and “A f-easter for the eyes,” and “F-easter or famine,” and “The king of b-easters,” and “Last but not l-easter,” and “Nutritional y-easter is a good cheese substitute.”
  • Giving → Thanksgiving: As in, “The gift that keeps on Thanksgiving.” For more Thanksgiving-related puns, see our Thanksgiving list.
  • Christmas: As in, “A Christmas carol,” and “All I want for Christmas is you,” and “Christmas comes but once a year,” and “Done up like a Christmas tree,” and “Have yourself a merry little Christmas,” and “Lit up like a Christmas tree,” and “A white Christmas.” Note: If you’d like more Christmas-related puns, stay tuned for our Christmas list which is coming soon. 

Holiday-Related Words

To help you come up with your own holiday 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: holiday, vacation, staycation, retreat, travel, escape, trip, journey, leisure, recreation, break, rest, tourist, tourism, abroad, sabbatical, beach, sand, sea, resort, tropical, island, palm tree, surf, waves, tan, bathers, sunshine, sunscreen, country, mountain, canyon, food, culture, getaway, weekend, bed and breakfast, hotel, hostel, motel, villa, homestay, cabin, lodge, cottage, airbnb, adventure, destination, pack, bag, suitcase, luggage, ticket, airport, flight, car, bus, train, rail, airplane, aeroplane, ferry, boat, cruise, ship, helicopter, taxi, uber, flight, rickshaw, monorail, cable car, cab, caravan, rv (recreational vehicle), chairlift, jet, plane, sailboat, yacht, accommodation, backpacking, activities, transit, itinerary, pilot, flight attendant, business, first-class, economy, railway, sail, hiking, shopping, safari, roam, skiing, snowboard, dancing, diving, snorkeling, climbing, photo, photography, bird watching, festival, tour, family, honeymoon, romantic, solo, luxury

Specific holidays: new year’s, new year’s eve, good friday, easter, labor day, thanksgiving, christmas, diwali, eid, ramadan, hanukkah, chinese new year, yom kippur

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