Tree Puns

Here’s a Punpedia entry all about tree puns, and as it turns out there are a lot of them! Our list of tree puns is composed of 3 main categories. Firstly, any word which has the “tree” sound in it (like pastry, forestry, Austria) is an automatic entry-level pun. Then there are a bunch of different tree species (like acacia, fir, pine) which offer many opportunities for wordplay, and finally there are a bunch of tree-related characteristics and concepts (like leaf, bough, lumber, stump) which add some nice variety.

There’s also a section for tree-related phrases, cliches and idioms after the puns list – these can be used for punning too. And if you’re looking for tree puns in images (memes, visual puns, jokes), then you’ll want to scroll towards the bottom of the page – there’s a section for those. You may also want to check out our leaf puns, nut puns or our Christmas tree puns entry.

As usual, if you have a tree pun that we don’t, we’d love for you to share it with us! There’s a comments section at the bottom of the page.

Tree Puns List

Here’s our ever-growing list of dreadful tree puns! Note that each item may represent either either a simple word-swap (e.g. Three → Tree) or it may be a general rule from which multiple puns can be made. In the case of general rules, the asterisks sign (*) represents one or more letters. If you’ve got a tree pun that we don’t, please share it with us in the comments!

  • Treason → Tree-son: “The dictator punished treeson severely.”
  • Treatment → Tree-tment: “It’s a water treetment plant.”
  • Treaty → Tree-ty: “Both countries signed the treety.”
  • Treat → Tree-t: “What a treet!”
  • Mainstream → Mains-tree-m: “Sorry if my puns are a bit mains-tree-m
  • Illustrious → Illus-tree-ous: “His illustreeous father.”
  • Industrial → Indus-tree-al: “Be careful, that stuff’s industreeal strength.”
  • Intriguing → In-tree-guing: “The organism’s behaviour was in-tree-guing.”
  • Montreal → Mon-tree-al: “I’m from Mon-tree-al too!”
  • Patriarchy → Pa-tree-archy: “Most human societies have pa-tree-archal structures.”
  • Pedestrian → Pedes-tree-an: “The pedes-tree-ans rushed.”
  • Retreat → Re-tree-t: “A wilderness retreet.”
  • Retrieve → Re-tree-ve: “Can you retreeve the lost amulet?”
  • Streak → S-tree-k: “I’m on a winning streek!” and “The streeker was caught and arrested.”
  • Terrestrial → Teres-tree-al: “The tree is a teres-tree-al organism.”
  • Trio → Tree-o: “The tree-o set off on another adventure.”
  • Street: “It bounced happily down the street.”
  • Tremendous → Tree-mendous: “I put in a tree-mendous amount of time on that project.”
  • *t re* → *-tree-*: Many tree puns can be created with this rule: If a word ends in “t” and the following word begins with the “ree” sound, then a tree pun can be made. Here are some examples of pairs of words that work – note that there are multiple ways of presenting “tree” in the pun, and some random examples are shown: might rely (might tree lie or might-tree-ly), best resource (best treesources or best tree sources), just read (just treed), cannot recall (cannotreecal or cannot tree call), it reads (it tree-ds), most refreshingly (most treefreshingly or most tree freshingly), brilliant reasoning (brilliant treesoning), must really (must treeally), not remain (not tree main), just return (just tree turn), can’t refuse (can tree fuse), but really (but treeally), most remarkable (mos-tree markable), not retaining (no tree-taining). There are obviously a very large number of these sort of tree puns to be made – far too many to list here.
  • Treachery → Tree-chery: “The tree-chery of the man has no bounds.”
  • Dream → Tree-m: “I had the weirdest tree-m last night”
  • Triangle → Tree-angle: “Tree-angles have three sides.”
  • Triumph → Tree-umph: “The allied countries were tree-umphant.”
  • Trillion → Tree-llion: “Humans kill more than one tree-llion sea animals each year.”
  • Trilogy → Tree-logy: “It’s the third book in the tree-logy.”
  • Triathalon → Tree-athalon : “She trained hard for the tree-athalon.”
  • Tribulations → Tree-bulations: “She went through many trials and treebulations when starting her business.”
  • Traditional → Tree-ditional: “Treeditional family values are outdated.”
  • Transformation → Tree-nsformation: “They underwent a radical treensformation.”
  • Transparency → Tree-nsparency: “An open and treensparent government is very important.”
  • Transexual → Tree-nsexual: “Yep, I’m a male to female treensexual.”
  • Be → Tree: “I’m trying to tree more compassionate.”
  • Free → Tree: “Buy one, get one tree.”
  • Thee → Tree: “Shall I compare tree to a summer’s day?”
  • Three → Tree: “Good things come in trees.”
  • T-shirt → Tree-shirt: “What size is your tree-shirt?”
  • Absentee → Absen-tree: “Only one absentree today.”
  • Amputee → Ampu-tree: “The amputree was lucky to have survived.”
  • Devotee → Devo-tree: “A devotree of the temple”
  • Manatee → Mana-tree: “Manatrees are mostly marine animals.”
  • Guarantee → Guaran-tree: “It comes with a lifetime guarantree.”
  • Deportee → Depor-tree: “The deportrees were being taken to another country.”
  • Repartee → Repar-tree: “All this word play and repartree is making me tired.”
  • Country → Coun-tree: “The countree is openly going against UN conventions”
  • Countries → Coun-trees: “The countrees formed a strong relationship.”
  • Industry → Indus-tree: “We need a stronger manufacturing industree.”
  • Industries → Indus-trees: “All three primary industrees are booming.”
  • Entries → En-trees: “We’ve have over seven thousand entrees.”
  • Ministry → Minis-tree: “The ministree of international relations.”
  • Ministries → Minis-trees: “All of the ministrees are happy with the decision.”
  • Tapestry → Tapes-tree: “A beautifully embroidered tapestree.”
  • Pleasantry → Pleasan-tree: “A pleasantree is a polite part of a normal conversation.”
  • Pleasantries → Pleasan-trees: “We don’t have time to exchange pleasantrees.”
  • Toiletries → Toile-trees: “We packed the toiletrees in the other suitcase.”
  • Pastry → Pas-tree: “Most pastrees are quite unhealthy.”
  • Sentry → Sen-tree: “Put another sentree on that building, corporal.”
  • Poetry → Poe-tree: “Reading poetree helps me relax.”
  • Chemistry → Chemis-tree: “Chemistree is my second major.”
  • Infantry → Infan-tree: “Their heavy infantree are retreating.”
  • Symmetry → Symme-tree: “A square has 4 lines of symmetree.”
  • Registry → Regis-tree: “The registree is processing more licenses than ever.”
  • Geometry → Geome-tree: “It has a strange, curvy geometree.”
  • Forestry → Fores-tree: “The forestree department is finally getting more funding.”
  • Poultry → Poul-tree: “The poultree industry is a cruel one.”
  • Ancestry → Ances-tree: “My ancestree is primarily Aboriginal.”
  • Sultry → Sul-tree: “The sultree glances were unmistakable.” and “I’m hoping this sultree weather won’t last long”.
  • Gallantry → Galan-tree: “The captain’s gallantree won her team the title.” and “His humble gallantry has made him famous in the town.”
  • Carpentry → Carpe-tree: “The carpentree profession has changed over the years.”
  • Bigotry → Bigo-tree: “The bigotree of a racist past still exists in the corners of society.”
  • Circuitry → Circui-tree: “The circuitree is too hot.”
  • Pantry → Pan-tree: “This pantree is larger than my room!”
  • Dentistry → Dentis-tree: “She’s been studying dentistree for 6 years now.”
  • Extremism → Ex-tree-mism: “Religious extreemism is an inherent problem of religion itself.”
  • Austria → Aus-tree-a: “Aus-tree-a is a lovely country.”
  • Bloodstream → Bloods-tree-m: “The bloodstreem carries oxygen and nutrients to cells.”
  • Compatriot → Compa-tree-ot: “The two compa-tree-ots were competing for gold.”
  • Countryside → Coun-tree-side: “A walk in the coun-tree-side is what I need.”
  • Equestrian → Eques-tree-an: “The eques-tree-ian sports industry can be quite cruel.”
  • History → His-tree: “His-tree was made this day.”
  • Victory → Vic-tree: “Vic-tree is ours!”
  • Factory → Fac-tree: “The fac-tree produces all sorts of plastic goods.”
  • Territory → Terri-tree: “The aggressor country lost terri-tree after the war.”
  • Laboratory → Labora-tree: “The labora-tree of Dr. Frankenstein.”
  • Statutory → Statu-tree: “A Statu-tree declaration.”
  • Directory → Direc-tree: “A direc-tree of phone numbers.”
  • Satisfactory → Satisfac-tree: “Your behaviour has been satisfac-tree.”
  • Lavatory → Lava-tree: “Please, may I use your lava-tree?”
  • Inventory → Inven-tree: “While taking an inven-tree of our goods I noticed a deficit.”
  • Regulatory → Regula-tree: “Please consult the regula-tree body responsible for this.”
  • Mandatory → Manda-tree: “Wearing socks in manda-tree.”
  • Inflammatory → Inflamma-tree: “Those are inflama-tree comments.”
  • Contradictory → Contradic-tree: “Your statements are contradic-tree.”
  • Repository → Reposi-tree: “A vast reposi-tree of data.”
  • Obligatory → Obliga-tree: “Thid event is obligi-tree for new members.”
  • Discriminatory → Discrimina-tree: “The new rules were a bit discrimina-tree.”
  • Perfunctory → Perfunc-tree: “I had a perfunctree look over the manuscript.”
  • Derogatory → Deroga-tree: “The minister’s comments were undeniably derogatree.”
  • Mystery → Mys-tree: “Where my pride went is a bit of a mys-tree.”
  • Battery → Batree: “The new batree powered candles.”
  • Pottery → Pot-tree: “I practice pottery for relaxation.”
  • Cemetery → Ceme-tree: “This cemetree contains the body of my great grandmother.”
  • Lottery → Lotree: “The lottree often preys on the minorities.”
  • Monastery → Monas-tree: “Not far from here is the ruins of an old monas-tree.”
  • Adultery → Adultree: “In some conservative countries adul-tree is still illegal.”
  • Flattery → Flattree: “Oh enough with the flat-tree!”
  • Military → Mili-tree: “The ents have a powerful mili-tree.” Note: ents are a race of living trees in The Lord of the Rings.
  • Parliamentary → Parliamen-tree: “The parlimen-tree proceedings were slow.”
  • Voluntary → Volun-tree: “A volun-tree worker.”
  • Monetary → Monet-tree: “This old vase has a high monet-tree value.”
  • Commentary → Commen-tree: “We don’t need your commen-tree.”
  • Documentary → Documen-tree: “A documen-tree about Polynesian rainforests.”
  • Solitary → Soli-tree: “I prefer a soli-tree existence.”
  • Complimentary → Complimen-tree: “It comes with a complimen-tree gift card.”
  • Dietary → Diet-tree: “Diet-tree experts recommend a mostly plant-based diet.”
  • Elementary → Elemen-tree: “We had to bow to teachers in my elemen-tree school.”
  • Proprietary → Propriet-tree: “This software isn’t open-source, it’s propriet-tree.”
  • Hereditary → Heredit-tree: “I think my corny puns are heredit-tree.”
  • Sanitary → Sani-tree: “The hospital was sani-tree by necessity.”
  • Planetary → Planet-tree: “These planet-tree bodies have unusual orbits.”
  • Sedentary → Sedentree: “I’m too sedentree – I want to get a stand-up desk.”
  • Momentary → Momentree: “A momentree lapse of concentration was all it took.”
  • Century → Centree: “It’s been more than a centree since the war.”
  • Belief → Beleaf: “Beleaf in magic spiritual beings is outdated.”
  • Disbelief → Disbeleaf: “I had to suspend my disbeleaf.”
  • Gleeful → Gleaful: “His gleaful expression was the cutest.”
  • Gleefully → Gleafully: “They gleafully accepted the gifts.”
  • *ly F* → *-leaf f*: Thousands or perhaps millions of leaf puns can be made with this simple rule: If a word ends in the “ly” sound and if followed by a word starting with “f”, then a leaf pun can be made. Here are some examples of pairs of words that work – note that there are multiple ways of presenting “leaf” in the pun, and some random examples are shown: heartily for (hearti-leaf-or or hearty leaf for), closely from (close-leaf-rom or close-leaf from), nearly five (near-leaf-ive or near-leaf five), practically finished (practica-leaf-inished or practical-leaf finished), truly formidable (tru-leaf-ormidable or true leaf formidable), perfectly familiar (perfect-leaf-amiliar or perfect leaf familiar), nearly fifteen (near-leaf-ifteen or near leaf fifteen), possibly find (possib-leaf find), ghastly face (ghast-leaf-ace or ghast-leaf face), continually from (continua-leaf-rom), carefully fastened (carefu-leaf-astened), slowly from (slow-leaf from), rapidly formed (rapid-leaf-ormed), principally for (principal leaf for), plainly furnished (plain-leaf-urnished), hardly found (hard-leaf-ound), entirely free (entire leaf fresh), perfectly fresh, fiercely forward, nearly fallen, expressly for, terribly frightened, loudly for, swiftly forward. There’s obviously a huuuge number of different pairs of word for which this works. You could also use leaf puns as one or more of those words to create more densely leaf-punned phrases: “She gleaful-leaf frolicked through the meadow.”
  • Jellyfish → Jel-leaf-ish: “The je-leaf fish glided gently upwards.”
  • Relief → Releaf: “What a releaf!”
  • Cauliflower → Cau-leaf-lower: “Cau-leaf flower is a great source of vitamins.”
  • Amplification → Amp-leaf-ication: “We’ll need more ampleafication to reach the back seats.”
  • California → Caleafornia: “I’m from Caleafornia.”
  • Cliff → Cleaf: “It’s an extremely flat cleaf-face.”
  • Elephant → Eleafant: “Eleafants are herbivores.”
  • Exemplify → Exampleafy: “This exempleafies a terrible leaf pun.”
  • Facelift → Faceleaft: “Face-leafts are becoming cheaper by the day.”
  • Left → Leaf-t: “Turn leaft at Khalin St.”
  • Lift → Leaf-t: “Take the leaft to the 45th floor.”
  • Oversimplification → Oversimpleafication: “Your oversimpleafication of the issue is not helpful.”
  • Shoplifting → Shopleafting: “Shopleafting is still a major problem in many countries.”
  • Telephone → Teleafone: “You used to call me on the teleafphone.”
  • Qualification → Qua-leaf-ication: “Do you have the qua-leaf-ications for that?”
  • Proliferate → Pro-leaf-erate: “Critical thinking skills are proleaferating in many societies.”
  • Root: “We need to get to the root of this problem.”
  • Rooting: “I’m rooting for you!”
  • Route → Root: “We’ll take the short root.”
  • Are boring→ Arboring: “Your tree puns arboring.” The term “arbor” refers to an area surrounded and shaded by trees and vines, especially where they are trained over a framework for the purpose of creating such an area. The term can also refer to someone who trims, fells, or cares for trees as a profession.
  • Facepalm: “His complete ignorance and overconfidence made me want to face-palm, but I remained polite.”
  • A corny → Acorny: “That was acorny tree pun.”
  • May pull → Maple: “I maple an all-nighter to get it done.”
  • Pine: “I’ve been pine-ing for you all week.” Here we’re using the “miss and long for the return of” definition of “pine”.
  • Opine → O-pine: “She often opined at our meetings.” To “opine” is to “speak up” and declare one’s opinion openly.
  • Pain → Pine: As in, “A world of pine,” and “Doubled up in pine,” and “Drown the pine,” and “Feeling no pine,” and “Growing pines,” and “No pine, no gain,” and “On pine of death,” and “Pine in the butt,” and “Pine in the neck,” and “Pinefully slow,” and “A royal pine.”
  • Pain* → Pine*: As in, “A picture pinet-s a thousand words,” and “Pine-t with a broad brush,” and “Pine-t the town red.” Note: to paint with a broad brush is to describe a group of things in general terms.
  • Fine → Pine: As in, “A pine line,” and “Cut it pine,” and Damn pine coffee,” and “Pine and dandy,” and “Another pine mess you’ve gotten me into,” and “I feel pine,” and “Not to put too pine a point on it,” and “One pine day,” and “Treading a pine line,” and “Got it down to a pine art,” and “The devil is in the pine print,” and “Go through it with a pine-toothed comb.”
  • *pan* → *pine*: As in, “Three’s compiney,” and “Wild discrepinecys,” and “Judging pinel,” and “Expineding our business,” and “Run rampinet.” Note: a discrepancy is a difference between two things that should be equal.
  • *pen* → *pine*: As in, pinechant (penchant), pineguin (penguin), pinesieve (pensive), pineding (pending), pinenis (penis), pineinsula (peninsula), pinetrate (penetrate), pineance (penance), opine (open), pine (pen), happine (happen), dampine (dampen), deepine (deepen), sharpine (sharpen), ripine (ripen), propinesity (propensity), indispinesable (indispensable), appinedix (appendix), depinedent (dependent). Notes: a penchant is a fondness for something. To be pensive is to be thoughtful. A propensity is a habit for behaving in a particular way.
  • *pun* → *pine*: As in, “Sucker pinech,” and “Be pinectual for the exam,” and “A pinegent smell.”
  • *ine* → *pine*: As in, pine-evitable (inevitable), pinertia (inertia), pinexorable (inexorable), pineffable (ineffable), pinept (inept), pinert (inert), pinexplicable (inexplicable), pinevitably (inevitably). Notes: if something is ineffable, then it causes an indescribable amount of emotion.
  • Will not → Walnut: “I walnut stand for this!”
  • Leaves: “She leaves here on Tuesday.”
  • Leaf: “You should leaf now.”
  • Stumped: “I’m completely stumped.”
  • Stomp → Stump: “He was stumping the ground in anger.”
  • Beach→ Beech: “A lovely summer day at the beech.” A “beech” tree is a type of large deciduous tree.
  • Okay → Oak-ay: “Oakay, you’re right.”
  • *oak*: If a word contains “oak” or the “oak” sound, then we can make a simple partial pun of the word: awoak (awoke), bloak (bloke), buroakratic (bureaucratic), choak (choke), coakaine (cocaine), coakonut (coconut), croak, evoak (evoke), foak (folk), hoaks (hoax), joakingly (jokingly), loakated (located), Oaklahoma (Oklahoma), outspoaken (outspoken), poaker (poker), poak (poke), proaklaim (proclaim), revoak (revoke), smoaker (smoker), soak, voakal (vocal).
  • Sap: “He fell for it! What a sap!” The term “sap” can be slang for “a foolish and gullible person.”
  • Zap → Sap: “I got a small sap from the electrical switch.”
  • Slap → Sap: “He sapped me gently on my right cheek.”
  • Ent*: The “Ents” are a fictional race of large anthropomorphic trees in the Lord of the Rings series. Words starting with “ent” can thus be corny tree puns. Here are a few examples: enter, entry, enterprise, entirely, entrance, entered, entitled, entertainment, entity, enterprise, entailed, entertainer, entwine.
  • Bitch → Birch: “Yeah, people are a bit birchy at my work.”
  • Asked → Axed: “Axe, and you shall receive.”
  • Will owe → Willow: “After this I willow you even more money.”
  • Saw → Seed: “I seed it with my own eyes!”
  • Knot: “Can you help me tie this knot?”
  • Not → Knot: “I will knot put up with this anymore.”
  • For → Fir: “Fir only a second.” A “fir” tree is an evergreen coniferous tree with needle-shaped leaves, commonly used for timber and resin.
  • You → Yew: “Yew and me.” A “yew” tree is a coniferous tree that has red berrylike fruits. It can live to a very old age, is poisonous, and is often used for cabinet making.
  • Popular → Poplar: “Yes, vegan restaurants are becoming very poplar.” A poplar is a species of tall, fast-growing tree.
  • See the → Cedar: “Cedar forest for the trees.” A “cedar” is any of a number of conifer species which yield fragrant and durable timber.
  • Wouldn’t → Wooden: “Wooden you think?”
  • Would → Wood: “Wood you help me out for a while?”
  • Shady: “There’s some shady character following me.”
  • Drunk → Trunk: “A bunch of trunk idiots.”
  • Cops → Copse: “We should call the copse.” A “copse” is a small group of trees (a “thicket” or “grove”).
  • Chop: “We’ve been chopping and changing trying to make a decision.”
  • Shrunk → Shtrunk: “My shirt shtrunk in the wash.”
  • Bark: “All bark and no bite.”
  • Saw: “After she explained it, I saw her point”.
  • Saw dust → Sawdust: “These puns are so old I sawdust on them.”
  • Palm: “You’ll have to grease their palms.” Note: to grease someone’s palm is to bribe them.
  • Ask → Ashk: “I’ll ashk if it’s okay.”
  • Friends → Fronds: “Me and my best fronds.”
  • Friendly → Frondly: “He has such a frondly air about him.”
  • A case of → Acacia: “I’ve come down with acacia winter flu.”
  • Stick: “Stick with me, you’ll be all right.”
  • Sticking: “We’re at a bit of a sticking point.”
  • Sticky: “Eww, it’s all sticky.”
  • Schtick → Stick: “Okay, you’ve worn out the tree puns schtick now, it’s not funny anymore.”
  • Can offer → Conifer: “I conifer you a 30% discount if you buy now.”
  • Carnivorous → Coniferous: “Cats are coniferous animals.”
  • Spruce: “We need to spruce you up a bit.” A spruce is the type of conifer that’s often used for Christmas.
  • Space → Spruce: As in, “In deep spruce,” and “In spruce, no one can hear you scream,” and “Personal spruce,” and “A waste of spruce,” and “Watch this spruce,” and “Taking up spruce.”
  • Sick of mor* → Sycamore-*: Words beginning with the “more” sound can be made into sycamore puns when preceded by “sick of”, for example: “I’m sycamorning TV shows” (I’m sick of morning TV shows), “I getting sycamore tree puns.” (I’m getting sick of more tree puns).
  • Alternate → Alder-nate: “It alder-nates between black and white.” An “alder” is a tree of the birch family.
  • Tapped: “I tapped him on the shoulder.” Some trees (like rubber trees) are “tapped”, meaning they have their sap extracted via a hole in the trunk.
  • Log: “Make sure to log your hours on the time sheet.”
  • Limb: “I’m going to go out on a limb here.” and “My limbs feel so heavy.”
  • Bow → Bough: “Boughing to visitors is polite in my culture.” A “bough” is any of the larger branches of a tree.
  • Bowl → Bole: “I’ll need a bigger bole.” The “bole” is another term for the trunk of a tree.
  • Burly: “I saw a burly figure come out of the shadows.” A “burl” or “bur” is deformation or “knot” in the growth of a tree.
  • Fell: “I fell victim to an online scam.” The term “fell” is a word for “to cut down” when referring to a tree, as in “She felled the tree with her axe.”
  • I’m → Elm: “Elm not sure if it’s the right thing to do.”
  • Confer → Conifer: “I need to conifer with my advisers before making a decision.”
  • Lumber: “He clumsily lumbered over to greet me.” The term “lumber” can refer to slow, heavy, awkward movement.
  • Can of pee → Canopy: “That thing’s worth less than a can-o’-py.”
  • Grave → Grove: “You must leave – you are in grove danger.”
  • Gum: “Stop flapping your gums and get back to work.” and “Chewing gum isn’t allowed here.” The term “gum” can refer to a viscous secretion of some trees that hardens on drying. It may also refer to a tree which has secretes this substance.
  • Phlegm → Phloem: “I’ve got a cold and a phloemy throat.” The term “phloem” refers to the plant tissue tubes that conduct nutrients around the plant.
  • Gall: Refers to an abnormal growth on plants and trees, especially in response to the presence of insects or mites. It also mean “bold and impudent behaviour”: “He had the gall to make more tree puns even after I shouted at him to stop.”
  • Branch: “We need to branch out into other sectors.” and “We’re opening another branch in this town.”
  • Lifeless → Leafless: “A seemingly leafless figure lay on the beach.”
  • Life → Leaf: “Well, that’s just leaf I guess.”
  • Plant: “She planted her feet firmly on the ground, ready to fight.”
  • Decision → Deciduous: This one is very corny! “Finally, we’ve arrived at a deciduous!”
  • Shoot: “Shooting animals for sport is cowardly.” Note that a “shoot” in the leafy context refers to a young branch or leaf springing from a stem.

Tree-Related Words

No doubt there are many more puns to be made, so we’ve gathered together a list of tree-related words to help you come up with your own tree puns. If you come up with any good ones, please share them in the comments and we’ll add them to our list!

limb, bough, bole, burl, arbor, sumac, teak, fell, elm, twig, alder, azalea, log, heath, spruce, conifer, stick, saw, sawdust, acacia, tree house, frond, palm, palm tree, chop, copse, cecar, poplar, yew, yew tree, fir, fir tree, ash, knot, seed, willow, axe, birch, bush, bark, trunk, stump, ent, sap, oak, leaf, leaves, leave, walnut, pine, maple, acorn, root, tree, forest, wood, wooden, shrub, eucalyptus, beech, deciduous, evergreen, bamboo, grove, banyan, hornbeam, baobab, bonsai, canopy, rainforest, casuarina, unga, puka, yukka, linden, souari, lumber, poon, bayberry, gum tree, chestnut, mangrove, photosynthesis, fern, cypress, sapwood, heartwood, botanist, xylem, phloem, sapling, cycad, perennial, hazel, fig tree, pear tree, orchard, ginkgo, tannin, botany, banana tree, sequoia, aboreal, hickory, silva, ironwood, aspen, lumberjack, hardwood, pollard, hemlock, taproot, graft, grafting, flowering, sandalwood, foliage, underbrush, tea tree, vegetation, redwood, growth rings, softwood, lignin, mahogany, timber, rosewood, beechwood, thicket, cellulose, sawmill, plywood, forestry, kauri, plank, oaken, wooded, mulch, branch, barky, cinnamon, gum, greenery, larch, juniper, girdle, knar, filbert, gall, treetops, tree huggers, elderberry, pine cone, cone, haw, olive tree, rubber tree, sassafras, yellowwood

Tree-Related Phrases

Cliches, idioms and common phrases can often be used to make some subtle puns about the subject of your wordplay. Tree puns are no exception, and so we’ve included a list of all the tree-related phrases that we could find. If you know any more, please share them in the comments!

  • Bark is worse than its bite
  • Barking up the wrong tree
  • See the forest for the trees
  • The root of the problem
  • Grease one’s palm
  • Go out on a limb
  • Branch out
  • Grass roots movement
  • Log off / log on
  • Don’t take any wooden nickels
  • Little strokes fell great oaks
  • Must have learned to whisper in a sawmill
  • Knock on wood
  • Touch wood
  • A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush
  • Make like a tree and leave
  • Mighty oaks from little acorns grow
  • Put on the wooden overcoat
  • Shiver me timbers
  • An apple doesn’t fall far from the tree
  • Bust in the chops
  • By your leave
  • Don’t be a stick in the mud
  • Don’t keep a dog and bark yourself
  • Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick
  • Dumb as a stump
  • Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn sometimes
  • Had me stumped
  • Have an axe to grind
  • How much wood can a woodchuck chuck?
  • In limbo
  • In the sticks
  • Let’s tie the knot
  • Money doesn’t grow on trees
  • More cliches than you can shake a stick at
  • Old chestnut
  • Sleep like a log
  • Take a leaf out of your book
  • Turn over a new leaf
  • Take it or leave it
  • The short end of the stick
  • This neck of the woods
  • Beat the bushes
  • Beat around the bush
  • Walk the plank

Tree Pun Images

We’ve collected all the visual tree puns and meme-type puns that we could find and put them all in one place for you. If you’ve found or made another one, please share a link to it in the comments!

Tree Pun Conversations

Pun battles and pun-filled conversations are a common occurrence on the internet, and particularly so for tree puns for some reason. Here we’ve collected some of those iMessage/Messenger/chatroom pun battles for you to do with as you would:

Did this Punpedia entry help you?

That’s all the tree pun material we have for you! Was it helpful? Did you find what you were looking for? If so, great! We’re happy we were able to help. If not, we’d love for you to tell us how this entry could be improved. More visual tree puns? More word play around a certain concept? Punpedia is driven by community suggestions, so we really appreciate your feedback. Thanks for visiting Punpedia 🙂

Frog Puns

This entry is all about frog puns! Topics related to frogs like tadpoles and toads are also included. Interestingly, the term “toad” is just a “folk taxonomy” which is based mostly on the visual appearance of the animal. Some “toad” species are more closely related to frogs than to other toads. If there’s enough demand, toads may eventually get their own entry.

You might also like to check out the Punpedia entries on on otter punsfish punsturtle puns, beach puns and squid puns for some more water-themed word play.

As with all entries on Punpedia, if you’ve got a great frog pun, you can post it in the comments and one of our curators will add it to this entry.

Frog Puns List

Each item in this list of frog puns is either a simple word-swap (e.g. froggy → foggy) or it may be a general rule from which multiple puns can be made. In the case of general rules, the asterisks sign (*) represents one or more letters.

  • Riveting → Ribbeting: “This documentary is ribbeting!”
  • Rivet → Ribbet: “We need more ribbets to connect the steel beams.”
  • Forgot → Frogot: “Sorry, I completely frogot!”
  • Forgotten → Frogotten: “I’ve frogotten all the lyrics!”
  • Forgetfulness → Frogetfulness: “My frogetfulness is the reason I was fired.”
  • Forgiveness → Frogiveness: “I’m sorry. Can I have your frogiveness?”
  • Forgave → Frogave: “Oh, I frograve you for that a long time ago!”
  • Forgo → Frogo: “We need to frogo some of our privileges so that we can help others in need.”
  • Unforgettable → Unfrogettable: “That holiday was completely unfrogettable.”
  • Fragment → Frogment: “I’ve still got a frogment of hope left.”
  • Fragrance → Frogrance: “Oh, that frogrance has a lovely smell.”
  • Friggin’ → Froggin’: “This is froggin’ awesome!”
  • Frugal → Frogal: “I’m only buying necessities – I’m trying to be frogal.” (Terrible! :P)
  • Towed → Toad: “If you park here, your car will be toad.”
  • Told → Toad: “I toad you kids to get off my lawn!”
  • Toed → Toad: “I prefer open-toad shoes.”
  • Today → Toaday: “Toaday is the big day!”
  • Toddler → Toaddler: “Toaddlers are so cute! Always toaddling about and falling over.”
  • Totalitarianism → Toadalitarianism: “The toadalitarian regime lasted for 14 years.”
  • Totally → Toadally: “Frog puns are toadally awesome.”
  • Total → Toadal: “We have thirty two dollars and ten cents in toadal.”
  • Fib → Am-fib-ian: (Corniness level: maximum) “Are you telling am-fib-ians?”
  • Girls → Gills: Frogs don’t have gills, but tadpoles do – you might have to use this one with care.
  • Depend → depond: “Can I depond on you or not?”
  • Appendix → Appondix: “The graph is in the appondices.”
  • Compendium → Compondium : “A well organised compondium of useful information.”
  • Dependence → Depondence : “I’ve developed a depondence on frog puns over the years.”
  • Perpendicular → Perpondicular : “Perpondicular lines are at 90 degree angles to one another.”
  • Suspended → Susponded : “I was susponded for excessive frog pun usage.”
  • Hop: “I’m just going to hop over to the shops, do you want anything?”
  • Hopping: “He’s hopping mad!”
  • Hop → Hope: “I hop to one day start a charity.”
  • Hoping → Hopping: “I’m hopping this frog pun isn’t too shameful.”
  • Come here to → Kermit: If “come here to” is pronounced in a very slurred accent (“kerm ere’ ta”), then it sounds a little like “kermit”. Use carefully!
  • Commit → Kermit: “We’re in a kermitted relationship.” and “Happily, the number of people kermitting suicide is falling.”
  • Hermit → Kermit: “Yeah, an old kermit lives in that house.”
  • Bug: “Will you please stop bugging me?”
  • Paddling: “We used to receive a paddling for acting up in class.”
  • Cloak → Croak: “I need a water-proof croak for winter.”
  • Froggy: This term is an adjective for anything with has some froglike characteristics: “The old seargent’s gruff, froggy voice.”
  • Foggy → Froggy: “It’s really froggy on the roads tonight, drive carefully.”

That’s all the frog puns we have so far! There’s lots more to be made and we need your help! The list of frog-related words below is just to get you started. Please submit any and all frog puns in the comments to help improve this Punpedia entry.

  • ? → Webbed
  • ? → Webbed feet
  • ? → Protruding eyes
  • ? → Rainforest
  • ? → Tongue
  • ? → Frogger
  • ? → Pepe
  • ? → Croak
  • ? → Croaker
  • ? → Croaking
  • ? → Frogspawn
  • ? → Batrachian
  • ? → Frog-eyed
  • ? → Insectivore
  • ? → Poison dart
  • ? → Tadpole
  • ? → Tree-frog
  • ? → Bullfrog
  • ? → Metamorphosis
  • ? → Pollywog

If you’re after more aquatic-ish animal word play, check out our entries on otter punsfrog puns and crab puns. We’ve also got a more general water puns entry too!

Thanks for visiting Punpedia 🙂

Turtle Puns

This entry is all about turtle puns! There are also a sprinkle of tortoise puns too, so be careful if you’re looking for specifically turtle-based puns (tortoise are completely land-based, turtles mostly live in or around water). As you’ll see, there are a lot of “shell”-based puns to be made, and also a few puns using the names of different turtle species/families.

You might also like to check out the Punpedia entries on on otter punsfrog punsfish punsshark puns, beach puns and squid puns for some more water-based word play.

As with all entries on Punpedia, if you’ve got a great turtle pun, you can post it in the comments and one of our curators will add it to this entry.

Turtle Puns List

Each item in this list of turtle puns is either a simple word-swap (e.g. total → turtle) or it may be a general rule from which multiple puns can be made. In the case of general rules, the asterisks sign (*) represents one or more letters.

  • Total→ Turtle: “I am in turtle awe of her skills.”
  • Totally→ Turtley: “Turtley!” and “This is turtley amazing!”
  • Totalitarian→ Turtleitarian: “It’s a cruel turtle-itarian regime.”
  • Celebration→ Shellebration: As in “After finishing we should have a shellebration.”
  • Startle → Sturtle: “Oh! You sturtled me!” and “That was sturtling news.”
  • Turtle-neck: A “turtle-neck” is a high, close-fitting neck on a shirt. Can be used as a turtle pun with the right context.
  • 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), shellfish (selfish).
  • *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.
  • Shall→ Shell: As in “Shell I compare thee to a summer’s day?” and “He who lives by the sword shell die by the sword.”
  • *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.
  • Sell → Shell: “How many do we have left to shell?”
  • Hell → Shell: “The party last night was a shell of a time.”
  • Flip her → Flipper: As in “Don’t you dare flip her off! That’s rude!” and “We’re going to need to flip her on her belly before the surgery.”
  • Flip out → Flipper-t: “Woah! No need to flipper-t about my bad turtle puns.”
  • Taught us → Tortoise: “Our parents tortoise to be kind to animals.”
  • Tore this → Tortoise: “Turtle puns tortoise family apart.”
  • Bleak → Beak: Many turtles have beak-like mouths – “The outlook is beak.”
  • Riddle → Ridley: Refers to a type of small turtle that lives in tropical seas – “Ridley me this!” and “She speaks in ridleys.”
  • A → Loggerhead: Refers to a species of large marine turtle. Also used as an insult for someone who speaks or behaves unintelligently: “That news anchor is a bit of a loggerhead.”
  • Snapping: A “snapping turtle” is a type of turtle known for its aggression and powerful jaw. The term “snapping” is also used for quick and irritable speech: “The teacher was intermittently snapping at her.”
  • Snap in → Snapping: Refers to a type of turtle. “To snap in quarters.”
  • Napping → Snapping: “Did I wake you up? Na, I was jus’ snapping.”
  • A → Leatherback: Refers to a very large black turtle with a thick leathery shell.
  • Stinkpot: Refers to a species of turtle which can defensively produce a foul smell. Can also refer to a contemptible or foul smelling person or thing: “Jason, you stinkpot! Stop making turtle puns.”
  • Plaster on → Plastron: Refers to the underside part of a turtle’s (or tortoise’s, or snake’s) shell: “You may need to put some plastron after I beat you in this pun battle.”
  • S’cute → Scute: A “scute” refers to large bony or horny plate as on an armadillo or turtle: “Aww, scute how he walks all wobbly like that.”
  • Slow: Although many turtles are quite fast (The pacific leatherback turtle can swim as fast as 34 km/h), the “turtles are slow” stereotype may allow you to use the word “slow” as a turtle pun in the right context.
  • Mutant: The series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles may be well-known enough for the word “mutant” to constitute a turtle pun in the right context.
  • Mossback: A “mossback” can refer to a very old turtle that, because of its age, has grown moss on its back. It can also refer to a very conservative person; one with old-fashioned views.
  • Hair → Hare: Because of the fame of the Tortoise and the Hare story, one might be able to make a subtle turtle/tortoise pun (with the right context) by switching “hair” for “hare“.

As you can see our turtle puns list is still short! Below is a list of turtle-related words that we still need puns for. If you’d like to help us out, please post suggestions in the comments! Also, this source of turtle-related words may be handy (as might this source).

  • ? → Hawksbill: Refers to a small, endangered tropical sea turtle.
  • ? → Reptile: All turtles and tortoises are reptiles.
  • ? → Carapace: Refers to the hard upper shell of a turtle, crustacean, or arachnid.
  • ? → Raphael: A fictional turtle from TMNT.
  • ? → Michaelangelo: A fictional turtle from TMNT.
  • ? → Donatello: A fictional turtle from TMNT.
  • ? → Leonardo: A fictional turtle from TMNT.
  • ? → Genbu: Refers to a mythical turtle in Japanese Mythology.
  • ? → Kurma: Means “turtle” in Sanskrit and refers to the Hindu Turtle God.
  • ? → Great A’Tuin: Refers to the “World Turtle” that helps carry the world in the Discworld series of novels by Terry Pratchet.
  • ? → Mock turtle: Refers to a fictional turtle in “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll (wiki).
  • ? → Galapagos: Galapagos tortoises are a species of giant tortoise found on the Galapagos islands.
  • ? → Anapsid: Refers to “a primitive reptile having no opening in the temporal region of the skull; all extinct except turtles”
  • ? → Sea turtle
  • ? → Tortoiseshell

If you’re after more aquatic-ish animal word play, check out our entries on otter punsfrog puns and crab puns. And we’ve got a more general water puns entry too!

Thanks for visiting Punpedia 🙂