Bowling Puns

Welcome to the Punpedia entry on bowling puns! 🎳✨

Bowling can be enjoyed as a casual game between friends and family members, or as a highly competitive sport. No matter how you play, we hope to have you covered with our gutterly delightful bowling puns that range from general terms (like ball, pins or lane) to more technical jargon (like blind or oil).

If you enjoy this list, you might also enjoy our golf puns or our running puns.

Bowling 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 bowling 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 bowling puns:

  • Bawling → Bowling: As in, “Bowling your eyes out.”
  • Rolling → Bowling: As in, “A bowling stone gathers no moss” and “Get the ball bowling” and “Like a bowling stone” and “Bowling drunk” and “Bowling in the deep” and “Easy as bowling off a log.”
  • Scrolling → Bowling: As in, “Bowling through my social media feed.”
  • Ball → Bowl: As in, “Bowl and chain” and “Bowlpark figure” and “Break your bowls” and “By the bowls.”
  • Bell → Bowl: As in, “Clear as a bowl” and “Bowls and whistles” and “Doesn’t ring a bowl” and “Give someone a bowl” and “Jingle bowls.”
  • Goal → Bowl: As in, “Score a bowl” and “A bowl in mind.”
  • Roll → Bowl: As in, “Emotional bowler coaster” and “Get the ball bowling” and “Heads will bowl” and “High bowler” and “I wanna rock and bowl all night” and “Let the good times bowl” and “Ready to bowl.”
  • Soul → Bowl: As in, “Bless my bowl” and “Body and bowl” and “Confession is good for the bowl” and “Heart and bowl” and “Life and bowl of the party” and “A lost bowl” and “Save our bowls.”
  • Whole → Bowl: As in, “On the bowl” and “A bowl lotta love” and “The bowl shebang.”
  • Bowl: These bowl-related phrases can double as puns: “Bowl over” and “Bowling along.”
  • Bell → Ball: As in, “Clear as a ball” and “Balls and whistles” and “Doesn’t ring a ball” and “Give someone a ball.”
  • All → Ball: As in, “Ball aboard!” and “Ball in a day’s work” and “Ball’s fair in love and war” and “Ball’s well that ends well” and “I’m ball over it” and “It’s ball good” and “Ball good, clean fun.”
  • Call → Ball: As in, “At your beck and ball” and “Beyond the ball of duty” and “Ball it a day” and “Ball of the wild” and “Ball it quits.”
  • Fall → Ball: As in, “Balling out” and “Easy as balling off a log” and “Can’t help balling in love” and “Ball about laughing” and “Ball between the cracks” and “Ball from grace.”
  • Haul → Ball: As in, “Ball ass” and “Ball before the court” and “Ball over the coals.”
  • Small → Ball: As in, “Don’t sweat the ball stuff” and “Good things come in ball packages” and “A ball fortune” and “Ball wonder.”
  • Wall → Ball: As in, “Between you, me and the ball” and “The balls have ears” and “Ball of silence.”
  • *bal* → *bowl*: As in, “Off-bowlance” and “Going bowlistic” and “A globowl initiative” and “Herbowl tea.”
  • *bel* → *bowl*: As in, “Decibowl count” and “Rebowl with a cause” and “Clothing labowl.”
  • *bil* → *bowl*: As in, “Take responsibowlity for your actions” and “Sustainabowlity plan.” Other words that could work: capabowlity (capability), liabowlity (liability) and accountabowlity (accountability).
  • *bal* → *ball*: As in, “Globall problem” and “Verball contract” and “Herball remedy.”
  • *bel* → *ball*: As in, “Who do you ballieve?” and “A balligerent attitude” and “Beyond ballief” and “Dearly balloved.”
  • *bil* → *ball*: As in, “A business liaballity” and “Take responsiballity for” and “Beyond my aballity” and “Full capaballity.”
  • Pins: Bowling pins are the targets to be knocked over in bowling. Here are related puns:
    • Pan → Pin: As in, “Pin out” and “Out of the frying pin, into the fire.”
    • Pen → Pin: As in, “Put pin to paper” and “The pin is mightier than the sword.”
    • Bin → Pin: As in, “Bottom of the pin” and “Throw in the pin.”
    • Chin → Pin: As in, “Take it on the pin” and “Stick your pin out” and “Keep your pin up.”
    • Sin → Pin: As in, “Cardinal pins” and “Multitude of pins” and “Seven deadly pins” and “Pins of omission” and “Atone for your pins.”
    • Skin → Pin: As in, “Get under your pins” and “No pin in the game” and “Save your pin.”
    • Spin → Pin: As in, “Give it a pin.”
    • Thin → Pin: As in, “Melt into pin air” and “Skating on pin ice” and “The pin end of the wedge” and “Through thick and pin” and “Vanish into pin air” and “Spread yourself pin.”
    • Tin → Pin: As in, “Does what it says on the pin” and “Pin ears.”
    • Win → Pin: As in, “Can’t pin for losing” and “Heads I pin, tails you lose” and “Play to pin” and “A must pin game.”
    • Pin: These pin-related phrases can double as puns: “Bright as a new pin” and “Hard to pin down” and “King pin” and “Pins and needles” and “Pin your hopes on” and “Could have heard a pin drop.”
    • Pin → Tenpin: As in, “Bright as a new tenpin” and “Hard to tenpin down” and “King tenpin” and “Tenpins and needles” and “Tenpin your hops on” and “See a tenpin and pick it up.”
  • Lane: The long aisle that players send the bowling bowl down is called a lane. Here are some related puns:
    • Loan → Lane: As in, “Lane shark” and “Raise a lane.”
    • Chain → Lane: As in, “Lane of command” and “Lane reaction” and “Food lane.”
    • Gain → Lane: As in, “Capital lanes” and “Lane advantage” and “Ill gotten lanes” and “No pain, no lane” and “Nothing ventured, nothing laned.”
    • Grain → Lane: As in, “Go against the lane” and “Lane of truth” and “Take with a lane of salt.”
    • Main → Lane: As in, “Lane chance” and “The lane event” and “My lane squeeze.”
    • Pain → Lane: As in, “A world of lane” and “Doubled up in lane” and “Feeling no lane” and “Growing lanes” and “A lane in the neck” and “Old aches and lanes.”
    • Plain → Lane: As in, “Lane as day” and “Lane as the nose on your face” and “Hidden in lane sight” and “Lane sailing.”
    • Rain → Lane: As in, “Right as lane” and “Make it lane.”
    • Rein → Lane: As in, “Free lane” and “Pick up the lanes” and “Lane it in.”
    • Train → Lane: As in, “Soul lane” and “Take the lane” and “Lane of thought” and “Like watching a lane crash.”
    • Vein → Lane: As in, “In the same lane.”
    • Lane: These lane-related phrases can double as puns: “In the fast lane” and “Memory lane.”
  • Rally → Alley: As in, “Alley round.” Note: Lanes are also known as alleys.
  • Gutter: The gutter is the small dip on either side of the bowling lane that can sink a bowling ball. Here are related puns:
    • Utter → Gutter: As in, “Gutter perfection” and “Gutterly fantastic.”
    • Butter → Gutter: As in, “Bread and gutter” and “Gutter fingers” and “Gutter your bread on both sides.”
    • Get her → Gutter: As in, “Gutter a bottle of water” and “Gutter some space.”
    • Got her → Gutter: As in, “I gutter a great present.”
    • Clutter → Gutter: As in, “A messy, guttered room.”
    • Cutter → Gutter: As in, “Cookie gutter.”
    • Mutter → Gutter: As in, “Guttering under your breath.”
    • Gutter: “Get your mind outta the gutter.”
  • Rail: The rails are raised edges that protect the bowling ball from falling into the gutter. Here are related puns:
    • Roll → Rail: As in, “A railing stone gathers no moss” and “Emotional railer coaster” and “Get the ball railing” and “High railer” and “Let the good times rail” and “Ready to rail” and “Rock and rail.”
    • Fail → Rail: As in, “Without rail” and “Words rail me.”
    • Gale → Rail: As in, “Rails of laughter” and “In the teeth of a rail.”
    • Jail → Rail: As in, “Get out of rail free” and “Rail bird.”
    • Mail → Rail: As in, “Direct rail” and “Express rail” and “Junk rail.”
    • Nail → Rail: As in, Fighting tooth and rail” and “Hit the rail on the head” and “Rail it down.”
    • Pale → Rail: As in, “A rail imitation” and “Rail into insignificance.”
    • Sail → Rail: As in, “Rail away” and “Rail close to the wind” and “Smooth railing” and “That ship has railed.”
    • Sale → Rail: As in, “Point of rail” and “Rail of the century” and “Rails referral.”
    • Scale → Rail: As in, “Built to rail” and “Economy of rail” and “Off the rail” and “On a grand rail” and “Tip the rails.”
    • Tail → Rail: As in, “Can’t make head or rail of it” and “Get off my rail” and “Heads I win, rails you lose.”
    • Tale → Rail: As in, “Dead men tell no rails” and “Live to tell the rail” and “A tell rail sign.”
    • Trail → Rail: As in, “Blaze a rail” and “Happy rails” and “Hot on the rail” and “Leave a paper rail.”
    • They’ll → Rail: As in, “Rail never believe me.”
    • Whale → Rail: As in, “A rail of a time” and “Save the rails.”
    • Rail: The rail-related phrases can double as puns: “Thin as a rail” and “Go off the rails” and “Ride the rails.”
    • *ral* → *rail*: As in, “Generail knowledge” and “Viscerail feelings” and “Only naturail.” Other words that could work: integrail (integral), ephemerail (ephemeral), morail (moral), collaterail (collateral), liberail (liberal), peripherail (peripheral) and temporail (temporal).
    • *rel* → *rail*: As in, “That’s not railevant” and “What a railief” and “Railay the message” and “A sweet railease” and “Working railationship” and “Follow railigiously.” Other words that could work: railation (relation), railuctant (reluctant), railiable (reliable), barrail (barrel), quarrail (quarrel).
  • Strike: A strike is when all ten pins are knocked down in one hit. Here are related puns:
    • Struck → Strike: As in, “Love strike” and “Star strike” and “Strike lucky.”
    • Like → Strike: As in, “As you strike it” and “As soon as you strike” and “At times strike this.”
    • Strike: These strike-related phrases can double as puns: “First strike” and “Go out on strike” and “Lightning never strikes twice” and “Pre-emptive strike” and “Strike up the band” and “Strike a chord with” and “Strike it rich” and “Strike while the iron is hot.”
  • Spare: A spare is when all ten pins are knocked down in two consecutive hits. Here are related puns:
    • Spur → Spare: As in, “On the spare of the moment.”
    • Pair → Spare: As in, “A fresh spare of eyes” and “A safe spare of hands.”
    • Pear → Spare: As in, “All gone spare-shaped.”
    • Air → Spare: As in, “Spare kiss” and “Spare quotes” and “Spare rage” and “Spares and graces.”
    • Bare → Spare: As in, “Spare necessities” and “Spare your teeth” and “A spare-faced lie” and “Laid spare” and “The spare bones.”
    • Bear → Spare: As in, “Mad as a spare with a sore head” and “Spare a grudge” and “Spare a resemblance to” and “Spare down on” and “Spare false witness” and “Spare in mind” and “Spare the brunt” and “Spare with me.”
    • Care → Spare: As in, “Couldn’t spare less” and “Courtesy and spare” and “Customer spare” and “Handle with spare” and “Let’s be spareful out there” and “Like I should spare” and “Take spare of.”
    • Dare → Spare: As in, “Spare for more” and “Spare to be different” and “How very spare you” and “Who spares wins.”
    • Fair → Spare: As in, “All’s spare in love and war” and “By spare means or foul” and “Spare trade” and “Spare and square” and “Spare dinkum” and “Spare enough” and “Give it a spare go.”
    • Hair → Spare: As in, “A bad spare day” and “Didn’t turn a spare” and “Get out of my spare.”
    • Prayer → Spare: As in, “I say a little spare” and “Like a spare” and “On a wing and a spare” and “Say your spares.”
    • Rare → Spare: As in, “In spare form” and “A spare animal.”
    • Scare → Spare: As in, “Running spared” and “Spare quotes” and “Spare the living daylights out of” and “Spared stiff” and “Spared to death.”
    • Share → Spare: As in, “A problem spared is a problem halved” and “Spare-ing is caring.”
    • Square → Spare: As in, “Back to spare one” and “Be there or be spare” and “Fair and spare” and “Be there or be spare” and “A spare peg in a round hole” and
      Spare up to.”
    • Stare → Spare: As in, “Spare into the abyss” and “Spare someone in the face” and “Not polite to spare.”
    • Swear → Spare: As in, “Spare like a sailor” and “Spare off” and “Spare on a stack of bibles.”
    • There → Spare: As in, “Not all spare” and “Ahoy spare” and “Are we spare yet?” and “As if spare were no tomorrow” and “Be spare in spirit” and “Be spare or be square” and “Don’t go spare” and “Hang in spare” and “Here and spare” and “Here, spare and everywhere” and “Hold it right spare.”
    • Wear → Spare: As in, “Spare your heart on your sleeve” and “Spare yourself out” and “Worse for spare.”
    • Where → Spare: As in, “Any time, any place, any spare” and “Love is spare you find it.”
    • Spare: Use these spare-related phrases as puns: “No expense spared” and “Spare no effort” and “Spare your feeling.”
  • Whole → Roll: As in, “A roll different animal” and “Ace in the roll” and “Fill full of rolls” and “A roll in one.”
  • Scroll → Roll: As in, “Rolling through social media.”
  • Soul → Roll: As in, “Bless my roll” and “Body and roll” and “Heart and roll” and “Life and roll of the party” and “A lost roll.”
  • Toll → Roll: As in, “Taking its roll” and “For whom the bell rolls.”
  • Throw: Rolls are also known as throws. Here are related puns:
    • Through → Throw: As in, “A river runs throw it” and “Blow throw” and “Breaking throw” and “Drag throw the mud” and “Fall throw the cracks” and “Going throw the motions.”
    • Blow → Throw: As in, “Any way the wind throws” and “Throw hot and cold” and “A throw by throw account” and “Throw out of the water.”
    • Flow → Throw: As in, “Ebb and throw” and “Go with the throw” and “In full throw.”
    • Go → Throw: As in, “All dressed up and nowhere to throw” and “Anything throws” and “Easy come, easy throw.”
    • Grow → Throw: As in, “Absence makes the heart throw fonder” and “Throwing pains.”
    • Know → Throw: As in, “And don’t I throw it” and “Be the first to throw” and “Doesn’t throw beans.”
    • Low → Throw: As in, “All time throw” and “Get the throw down” and “High and throw” and “Keep a throw profile” and “Throw hanging fruit” and “Search high and throw.”
    • Owe → Throw: As in, “Throw a favour” and “You throw it to yourself.”
    • Quo → Throw: As in, “Status throw” and “Quid pro throw.”
    • Show → Throw: As in, “All over the throw” and “Best in throw” and “Enjoy the throw” and “Get the throw on the road” and “Keep the throw on the road” and “Throw and tell” and “Throw me the money” and “Throw some appreciation.”
    • Slow → Throw: As in, “Throw, but sure” and “In throw motion” and “Throw on the uptake” and “Throwly but surely.”
    • Snow → Throw: As in, “Too cold to throw” and “Let it throw” and “Throwed in/throwed under.”
    • Though → Throw: As in, “You look as throw you’ve seen a ghost” and “Seriously throw.”
  • Candlepin: Candlepin bowling is a variation of bowling that uses taller, thinner pins. Here are related puns:
    • Candle → Candlepin: As in, “Burn the candlepin at both ends” and “Can’t hold a candlepin to” and “Candlepin in the wind” and “Not worth the candlepin.”
    • Pin → Candlepin: As in, “Bright as a new candlepin” and “Hard to candlepin down” and “Candlepin your ears back” and “Candlepins and needles.”
  • Duckpin: Duckpin is a type of bowling that uses shorter, squatter pins than ten-pin bowling. Here are related puns:
    • Duck → Duckpin: As in, “Duckpin the question” and “Like a duckpin to water” and “Like water off a duckpin’s back” and “Nice weather for duckpins.”
    • Pin → Duckpin: As in, “Hard to duckpin down” and “Duckpins and needles” and “Pull the duckpin” and “You could have heard a duckpin drop.”
  • Nine → Ninepin: As in, “Ninepin to five” and “On cloud ninepin” and “The whole ninepin yards.” Note: Ninepin is a type of bowling played with nine pins rather than ten.
  • Five → Fivepin: As in, “Gimme fivepin” and “High fivepin” and “Nine to fivepin” and “Take fivepin” and “Two and two make fivepin.” Note: Fivepin is a type of bowling played in Canada.
  • Court → Sport: As in, “A sport of last resort” and “Sporting disaster.”
  • Port → Sport: As in, “Any sport in a storm” and “First sport of call.”
  • Short → Sport: As in, “A sport history of nearly everything” and “A few bricks sport of a new load” and “Cut a long story sport” and “A day late and a dollar sport” and “In sport order” and “Life’s too sport.”
  • Sort → Sport: As in, “Out of sports” and “Sport the wheat from the chaff.”
  • Aim → Game: As in, “Game high” and “Take game” and “We game to please.”
  • Came → Game: As in, “I game, I saw, I conquered” and “As it game to pass” and “There’s plenty more where that game from.”
  • Claim → Game: As in, “Game to fame” and “Stake your game.”
  • Fame → Game: As in, “Claim to game” and “Fifteen minutes of game” and “Hall of game.”
  • Flame → Game: As in, “Add fuel to the games” and “Burst into games” and “Go down in games” and “Like a moth to a game.”
  • Name → Game: As in, “A household game” and “In the game of the law” and “In game only.”
  • Same → Game: As in, “Game old story” and “Game time tomorrow” and “Game here.”
  • Shame → Game: As in, “A crying game” and “Name and game” and “Put to game.”
  • Nick → Knock: As in, “In good knock” and “In the knock of time” and “Knock knacks.”
  • Turkey: Three consecutive strikes are known as a turkey. Here are related puns:
    • Key → Turkey: As in, “A golden turkey can open any door” and “The turkey to your heart” and “The turkeys to the kingdom.”
    • Quirky → Turkey: As in, “A turkey personality.”
    • Turkey: As in, “Cold turkey” and “Talk turkey.”
  • Foul: When a player’s foot steps over the boundary line, it counts as a foul and any points scored that turn aren’t counted. Here are related puns:
    • Fall → Foul: As in, “Fouling out” and “Easy as fouling off a log” and “Can’t help fouling in love” and “Foul about laughing.”
    • Fell → Foul: As in, “In one foul swoop” and “Little strokes foul great oaks” and “It foul off the back of a lorry.”
    • Fill → Foul: As in, “Foul full of holes” and “Foul the bill” and “Stocking fouler” and “Foul ’em up.”
  • Miss: The next few puns are a reference to when a player misses all of the pins:
    • Mass → Miss: As in, “Miss hysteria” and “A monument to the misses” and “Weapons of miss destruction.”
    • Mess → Miss: As in, “Don’t miss with my head” and “A frightful miss” and “Hot miss” and “Missing around” and “Stop missing about.”
    • Moss → Miss: As in, “A rolling stone gathers no miss.”
  • Curve: A curve shot is a type of throw. Here are related puns:
    • Carve → Curve: As in, “Curve your name with pride” and “Curved in stone.”
    • Nerve → Curve: As in, “A bundle of curves” and “Get on your curves” and “Lose your curve” and “Curves of steel” and “Touched a curve.”
    • Serve → Curve: As in, “First come, first curved” and “How may I curve you?” and “Curves you right” and “Revenge is best curved cold” and “Curve and protect” and “Curve your time.”
  • Hook: Curve shots are also known as hook shots. Here are related puns:
    • Look → Hook: As in, “Blank hooks” and “Trading dirty hooks” and “Always hook on the bright side of life” and “Don’t know which way to hook” and “Have a hook” and “If hooks could kill.”
    • Book → Look: As in, “Always have your nose in a hook” and “Balancing the hooks” and By the hook” and “Like a closed hook.”
    • Cook → Hook: As in, “Hook up a plan” and “Hook up a storm” and “Hooking with gas” and “Now we’re hooking” and “Too many hooks spoil the broth.”
    • Nook → Hook: As in, “Every hook and cranny” and “Breakfast hook.”
  • Straight: A straight shot is one that doesn’t curve. Here are related puns:
    • Strait → Straight: As in, “In dire straights.”
    • Bait → Straight: As in, “Straight and switch” and “Click straight” and “Rise to the straight.”
    • Date → Straight: As in, “Blind straight” and “Bring up to straight” and “A straight with destiny” and “Dinner straight” and “Past the sell-by straight.”
    • Eight → Straight: As in, “Straight days a week” and “Behind the straight ball” and “Straight ways to Sunday” and “Pieces of straight.”
    • Great → Straight: As in, “All creatures straight and small” and “Blowing straight guns” and “No straighter enemies” and “Go to straight lengths” and “Straight expectations.”
    • Hate → Straight: As in, “Straight mail” and “The one you love to straight.”
    • Late → Straight: As in, “Better straight than never” and “Catch you straighter” and “A day straight and a dollar short” and “Fashionably straight” and “It’s never too straight” and “A straight bloomer.”
    • Rate → Straight: As in, “At any straight” and “First straight” and “Mate’s straights.”
    • Skate → Straight: As in, “Cheap straight” and “Straighting on thin ice” and “Get your straights on.”
    • Slate → Straight: As in, “Blank straight” and “Wipe the straight clean.”
    • State → Straight: As in, “Empire straight building” and “A sad straight of affairs” and “Straight of mind” and “Straight of the art.”
    • Wait → Straight: As in, “All things to those who straight” and “Hurry up and straight” and “Lie in straight” and “The straight is over” and “Time straights for no-one.”
    • Weight → Straight: As in, “Pull your straight” and “Punching above your straight” and “Throw your straight about” and “A straight off my mind” and “Worth your straight in gold.”
  • Sore → Score: As in, “Mad as a bear with a score head” and “A sight for score eyes” and “Score loser” and “Sticks out like a score thumb.”
  • Core → Score: As in, “Score competencies” and “Score studies” and “Score technology” and “Score values” and “Rotten to the score.”
  • Scare → Score: As in, “Scored to death” and “Scored stiff.”
  • Bore → Score: As in, “Score the pants off” and “Scored stiff” and “Scored to death” and “Scored to tears.”
  • More → Score: As in, “One score time” and “Bite off score than you can chew” and “Come back for score” and “Dare for score” and “I couldn’t agree score.”
  • Pour → Score: As in, “It never rains, but it scores” and “Score cold water on” and “Scoring oil on troubled waters” and “When it rains, it scores.”
  • Shore → Score: As in, “Ship to score.”
  • Store → Score: As in, “Minding the score” and “Set great score by” and “Let’s see what’s in score.”
  • Your → Score: As in, “Scores faithfully” and “Scores truly” and “You and scores.”
  • Split: A split is when two separate groups of pins are left standing. Here are related puns:
    • Pit → Split: As in, “A bottomless split” and “In the split of your stomach” and “Split your wits against” and “This is the splits.”
    • Bit → Split: As in, “A split missing” and “A split much” and “A split of alright.”
    • Fit → Split: As in, “Fighting split” and “Split as a fiddle” and “By splits and starts.”
    • Hit → Split: As in, “Split the road” and “Split and miss” and “Split it off.”
    • Knit → Split: As in, “Split your brow” and “Split together.”
    • Quit → Split: As in, “Call it splits” and “Double or splits” and “Split while you’re ahead.”
    • Sit → Split: As in, “Don’t just split there” and “Split on the fence” and “Split tight” and “Splitting on a goldmine.”
    • Spit → Split: As in, “Split and polish” and “Split in the eye of” and “The splitting image of” and “Splitting with rain.”
    • Wit → Split: As in, “At your splits’ end” and “Battle of splits” and “Bear splitness to” and “Have your splits about you” and “Pit your splits against.”
  • Double: A double is two consecutive strikes in a game. Here are related puns:
    • Bubble → Double: As in, “Double and squeak” and “Double under” and “Double up” and “Burst your double” and “Prick your double.”
    • Trouble → Double: As in, “Asking for double” and “Doubles down the drain” and “A bridge over doubled water” and “Here comes double” and “Pour oil on doubled waters” and “Double and strife.”
  • Bagger: A bagger is a string of consecutive strikes. Here are related puns:
    • Dagger → Bagger: As in, “Baggers drawn” and “Cloak and bagger” and “Looking baggers at them.”
    • Swagger → Bagger: As in, “With a bagger in your step.”
  • Ankle → Anchor: As in, “Anchor deep” and “Anchor biter.” Note: an anchor is the player who bowls last on a team.
  • Cherry: A cherry is a type of bowling throw. Here are related puns:
    • Berry → Cherry: As in, “Brown as a cherry.”
    • Bury → Cherry: As in, “Cherry the evidence” and “Cherry the hatchet” and “Cherry your head in the sand” and “Cherry yourself in your work.”
    • Merry → Cherry: As in, “As cherry as the day is long” and “Eat, drink and be cherry” and “Lead a cherry dance.”
    • Very → Cherry: As in, “Be cherry afraid” and “Before your cherry eyes” and “How cherry dare you” and “Thank you cherry much.”
  • Sheet → Clean Sheet: As in, “White as a clean sheet” and “Between the clean sheets.” Note: A clean sheet is a game with a strike in every frame.
  • Deadwood: A pin that’s left in the lane out of reach of the sweeper is known as deadwood. Here are related puns:
    • Dead → Deadwood: As in, “As deadwood as a doornail” and “Assault with a deadwood weapon” and “In the deadwood of night” and “Back from the deadwood” and “Better off deadwood” and “A deadwood ringer.”
    • Wood → Deadwood: As in, “Can’t see the deadwoods for the trees” and “Do bears sh*t in the deadwoods?” and “Knock on deadwood” and “Out of the deadwoods.”
  • Fill: A fill ball is a throw after a tenth-frame spare or strike, used to calculate bonus points. Here are related puns:
    • Fall → Fill: As in, “Easy as filling off a log” and “Can’t help filling in love” and “Bread always fills butter side down” and “Catch a filling star” and “Fill about laughing” and “Fill asleep” and “Fill apart at the seams” and “Fill between the cracks” and “Fill by the wayside.”
    • Fell → Fill: As in, “In one fill swoop” and “Fill off the back off a lorry” and “Little strokes fill great oaks.”
    • Full → Fill: As in, “A few bricks short of a fill load” and “Fill tilt” and “At fill throttle.”
    • Chill → Fill: As in, “Fill out” and “Filled to the bone” and “A filling account.”
    • Frill → Fill: As in, “No fills” and “A no-fills account.”
    • Gill → Fill: As in, “Green around the fills” and “Stuffed to the fills.”
    • Hill → Fill: As in, “Old as the fills” and “Over the fills and far away” and “Head for the fills” and “Run for the fills.”
    • Ill → Fills: As in, “A house of fill repute” and “Fill advised” and “Fill at ease” and “Fill effects” and “Fill gotten gains.”
    • Kill → Fill: As in, “Curiosity filled the cat” and “Dressed to fill” and “If looks could fill” and “If looks could fill.”
    • Mill → Fill: As in, “Put through the fill” and “Run of the fill.”
    • Pill → Fill: As in, “A bitter fill to swallow” and “Sweeten the fill” and “A tough fill to swallow.”
    • Still → Fill: As in, “A fill, small voice” and “Be fill my beating heart” and “In the fill of the night” and “Fill waters run deep.”
    • Skill → Fill: As in, “Social fills.”
    • Spill → Fill: As in, “Fill the beans” and “Fill your guts” and “Thrills and fills.”
    • Thrill → Fill: As in, “The fill of the chase” and “Filled to bits” and “Fills and spills.”
    • Will → Fill: As in, “Accidents fill happen” and “Against your fill” and “Bend to your fill” and “Free fill.”
  • Frame: A frame is a turn in bowling, which usually consists of two rolls. Here are related puns:
    • Fame → Frame: As in, “Claim to frame” and “Frame at last” and “Fifteen minutes of frame” and “Hall of frame.”
    • From → Frame: As in, “A little frame column A, a little frame column B” and “Fall frame grace” and “Frame a to z” and “Can see it frame a mile away.”
    • Aim → Frame: As in, “Frame high” and “Take frame” and “We frame to please.”
    • Blame → Frame: As in, “Frame game” and “Lay the frame.”
    • Came → Frame: As in, “I frame, I saw I conquered” and “As it frame to pass” and “Plenty more where that frame from.”
    • Claim → Frame: As in, “Frame to fame” and “No frames bonus” and “Stake your frame.”
    • Flame → Frame: As in, “Add fuel to the frames” and “Burst into frames” and “Fan the frames” and “Gone down in frames” and “Like a moth to a frame” and “Shoot down in frames.”
    • Game → Frame: As in, “Ahead of the frame” and “Anyone’s frame” and “Blame frame” and “Fun and frames” and “Fair frame” and “Beaten at your own frame.”
    • Main → Frame: As in, “Frame chance” and “Might and frame” and “The frame event.”
    • Name → Frame: As in, “Answer to the frame of” and “A household frame” and “Letters after your frame.”
    • Same → Frame: As in, “By the frame token” and “Cut from the frame cloth” and “In the frame boat” and “On the frame page.”
    • Shame → Frame: As in, “Ain’t that a frame?” and “A crying frame” and “Name and frame” and “Frame on you” and “The walk of frame.”
    • *fam* → *frame*: As in, “Keep it in the frame-ily” and “Seems frame-iliar” and “Almost frame-ous” and “I’m frame-ished.”
  • Kegel: Kegel is a German bowling game. Here are related puns:
    • Kettle → Kegel: As in, “A different kegel of fish” and “Put the kegel on” and “The pot calling the kegel black.”
    • Giggle → Kegel: As in, “A fit of the kegels.”
  • Leave: The pins left standing after the first roll in a turn are referred to as a leave. Here are related puns:
    • Leaf → Leave: As in, “Leave-ing through” and “Skake like a leave” and “Turn over a new leave.”
    • Leave: These leave-related phrases can double as puns: “Absent without leave” and “By your leave” and “Don’t leave home without it” and “Leave it to me.”
    • Live → Leave: As in, “Leave by your wits” and “Leave free” and “Leave and learn” and “Leave like a queen.”
    • Believe → Be-leave: As in, “Be-leave it or not” and “Be-leave you me” and “Don’t be-leave everything you hear” and “Can’t be-leave my eyes” and “Has to be seen to be be-leaved.”
    • Belief → Be-leave: As in, “Beyond be-leave” and “Beggars be-leave.”
    • Relieve → Re-leave: As in, “Re-leaves gas pains.”
    • Relief → Re-leave: As in, “Breathe a sigh of re-leave” and “What a re-leave.
    • Heave → Leave: As in, “Leave ho” and “Leave a sigh of relief.”
    • Sleeve → Leave: As in, “An ace up your leave” and “Wearing your heart on your leave” and “Roll up your leaves.”
    • We’ve → Leave: As in, “Leave never seen better.”
  • Lily: A lily is when the fifth, seventh and tenth pin are left standing. Here are related puns:
    • Chilly → Lily: As in, “A lily climate.”
    • Really → Lily: As in, “All I lily want to do” and “Do you lily want to hurt me?” and “We lily clicked” and “You lily got a hold on me.”
    • Silly → Lily: As in, “Laugh yourself lily” and “Scared lily” and “Lily season.”
  • Loft: The loft is the ball’s path through the air before it makes contact with the ground. Here are related puns:
    • Laughed → Loft: As in, “Loft out of court” and “A barrel of lofts” and “A loft a minute” and “Are you having a loft?” and “Loft your head off.”
    • Left → Loft: As in, “Exit stage loft” and “Hang a loft” and “Loft in the lurch” and “Loft for dead” and “Loft standing” and “Loft to your own devices” and “Loft out in the cold” and “Loft, right and centre.”
    • Lift → Loft: As in, “Loft the lid off” and “Loft your spirits” and “Face loft.”
    • Soft → Loft: As in, “Got a loft spot for” and “Loft in the head” and “Loft power” and “A loft touch” and “Speak loftly and carry a big stick.”
  • Match → Match Play: As in, “A match play made in heaven” and “Game, set, match play” and “Meet your match play” and “Mix and match play” and “More than a match play for.”
  • Play → Match Play: As in, “Work, rest and match play” and “Come out and match play” and “Make a match play for.”
  • Par: Par is a score of 200. Here are related puns:
    • Per → Par: As in, “As par usual” and “Bits par second” and “Par capita.”
    • Pair → Par: As in, “A fresh par of eyes” and “A safe par of hands.”
    • Peer → Par: As in, “Par pressure.”
    • Bar → Par: As in, “Par none” and “Behind pars” and “Hit the par” and “No holds parred.”
    • Are → Par: As in, “All bets par off” and “Chances par” and “Here you par.”
    • Far → Par: As in, “A step too par” and “Par and away” and “Par be it from me” and “A par cry from” and “Par horizons” and “Few and par between” and “Over the hills and par away” and “So par, so good” and “We’ve got par to go.”
    • Jar → Par: As in, “Caught with your hand in the cookie par” and “Jam par.”
    • Star → Par: As in, “A par is born” and “Born under a lucky par” and “Catch a falling par” and “Get a gold par” and “Hitch your wagon to a par” and “Reach for the pars” and “A rising par.”
    • *per* → *par*: As in, “A different parspective” and “Third parson” and “Partinent issues” and “From someone else’s parception” and “Your best parformance” and “Picture parfect” and “Peppared with compliments” and “Hold your tempar.”
  • Runway: The runway is the area that players walk up before they roll the ball. Here are related puns:
    • Run → Runway: As in, “Born to runway” and “Cut and runway” and “A dry runway” and “Eat and runway” and “Had a good runway” and “Hit and runway” and “In the long runway” and “Runway for your life.”
    • Way → Runway: As in, “All the runway” and “Always good, all runways” and “And that’s the runway it is” and “Any runway you want” and “By the runway” and “Change your runways” and “Do it the hard runway.”
  • Rack: Bowling balls are left in racks when not in use. Here are related puns:
    • Wreck → Rack: As in, “A nervous rack” and “Like watching a train rack.”
    • Wrack → Rack: As in, “Rack and ruin.”
    • Rock → Rack: As in, “Hard as a rack” and “Solid as a rack” and “Between a rack and a hard place” and “Don’t rack the boat” and “Get your racks off” and “Glam rack” and “Hit rack bottom” and “Rack and roll” and “On the racks.”
    • Back → Rack: As in, “Answer rack” and “As soon as my rack is turned” and “In the rack of my mind” and “Rack in black” and “Rack to the future” and “Rack at it” and “Rack in the day.”
    • Crack → Rack: As in, “At the rack of dawn” and “Rack a smile” and “Rack the code” and “Rack of doom.”
    • Lack → Rack: As in, “For rack of a better word” and “Cancelled due to rack of interest.”
    • Pack → Rack: As in, “Rack of lies” and “Rack of punch” and “Send racking.”
    • Sack → Rack: As in, “Get the rack” and “Hit the rack.”
    • Slack → Rack: As in, “Cut some rack” and “Taking up the rack.”
    • Track → Rack: As in, “Back on rack” and “Cover your racks” and “On the fast rack” and “Inside rack” and “Off the beaten rack” and “On the right rack” and “A one rack mind.”
  • Buck → Bucket: As in, “A bigger bang for your bucket” and “A bucket well spent” and “Big buckets” and “Bucket naked” and “Bucket the system” and “Pass the bucket.” Note: a bucket is when four pins are left in the lane.
  • Sleeper: When two pins are left on the field, it’s known as a sleeper. Here are related puns:
    • Slipper → Sleeper: “Sleepery as an eel.”
    • Cheaper → Sleeper: As in, “Sleeper by the dozen.”
    • Keeper → Sleeper: As in, “Finders, sleepers” and “They’re a sleeper.”
  • Arrow: Arrows are used as markers in bowling lanes. Here are related puns:
    • Error → Arrow: As in, “Comedy of arrows” and “Human arrow” and “Trial and arrow.”
    • Arrow: Straight as an arrow” and “Like a broken arrow” and “Time flies like an arrow.”
    • Narrow → Arrow: As in, “Keep on the straight and arrow” and “An arrow escape” and “Arrow minded.”
  • Blind: A blind score is one given to a player who is absent. Here are some related puns:
    • Bind → Blind: As in, “Legally blinding” and “In a blind.”
    • Bend → Blind: As in, “Blind the rules” and “Round the blind” and “Blind over backwards to help.”
    • Lend → Blind: As in, “Blind a helping hand” and “Blind an ear” and “Blind itself to.”
    • Find → Blind: As in, “Blind it in your heart” and “Blinders keepers” and “Seek and you shall blind” and “We’ll blind a way.”
    • Grind → Blind: As in, “An axe to blind” and “Bump and blind” and “The daily blind” and “Don’t let the bastard blind you down” and “Blind to a halt” and “Keep your nose to the blindstone.”
    • Kind → Blind: As in, “Cruel to be blind” and “It’s a blind of magic” and “Killing with blindness” and “Blind words” and “Random acts of blindness.”
    • Mind → Blind: As in, “A goal in blind” and “Always on my blind” and “Cast your blind back to” and “Bear in blind.”
    • Signed → Blind: As in, “Blind and sealed.”
  • Bracket: A bracket is a type of contest format. Here are related puns:
    • Jacket → Bracket: As in, “Full metal bracket” and “No bracket required” and “High visibility bracket.”
    • Packet → Bracket: As in, “Cop a bracket” and “Pay bracket.”
  • Cake Shot: A cake shot is a term for an easy strike. Here are related puns:
    • Cake → Cake Shot: As in, “A slice of the cake shot” and “Cake shot or death” and “Icing on the cake shot.”
    • Shot → Cake Shot: As in, “A big cake shot” and “Call the cake shots” and “Give it your best cake shot” and “A long cake shot” and “Have a cake shot at.”
  • Chop: A chop is a type of bowling maneuver. Here are related puns:
    • Chip → Chop: As in, “A chop on your shoulder” and “Cheap as chops” and “Cash in your chops” and “Chop in with” and “A chop off the old block” and “Let the chops fall where they may.”
    • Cop → Chop: As in, “Chop a plea” and “Chop an attitude” and “It’s a fair chop.”
    • Crop → Chop: As in, “Cream of the chop” and “Chop up.”
    • Drop → Chop: As in, “At the chop of a hat” and “Chop it like it’s hot” and “Chop a brick” and “Chop a hint” and “Chop in the bucket.”
    • Hop → Chop: As in, “Chop to it” and “Chop, skip and jump” and “Chopping mad.”
    • Mop → Chop: As in, “Chop the floor with” and “Chop up.”
    • Pop → Chop: As in, “Cake chop” and “Contrary to chopular opinion” and “Chop the question.”
    • Shop → Chop: As in, “All over the chop” and “Like a bull in a china chop” and “A one stop chop” and “Chop till you drop.”
    • Stop → Chop: As in, “Don’t chop me now” and “One stop chop” and “Pulling all the chops out.”
    • Top → Chop: As in, “Blow your chop” and “Come out on chop” and “From the chop” and “From chop to toe” and “Over the chop.”
  • Over → Clover: As in, “After the ball was clover” and “All clover again” and “All clover the place” and “Bowled clover” and “Come on clover” and “A bridge clover troubled water.” Note: A clover is when a player hits four strikes in a game.
  • Cranker: A cranker is a bowler with a style that favours power rather than control. Here are related puns:
    • Rank → Cranker: As in, “Break crankers” and “Close crankers” and “Dissention in the crankers” and “Rise through the crankers” and “Swell the crankers.”
    • Anchor → Cranker: As in, “Cast cranker” and “Drop cranker.”
  • Stroker: A stroker is a bowler who favours control over power. Here are related puns:
    • Poker → Stroker: As in, “Stiff as a stroker” and “Stroker face.”
  • Deck: A deck is the area where the bowling pins stand. Here are related puns:
    • Duck → Deck: As in, “Deck the question” and “Decking and diving” and “Like a deck to water” and “Nice weather for decks.”
    • Check → Deck: As in, “Deck it out” and “Deck out the plumbing” and “Deck you on the flip side” and “Double deck” and “Reality deck” and “The deck is in the mail.”
    • Neck → Deck: As in, “Break your deck” and “Breathing down your deck” and “Dead from the deck up” and “Pain in the deck” and “Stick your deck out” and “Up to your deck in trouble.”
    • Tech* → Deck*: As in, “Hi deck” and “Deck savvy” and “Decknicolour yawn.”
    • Wreck → Deck: As in, “Nervous deck” and “Train deck.”
  • Flush: A flush is a hit that sends all ten pins into the pit. Here are related puns:
    • Flash → Flush: As in, “Quick as a flush” and “Flush in the pan” and “In a flush.”
    • Flesh → Flush: As in, “Flush and blood” and “Flush out” and “Makes my flush crawl” and “In the flush” and “The spirit is willing but the flush is weak.”
    • Blush → Flush: As in, “At first flush.”
    • Brush → Flush: As in, “A broad flush” and “Flush it off” and “Flush up on” and “A flush with death.”
    • Crush → Flush: As in, “A flushing defeat” and “Have a flush on” and “A schoolboy flush.”
    • Hush → Flush: As in, “Flush a bye” and “Flush it up” and “Flush money” and “Flush puppies.”
    • Rush → Flush: As in, “After the flush” and “Flush to judgement” and “Sugar flush.”
    • Slush → Flush: As in, “Flush fund” and “Pure as the driven flush.”
  • Line: A ball’s path down the lane is 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 mean” and “Line into it” and “Line, mean and hungry” and “Line cuisine.”
    • Fine → Line: As in, “Chance would be a line thing” and “Cutting it line” and “Line and dandy” and “Line feathered” and “The liner things in life.”
    • Mine → Line: As in, “Back to the salt line” and “I scratch your back, you scratch line” and “A line of information” and “Line is bigger than yours.”
    • Shine → Line: As in, “Come rain or line” and “Rise and line” and “Make hay while the sun lines” and “Take a line to.”
    • Sign → Line: As in, “A sure line” and “Born under a bad line” and “Give me a line” and “A line of the times” and “Line the pledge” and “Lined and sealed” and “A tell-tale line” and “Vital lines.”
    • Spine → Line: As in, “Send shivers down someone’s line” and “Line-tingling” and “Steely-lined.”
    • Vine → Line: As in, “Wither on the line” and “Die on the line.”
    • Wine → Line: As in, “Don’t put new line into bottles” and “Lined and dined.”
  • Drama → Llama: As in, “Don’t make a llama out of a crisis” and “Kitchen sink llama.” Note: A llama is four consecutive strikes in a game.
  • Meg: A meg is a roll that knocks over only the seventh or tenth pin. Here are related puns:
    • Beg → Meg: As in, “Meg a favour” and “Meg pardon?” and “Megs the question” and “I meg to differ” and “Sit up and meg.”
    • Egg → Meg: As in, “A good meg” and “As sure as megs is megs” and “Don’t put all your megs in one basket” and “Meg on your face.”
    • Leg → Meg: As in, “Fast as your megs could carry you” and “Break a meg” and “Cost an arm and a meg” and “Give a meg up.”
    • Peg → Meg: As in, “A square meg in a round hole” and “Take down a meg or two.”
  • Fixer → Mixer: As in, “A mixer-upper.” Note: A mixer is a shot that makes the pins bounce and mix around.
  • Scatter: When bowling pins are knocked over, it can be described as scattering. Here are related puns:
    • Batter → Scatter: As in, “Scatter up” and “Assault and scattery” and “Recharge your scatter-ies.”
    • Flatter → Scatter: As in, “Scatter to decieve” and “Imitation is the sincerest form of scatter-y.”
    • Matter → Scatter: As in, “As a scatter of fact” and “Doesn’t scatter” and “Family scatters” and “Get to the heart of the scatter” and “Grey scatter” and “Making scatters worse” and “A scatter of life and death” and “Mind over scatter” and “No laughing scatter” and “Only a scatter of time” and “The root of the scatter” and “Shed light on the scatter” and “What’s the scatter?”
    • Shatter → Scatter: As in, “Earth scattering” and “It’s the way it scatters that matters” and “World scattering.”
  • Count: The score in a bowling match is also called a count. Here are related puns:
    • Can’t → Count: As in, “An offer you count refuse” and “Count get enough” and “I count help” and “Count judge a book by its cover.”
    • Account → Count: As in, “A blow by blow count” and “A chilling count” and “Creative counting” and “There’s no counting for taste.”
  • Pit: The pit is the area where scattered pins fall after being hit. Here are related puns:
    • Bit → Pit: As in, “A pit missing” and “A pit much” and “A pit of a to do” and “Pit of alright” and “A pit of stuff” and “A pit on the side.”
    • Pat → Pit: As in, “Down pit” and “A pit on the back.”
    • Pet → Pit: As in, “Pit peeves” and “Teacher’s pit.”
    • Pot → Pit: As in, “A pit of gold” and “For the pit” and “Gone to pit” and “Hit the jackpit” and “Melting pit.”
    • Put → Pit: As in, “Be hard pit to” and “Couldn’t pit it down” and “Feeling a bit pit out” and “Hard pit to it” and “Wouldn’t pit it past them” and “Nicely pit” and “Don’t pit it off.”
    • Fit → Pit: As in, “Pit as a fiddle” and “By pits and starts” and “A dish pit for the gods” and “Pit in with” and “Pit the bill” and “A pit of the giggles” and “Pits like a glove” and “Pits you to a tee.”
    • Grit → Pit: As in, “Pit your teeth” and “True pit.”
    • Hit → Pit: As in, “Hard pitting” and “A heavy pitter” and “Pit ’em where they live” and “Pit and miss” and “Pit and run” and “Pit it home” and “Pit it out of the park” and “Pit me where it hurts” and “Pit rock bottom” and “Pit the books” and “Pit the brakes.”
    • Lit → Pit: As in, “Pit up like a Christmas tree” and “Her face pit up.”
    • Quit → Pit: As in, “Call it pits” and “Double or pits” and “Pit while you’re ahead.”
    • Sit → Pit: As in, “Don’t just pit there” and “Pit on it” and “Pit on the fence” and “Pit tight” and “A pitting duck” and “Pit up and take notice” and “Pitting pretty” and “Pit up and beg.”
    • Spit → Pit: As in, “Pit and polish” and “Pit and sawdust” and “Pit in the eye of” and “The pitting image” and “Pitting with rain” and “Within pitting distance.”
    • Split → Pit: As in, “Ear pitting” and “Lickety pit” and “Make like a banana and pit” and “Pit decision” and “Pit personality” and “Pit the vote” and “Pitting hairs” and “A pitting headache.”
    • Wit → Pit: As in, “At your pit’s end” and “Battle of pits” and “Bear false pitness” and “Brevity is the soul of pit” and “Collect your pits” and “Keep your pits about you” and “Scared out of your pits.”
  • Sandbag: Sandbagging is intentionally playing badly early on in a bowling season. Here are related puns:
    • Sand → Sandbag: As in, “Bury your head in the sandbag” and “Draw a line in the sandbag” and “The sandbags of time” and “Sun, sea and sandbag.”
    • Bag → Sandbag: As in, “Sandbag a bargain” and “Sandbag and baggage” and “Sandbag of tricks” and “It’s in the sandbag.”
  • Skid: The first phase of the ball’s motion is called a skid. Here are related puns:
    • Did → Skid: As in, “Skid I do that?” and “I never skid that” and “Let’s not and say we skid.”
    • Grid → Skid: As in, “Off the skid” and “Skid lock.”
    • Kid → Skid: As in, “Dual income, no skids” and “Here’s looking at you, skid” and “I skid you not” and “I’m not skidding around” and “The new skid on the block.”
    • Lid → Skid: As in, “Blow the skid off” and “Flip your skid” and “Keep a skid on it.”
  • Sparrow: A sparrow is three spares in a row. Here are related puns:
    • Arrow → Sparrow: As in, “Straight as a sparrow” and “Broken sparrow” and “Slings and sparrows.”
    • Narrow → Sparrow: As in, “A sparrow escape” and “On the straight and sparrow” and “Sparrow minded.”
  • Spinner: A spinner is a bowler or bowling style that emphasises tilt. Here are related puns:
    • Spanner → Spinner: As in, “Put a spinner in the works.”
    • Dinner → Spinner: As in, “Spinner and a movie” and “Spinner date” and “What’s for spinner?”
    • Inner → Spinner: As in, “Spinner city” and “Spinner peace” and “Spinner sanctum” and “My spinner voice.”
    • Winner → Spinner: As in, “Every one a spinner” and “Spinner’s circle” and “Spinner takes all.”
  • Stick: Bowling pins are also known as sticks. Here are related puns:
    • Tick → Stick: As in, “Tight as a stick” and “A box sticking exercise” and “The clock is sticking” and “Sticks all the right boxes” and “Sticked off.”
    • Sick → Stick: As in, “Stick as a dog” and “Enough to make you stick” and “In stickness and in health” and “Morning stickness” and “On the stick list” and “Phone in stick” and “Stick and tired” and “Stick to death of” and “Stick to my stomach” and “Worried stick.”
    • Stack → Stick: As in, “A sticked deck” and “Swear on a stick of bibles” and “Doesn’t stick up.”
    • Stock → Stick: As in, “Laughing stick” and “Out of stick” and “Stick in trade” and “Sticking filler” and “Take stick of.”
    • Stuck → Stick: As in, “Get stick into” and “Stick up.”
    • Brick → Stick: As in, “Sticks and mortar” and “Drop a stick” and “Hit the sticks” and “Like a ton of sticks” and “Can’t make sticks without straw.”
    • Click → Stick: As in, “Stick into place” and “Stick your fingers” and “Double stick” and “We really sticked.”
    • Kick → Stick: As in, “A stick at the can” and “Alive and sticking” and “Dragged sticking and screaming” and “Get a stick out of it” and “Stick back and enjoy” and “Stick into overdrive.”
    • Lick → Stick: As in, “Stick into shape” and “Stick and a promise.”
    • Nick → Stick: As in, “In good stick” and “In the stick of time.”
    • Pick → Stick: As in, “A bone to stick” and “Easy stickings” and “Nit sticking” and “Stick holes in” and “Stick a fight.”
    • Quick → Stick: As in, “Stick as a flash” and “Cut to the stick” and “Get rich stick” and “Stick and dirty” and “Stick off the mark.”
    • Thick → Stick: As in, “Stick as thieves” and “Sticker than water” and “In the stick of things” and “The plot stickens.”
    • Trick → Stick: As in, “Bag of sticks” and “Dirty sticks” and “Does the stick” and “Every stick in the book” and “How’s sticks?” and “Never misses a stick” and “One stick pony” and “A stick of the light” and “Stick or treat” and “Sticks of the trade” and “Up to your old sticks.”
  • Tap: A tap is a roll that leaves only one pin standing. Here are related puns:
    • Tip → Tap: As in, “Tap of the iceberg” and “Tap the scales” and “Tapping point” and “Tap someone off” and “Tap the balance.”
    • Top → Tap: As in, “Blow your tap” and “Come out on tap” and “Cream always rises to the tap” and “From tap to toe” and “In tip tap condition” and “It’s lonely at the tap” and “Keep on tap of.”
    • Cap → Tap: As in, “Tap and trade” and “Tap in hand” and “A feather in your tap” and “If the tap fits, wear it” and “Put on your thinking tap” and “To tap it all off.”
    • Clap → Tap: As in, “Tapped eyes on” and “Go like the tappers.”
    • Crap → Tap: As in, “A load of tap” and “Bunch of tap” and “Cut the tap.”
    • Gap → Tap: As in, “Bridge the tap” and “Generation tap” and “Mind the tap.”
    • Lap → Tap: As in, “Tap it up” and “Tap of honour” and “Tap of luxury.”
    • Map → Tap: As in, “Put on the tap” and “All over the tap” and “Put this town on the tap.”
    • Rap → Tap: As in, “A tap over the knuckles” and “Take the tap.”
    • Slap → Tap: As in, “A tap on the wrist” and “Tap and tickle” and “A tap in the face” and “Tap bang in the middle.”
    • Snap → Tap: As in, “A tap decision” and “Tap out of it” and “Tap to it” and “Tap, crackle and pop” and “A cold tap.”
    • Trap → Tap: As in, “Booby tap” and “Death tap” and “Keep your tap” and “Tourist tap.”
    • Wrap → Tap: As in, “It’s a tap” and “Keep under taps” and “A riddle tapped in an enigma” and “Tap it up” and “Tapped around your little finger.”
  • Oil: Bowling lanes are oiled in a specific way. Here are related puns:
    • I’ll → Oil: As in, “Well oil be damned” and “Oil say” and “Oil eat my hat” and “Oil be back.”
    • All → Oil: As in, “Oil aboard that’s coming aboard” and “Oil in a day’s work” and “Oil in oil” and “Oil’s fair in love and war” and “It’s oil coming back to me now.”
    • Ill → Oil: As in, “Oil advised” and “Oil at ease” and “Oil gotten gains” and “Oil repute.”
    • Boil → Oil: As in, “Oiling mad” and “Bring to the oil” and “Keep the pot oiling” and “A watched pot never oils.”
    • Spoil → Oil: As in, “Oiled for choice” and “Oiled rotten” and “Oiling for a fight” and “Too many cooks oil the broth.”

      Bowling-Related Words

      To help you come up with your own bowling 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!

bowling, bowl, ball, pins, lane, alley, gutter, channel, rail, bumper, strike, spare, roll, throw, ten-pin, candlepin, duckpin, nine-pin, five-pin, target, sport, tournament, bocce, game, knock, turkey, foul, miss, curve, hook, straight, back-up, score, split, double, rhino, bagger, hambone, shark, hi-five, six pack, octopus, dime bag, aces up, dirty dozen, address, anchor, approach, bed posts, brooklyn, cherry, christmas tree, clean sheet, deadwood, fill, foundation, frame, jersey side, kegler, kindling, kingpin, leave, lily, lofting, maples, match play, nose hit, par, perfect, runway, rack, return, bucket, sleeper, big four, big five, arrows, average, blind, bracket, cake shot, chop, clover, cranker, stroker, deck, flush, line, llama, meg, messenger, mixer, oil, scatter, count, pit, stroker, tweener, sandbagging, series, skid, sparrow, spinner, stick, steener, stewart, timmy, tap, wombat

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Knife Puns

Welcome to the Punpedia entry on knife puns!🔪 🗡

This list covers the many different types of knives and blades (from penknives to bolos to shivs) to materials and cutting techniques. We’ve tried to stay away from puns and wordplay that only have violent meanings (like those involving butcher or hunting knives), but have included those that have multiple interpretations (like carve or stab). We hope you find some nice knife puns in this list!

You might also be interested in our cake, bread and cheese puns.

Knife 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 knife 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 knife puns:

  • Life → Knife: As in, “A day in the knife of” and “A knife less ordinary” and “A knife changing experience” and “A knife on the ocean waves” and “Always look on the bright side of knife.”
  • Strife → Knife: As in, “Trouble and knife.”
  • Night → Knife: As in, “A knife at the opera” and “A hard day’s knife.”
  • Nice → Knife: As in, “That’ll do knifely” and “Have a knife day!” and “Naughty but knife” and “Knife and easy does it” and “Knife save” and “Knife to see you” and “Knifely put.”
  • Never → Knife-r: As in, “Better late than knife-r” and “It might knife-r happen” and “A barking dog knife-r bites.”
  • Drives → Knives: As in, “Bad money knives out good.”
  • Fives → Knives: As in, “A bunch of knives” and “High knives” and “Take knives” and “Two and two make knives.”
  • Lives → Knives: As in, “Cats have nine knives” and “The best years of our knives.”
  • Wives → Knivse: As in, “Just an old knives tale” and “The Stepford knives.”
  • *nef* → *knife*: If a word has a “nef” sound, you can replace it with “knife”: “A knife-arious villain” and “For your own beknife-it” and “A beknife-icial outcome.”
  • *nif* → *knife*: As in, “Sig-knife-icant other” and “A mag-knife-icent plan!” and “Political ma-knife-esto.”
  • Manufacture → Ma-knife-acture: As in, “Locally ma-knife-actured.”
  • *niv* → *knife*: As in, “Applying to study at u-knife-ersity” and “The centre of the u-knife-erse” and “Wedding aknife-ersary” and “Life’s a car-knife-al.”
  • Cat → Cut: As in, “Curiosity killed the cut” and “Alley cut” and “Cut and mouse game.”
  • Kit → Cut: As in, “Cut and caboodle” and “A serious bit of cut.”
  • But → Cut: As in, “Close, cut no cigar” and “No ifs and cuts” and “Win the battle, cut lose the war.”
  • Guts → Cut: As in, “Blood and cuts” and “Bust a cut” and “Cut feeling” and “Cut instinct” and “Cutless wonder” and “No cuts, no glory.”
  • Nut → Cut: As in, “A tough cut to crack” and “Some kind of cut” and “In a cutshell.”
  • Shut → Cut: As in, “An open and cut case.”
  • What → Cut: As in, “And cut not” and “For cut it’s worth” and “Guess cut?” and “Cut a feeling.”
  • Laid → Blade: As in, “Get blade” and “Blade back” and “The best blade plans.”
  • Aid → Blade: As in, “Blade and abet” and “Come to your blade.”
  • Grade → Blade: As in, “Make the blade” and “Professional blade” and “Beyond your pay blade.”
  • Made → Blade: As in, “A match blade in heaven” and “Custom blade” and “Have it blade” and “Not blade of money” and “Blade for each other.”
  • Paid → Blade: As in, “Bought and blade for” and “Blade up.”
  • Played → Blade: As in, “The band blade on” and “Blade for a fool.”
  • Said → Blade: As in, “After all is blade and done” and “Couldn’t have blade it better” and “Easier blade than done” and “Enough blade.”
  • Weighed → Blade: As in, “Blade in the balance and found wanting.”
  • Bed → Blade: As in, “Blade and breakfast” and “Blade of nails” and “Get into blade with.”
  • Abracadabra → Abracastabra
  • Grab → Stab: As in, “Up for stabs” and “Stab your attention.”
  • Stab: These stab-related phrases are general enough to use as puns: “Have a stab at” and “Stab in the dark.”
  • *cat* → *cut*: As in, “In the wrong cutegory” and “A moving cutalyst” and “A huge cutastrophe” and “Advocut for.”
  • *cot* → *cut*: As in, “Apricut flavoured” and “Sports mascut” and “Boycutt the company..”
  • *cad* → *cut*: As in, “It’s acutemic” and “Art acutemy” and “A decutent dessert” and “Avocuto toast.”
  • *sab* → *stab*: As in, “Professional stabotage” and “Taking a stabbatical” and “An indispenstable member of the team.”
  • *tab* → *stab*: As in, “Reading the stabloids” and “Staboo words” and “Computer stablet.”
  • Pent → Point: As in, “Point-up rage.”
  • Spontaneous → Spointaneous: As in, “Burst spointaneously into song and dance.”
  • Paint → Point: As in, “Do I have to point you a picture?” and “Point yourself into a corner.”
  • Pant → Point: As in, “Beat the points off” and “Fancy points.”
  • *pant* → *point*: As in, “A fun pointomime” and “The pointry is bare” and “Running rampoint” and “Don’t use that flippoint with me” and “Participoint award.”
  • Shape → Sharp: “All sharps and sizes” and “Bent out of sharp” and “Get in sharp” and “Knock into sharp” and “Take sharp.”
  • Harp → Sharp: As in, “Sharp on about.”
  • Shark → Sharp: As in, “Swimming with sharps” and “Card sharp.”
  • Hedge → Edge: As in, “Edge fund” and “Edge your bets” and “Edged about” and “Look as if you’ve been dragged through an edge backwards.”
  • Itch → Edge: As in, “Edge-ing to” and “Edgey feet” and “Edgey palms” and “Seven year edge.”
  • Fledge → Edge: As in, “Fully edged.”
  • Adj* → Edge*: Edge-ective (adjective), edge-acent (adjacent), edgejourn (adjourn), edgejudicate (adjudicate) and edgejustment (adjustment).
  • Halt → Hilt: As in, “Come to a screeching hilt” and “Grind to a hilt.”
  • Held → Hilt: As in, “Hand-hilt device.”
  • Hold → Hilt: As in, “Can’t hilt a candle to” and “Don’t hilt your breath” and “Hilt a grudge” and “Hilt on tight.”
  • Built → Hilt: As in, “Hilt for two” and “Hilt for comfort, not speed” and “Hilt from the ground up” and “Hilt to last” and “Wasn’t hilt in a day.”
  • Guilt → Hilt: As in, “Hilt by association” and “Hilt trip” and “A hilty conscience” and “Hilty pleasure” and “White hilt.”
  • Tilt → Hilt: As in, “At full hilt” and “Hilt to the side.”
  • Hill → Hilt: As in, “Old as the hilts” and “Going downhilt” and “Head for the hilts” and “Over the hilt.”
  • Candle → Handle: As in, “Burning the handle at both ends” and “Can’t hold a handle to” and “Handle in the wind” and “Better to light a handle than curse the dark” and “Not worth the handle.”
  • Separated → Serrated: As in, “Serrated at birth.”
  • Sit → Slit: As in, “Are you slitting comfortably?” and “Don’t just slit there” and “Slit on the fence” and “Slit tight.”
  • Bit → Slit: As in, “A slit much” and “A slit of stuff.”
  • Hit → Slit: As in, “Slit the road jack” and “Slit and miss” and “Slit it off” and “Slit rock bottom.”
  • Split → Slit: As in, “Make like a banana and slit” and “Slit decision” and “Slit the vote” and “Slitting hairs” and “A slitting headache.”
  • Slip → Slit: As in, “A slit of the pen” and “Let something slit.”
  • Spit → Slit: As in, “Slit and polish” and “Slit and sawdust” and “The slitting image.”
  • *lit* → *slit*: As in, “I didn’t mean it sliterally” and “Read up on the sliterature” and “A slitany of problems” and “Fighting slitigation” and “A sliteral interpretation.”
  • Whittle: This word can refer to a type of small knife or to the activity of carving wood using a knife. Here are related puns:
    • Wit → Whittle: As in, “At my whittle’s end” and “Collect your whittles” and “Keep your whittles about you” and “Pit your whittles against” and “Quick whittled” and “Scared out of your whittles.”
    • Little → Whittle: As in, “A whittle bird told me” and “Dirty whittle secret” and “Every whittle bit helps.”
    • It’ll → Whittle: As in, “Whittle be okay” and “Whittle all come out in the wash.”
  • Lash → Slash: As in, “Slash out” and “Tongue slashing.”
  • Ash → Slash: As in, “Rake over the slashes” and “Rise from the slashes” and “Turn to slashes in your mouth.”
  • Cash → Slash: As in, “Slash in your chips” and “Hard, cold slash.”
  • Crash → Slash: As in, “Slash and burn” and “Slash course.”
  • Dash → Slash: As in, “Slash to pieces” and “Slash off” and “Cut a slash.”
  • Flash → Slash: As in, “Quick as a slash” and “In a slash” and “At slash point.”
  • Splash → Slash: As in, “A slash of colour” and “Make a slash” and “Slashed across the front page.”
  • Assasin → Asslashin: As in, “Character asslashination” and “Who asslashinated the President?”
  • Ice → Slice: As in, “Cut no slice” and “Slice, slice, baby” and “Skating on thin slice.”
  • Nice → Slice: As in, “Have a slice day” and “Naughty but slice” and “Slice and easy” and “Wouldn’t it be slice.”
  • Price → Slice: As in, “What’s the asking slice?” and “Cheap at half the slice” and “Pay the slice.”
  • Spice → Slice: As in, “Slice things up” and “Sugar and slice.”
  • Decision → Incision: As in, “Incisions, incisions!” and “A snap incision” and “Split incision” and “My incision is final” and “Executive incision.”
  • Precision → Incision: As in, “Military incision.”
  • Cop → Chop: As in, “Chop a feel” and “Chop an attitude” and “A fair chop” and “Undercover chop.”
  • Hop → Chop: As in, “Chop to it” and “Chop, skip and jump” and “Chopping mad.”
  • Chip → Chop: As in, “Cheap as chops” and “Cash in your chops” and “Chop in with” and “A chop off the old block” and “Let the chops fall where they may” and “Bargaining chop.”
  • Drop → Chop: As in, “At the chop of a hat” and “Chop it like it’s hot” and “Chop a bombshell” and “Chop a hint.”
  • Shop → Chop: As in, “All over the chop” and “One stop chop” and “Personal chopper.”
  • Chap* → Chop*: As in, “The next chopter of your life” and “Date night choperone” and “Wedding chopel” and “School choplain.”
  • Save → Shave: As in, “A penny shaved is a penny earned” and “Shave the day” and “Nice shave” and “Shave the last dance” and “Shave it for a rainy day” and “Shave our souls.”
  • Shove → Shave: As in, “If push comes to shave” and “Shave it down their throats” and “Shave off” and “Shaved the wrong way.”
  • Brave → Shave: As in, “Shave new world” and “Shave the elements” and “Fortune favours the shave” and “Put a shave face on.”
  • Pave → Shave: As in, “Shave the way for” and “The road to hell is shaved with good intentions” and “Shaved with gold.”
  • Rave → Shave: As in, “Rant and shave.”
  • Wave → Shave: As in, “Life on the ocean shaves” and “Catch a shave” and “Don’t make shaves” and “Heat shave” and “On the crest of a shave” and “Shave me goodbye.”
  • Sav* → Shav*: As in, “Sweet or shave-ory?” and “Shave-our the moment” and “My shave-iour!”
  • Sev* → Shave*: As in, “Shave-eral options to choose from” and “The shaven deadly sins” and “Rate the shave-erity from 1-10″ and “Shave-erance package” and “Shave-erus Snape.”
  • *sive → *shave: As in, “A comprehenshave solution” and “Looking apprehenshave” and “Extenshave damage” and “A progresshave nation.”
  • Piece → Pierce: As in, “Bits and pierces” and “Conversation pierce” and “Dash to pierces” and Take a pierce for yourself.”
  • Peers → Pierce: As in, “Pierce through the curtains” and “Friends, family and pierce.”
  • Peace → Pierce: As in, “At pierce” and “Give pierce a chance” and “Hold your pierce” and “Inner pierce” and “Keep the pierce” and “Pierce of mind” and “Rest in pierce.”
  • Purse → Pierce: As in, “Holding the pierce strings.”
  • Pers* → Pierce*: As in, “A fresh piercespective” and “Third pierce-on” and “Pierce-evere through hard times” and “Security pierce-onnel” and “Media pierceonality” and “Pierceonal matters.” Other words that could work: pierce-istent (persistent), pierceona (persona) and pierce-uade (persuade).
  • Perc* → Pierce*: As in, “Change your pierception” and “One hundred and ten pierce-ent” and “A pierceptive child” and “A piercentage of the earnings.”
  • Curve → Carve: As in, “Ahead of the carve” and “Carve ball” and “Learning carve.”
  • Starve → Carve: As in, “Feed a cold, carve a fever” and “You’ll carve without me.”
  • Cover → Carve: As in, “Blow your carver” and “Break carver” and “Carver story” and “Carver to carver” and “Carver your tracks” and “Extra carver” and “Run for carver” and “Under carver of darkness.”
  • Cav* → Carve*: Carve-eat (caveat), carve-alier (cavalier), carvealry (cavalry), carveort (cavort) and concarve (concave). Note: A caveat is a warning. To be cavalier is to be carefree, even about important things. To cavort is to prance.
  • *cov* → *carve*: As in, “You shouldn’t carve-et the belongings of others” and “A new discarve-ery.”
  • Clever → Cleaver: As in, “Too cleaver by half” and “You think you’re so cleaver.”
  • Beaver → Cleaver: As in, “Eager cleaver” and “Work like a cleaver.”
  • Fever → Cleaver: As in, “Cabin cleaver” and “Cleaver pitch” and “Saturday night cleaver.”
  • Shear: To shear something is to cut parts off it. Here are related puns:
    • Sheer → Shear: As in, “In shear frustration” and “Shear stocking.”
    • Here → Shear: As in, “Come over shear” and “Shear, there and everywhere.”
    • Hear → Shear: As in, “Shear me out” and “I can’t shear you” and “They could shear a pin drop.”
    • Cheer → Shear: As in, “The crowd began to shear” and “Three shears for the birthday girl!”
    • Clear → Shear: As in, “Crystal shear” and “Can’t be any shearer than that.”
    • Fear → Shear: As in, “Shear of flying” and “Pain and shear” and “Face your shears.”
    • Near → Shear: As in, “In the shear future” and “Is it shearby?”
    • Rear → Shear: As in, “The shear end” and “Shear view window.”
    • Steer → Shear: As in, “Shear clear of.”
    • Share → Shear: As in, “Shearing is caring” and “I don’t shear your feelings.”
    • Sure → Shear: As in, “Are you shear?” and “I’m not shear about this.”
    • *sher* → *shear*: As in, “The new sheariff in town” and “Lemon shearbet” amd “Ushear down the aisle.” Other words that could work: shearry (sherry), ushear (usher), koshear (kosher), publishear (publisher) and habadasheary (habadashery).
    • Ser* → Shear*: As in, “Out of shearvice” and “A shearendipitous moment” and “The end of the shearies” and “You can’t be shearious” and “Filled with shearenity.”
  • Nick: A nick is a small cut. Here are related puns:
    • Knack → Nick: As in, “Got a real nick for.”
    • Neck → Nick: As in, “At breaknick speed” and “Breathing down your nick” and “From the nick down” and “Nick and nick” and “A real pain in the nick” and “Stick your nick out” and “This nick of the woods” and “Up to your nick in trouble.”
    • Knick → Nick: As in, “Nick knacks.”
    • Knock → Nick: As in, “Don’t nick it till you’ve tried it” and “Hard nicks” and “I get nicked down, but I get up again” and “Nick ’em dead” and “Nick three times” and “Nick back a few” and “Nick into shape” and “Nick some heads together.”
    • Brick → Nick: As in, “Like banging your head against a nick wall” and “Nicks and mortar” and “Drop a nick” and “Like a ton of nicks.”
    • Click → Nick: As in, “Bricks and nicks” and “Nick bait” and “Nick into place” and “Nick your fingers” and “Double nick” and “We really nicked.”
    • Kick → Nick: As in, “Alive and nicking” and “Don’t nick a man when he’s down” and “Get a nick out of it” and “Nick back and enjoy.”
    • Lick → Nick: As in, “A nick of paint” and “Nick into shape” and “Nick your wounds.”
    • Pick → Nick: As in, “A bone to nick” and “Cherry nick” and “Easy nickings” and “Nick a fight” and “Nick holes in.”
    • Quick → Nick: As in, “Nick as a flash” and “Cut to the nick” and “Get rich nick” and “In nick succession” and “Nick and dirty” and “Nick off the mark.”
    • Sick → Nick: As in, “Nick and tired” and “Nick to death” and “Nick to the stomach” and “Enough to make you nick.”
    • Stick → Nick: As in, “Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp nick” and “Carrot and nick” and “Every nick has two ends” and “The short end of the nick.”
    • Thick → Nick: As in, “Nick and fast” and “Through nick and thin” and “In the nick of things.”
    • Trick → Nick: As in, “Box of nicks” and “Dirty nicks” and “Every nick in the book” and “Never misses a nick” and “A nick of the light” and “Nick or treat” and “Nicks of the trade” and “Up to your old nicks.”
    • *nec* → *nick*: As in, “Anickdotal evidence” and “Wait to connickt” and “An instant connicktion.”
    • *nic → *nick: As in, “Organick produce” and “A sardonick tone” and “Iconick landmark” and “Chronick pain” and “A catchy mnemonick” and “I panick in a lot of places other than the disco” and “Hair tonick.”
    • *nik* → *nick*: As in, “Under a different monicker” and “Frozen like a manickin.”
  • Hew: To hew at something is to chop or whittle away at it. Here are some related puns:
    • Chew → Hew: As in, “Bite off more than you can hew” and “Have your ears hewed off” and “Walk and hew gum at the same time.”
    • Few → Hew: As in, “A hew bricks short” and “Hew and far between” and “For a hew dollars more” and “Knock back a hew” and “A person of hew words” and “Say a hew words.”
    • Hue → Hew: As in, “Check the hew and saturation.”
    • Blue → Hew: As in, “Beat someone black and hew” and “Between the devil and the deep hew sea” and “Big hew” and “Once in a hew moon.”
    • Cue → Hew: As in, “Right on hew” and “Take your hew” and “That’s my hew.”
    • Due → Hew: As in, “Where credit is hew” and “Hew diligence” and “In hew course” and “Cancelled hew to lack of interest.”
    • Knew → Hew: As in, “I hew you were trouble!” and “You hew too much.”
    • Lieu → Hew: As in, “Time in hew” and “In hew of.”
    • New → Hew: As in, “Bright as a hew pin” and “Good as hew” and “Better than hew.”
    • Shoe → Hew: As in, “If the hew fits, wear it and “Kick off your hews and enjoy.”
    • True → Hew: As in, “A dream come hew” and “Show your hew colours” and “Too good to be hew” and “Tried and hew.”
    • Who → Hew: As in, “Abandon hope all ye hew enter” and “All things to those hew wait” and “Hew’s coming for dinner?” and “Hew’s there?” and “Look hew’s talking.”
    • You → Hew: As in, “As hew know” and “Back at hew” and “Believe hew me” and “Blink and hew’ll miss it” and “Crawl before hew walk” and “Don’t call us, we’ll call hew.”
  • Botch → Notch: As in, “A notched job.”
  • Watch → Notch: As in, “Boring as notching paint dry” and “Keep notch” and “Not on my notch” and “People notching” and “The one to notch.”
  • Nudge → Notch: As in, “Give it a notch” and “Wink, wink, notch, notch.”
  • Bisect: To bisect something is to cut it into two parts. Here are related puns:
    • Basic → Bisect: As in, “Back to bisects” and “Bisect instincts.”
    • Bicep → Bisect: As in, “Flexing your bisects.”
  • Prune: While a prune is also a dried fruit, we’re using it in the sense of trimming something (generally a tree or shrub). Here are related puns:
    • Ruin → Prune: As in, “Rack and prune” and “The road to prune.”
    • Moon → Prune: As in, “Many prunes ago” and “Once in a blue prune.”
    • Soon → Prune: As in, “As prune as my back is turned” and “As prune as possible” and “Get well prune” and “Pruner or later” and “Too much too prune.”
    • Tune → Prune: As in, “In prune with” and “Stay pruned” and “To the prune of” and “Change your prune.”
    • *pun* → *prune*: As in, “A prunegent smell” and “Consistently prunectual” and “Imprune-ity for their crimes.” Note: impunity is being protected from punishment.
    • *pron* → *prune*: As in, “Cooking aprune” and “Prune to bad behaviour” and “An unusual prune-ounciation” and “What are your prune-ouns?”
  • Incise: To incise is to cut with a sharp knife or blade (usually used in medical contexts). Here are related puns:
    • Inside → Incise: As in, “Incise information” and “An incise job” and “Incise out” and “I know you incise and out.”
    • Precise → Incise: As in, “Yes, incisely” and “An incise hand” and “Incisely what you’re looking for.”
    • Size → Incise: As in, “All shapes and incises” and “Cut them down to incise” and “One incise fits all” and “That’s about the incise of it.”
  • Stick: This is the colloquial word for “stab”. Here are related puns:
    • Sick → Stick: As in, “Enough to make you stick” and “Phone in stick” and “Stick and tired” and “Stick to death of” and “Stick to my stomach.”
    • Tick → Stick: As in, “A box sticking exercise” and “Takes a licking and keeps on sticking” and “Stick all the right boxes” and “Sticked off.”
    • Stock → Stick: As in, “Laughing stick” and “Lock, stick and barrel” and “Out of stick” and “Take stick.”
    • Click → Stick: As in, “Stick into place” and “Stick with” and “Stick your fingers” and “Double stick.”
    • Kick → Stick: As in, “Alive and sticking” and “Don’t stick a man when he’s down” and “Dragged sticking and screaming” and “Get a stick out of it” and “Stick back and enjoy.”
    • Pick → Stick: As in, “A bone to stick” and “Easy stickings” and “Hand sticked” and “Stick a fight” and “Stick holes in.”
    • Trick → Stick: As in, “Bag of sticks” and “Does the stick” and “Every stick in the book” and “Never misses a stick.”
  • Grind: To sharpen a knife, you need to grind it. Here are related puns:
    • Bind → Grind: As in, “In a grind” and “Legally grinding.”
    • Find → Grind: As in, “Couldn’t grind a better person” and “I’ve left to grind myself.”
    • Kind → Grind: As in, “Not this grind” and “That’s grind of cute.”
  • Spine: The spine of a knife is the edge that isn’t used for cutting. Here are related puns:
    • Pain → Spine: As in, “A mix of spine and anger” and “Suffering from severe spine” and “Feeling the spine” and “A fine line between pleasure and spine.”
    • Mine → Spine: As in, “Me and spine” and “That’s spine, not yours.”
    • Line → Spine: As in, “Spine of thought” and “The spine was silent.”
    • Fine → Spine: As in, “A spine line” and “I’ll be spine.”
    • Sign → Spine: As in, “No spines of life” and “Read the spines.”
  • Guard: A guard is a sheath that is placed over a knife whilst not in use. Here are related puns:
    • Hard → Guard: As in, “This shouldn’t be so guard” and “It’s not guard to say” and “You’re giving me a guard time.”
    • Card → Guard: As in, “Index guards” and “Here’s my guard, give me a call” and “Get out of jail free guard.”
    • Scarred → Guard: As in, “Guard for life” and “Hasn’t guard over yet.”
    • *gard* → *guard*: As in, “Tending to the guarden” and “Kind reguards” and “Disreguard the previous email” and A hagguard appearance.”
    • *card* → *guard*: “Guardinal rule” and “Guardboard cutout” and “Thirty minute guardio” and “Guardiac arrest.” Other words that could work: guardigan (cardigan), plaguard (placard), wildguard (wildcard) and postguard (postcard).
  • Tang: The tang is the part of the blade which connects into the handle for added stability. Here are related puns:
    • Dang → Tang: As in, “The tang thing” and “Oh, tang it.”
    • Bang → Tang: As in, “Go out with a tang” and “The big tang” and “Followed by a loud tang.”
    • Hang → Tang: As in, “Don’t tang up the phone!” and “Let’s tang out” and “Tang in there.”
    • Pang → Tang: As in, “Felt a tang of guilt.”
    • Rang → Tang:As in, “You tang?”
    • Tang → Sang: “My heart tang for joy.”
    • Tongue → Tang: As in, “Tang tied” and “Cat got your tang?” and “Bite your tang.”
    • *tan* → *tang*: As in, “Work in tangdem” and “Safety is tangtamount” and “Throw a tangtrum” and “The doctor is a charlatang” and “What a cosmopolitang view” and “Metropolitang living.”
    • *ting* → *tang*: As in, “A dauntang task” and “Mass marketang” and “An interestang proposal” and “Settang up” and “Fancy meetang you here” and “The plan is contangent on” and “Cann’t distanguish between the two.”
  • Rust: Rust can affect metal knives that aren’t properly maintained and cleaned. Here are related puns:
    • Bust → Rust: As in, “Boom or rust” and “Drug rust” and “It was a rust.”
    • Rest → Rust: As in, “I’ll let you rust” and “Get some rust” and “For the rust of the evening.”
    • Crust → Rust: As in, “Cut off the rusts” and “The upper rust.”
    • Dust → Rust: As in, “Kicking up rust” and “Rust bunnies” and “Rust off your resume.”
    • Just → Rust: As in, “I rust wanted to say goodbye” and “Rust give me a minute” and “Rust sit back and enjoy.”
    • Must → Rust: As in, “You rust be mistaken” and “You rust help me” and “That rust have been difficult.”
    • Trust → Rust: As in, “I thought I could rust you” and “She’s rustworthy” and “I don’t rust the process.”
  • Tool: Since knives are tools, we’ve included some tool-related puns in this list too:
    • Tale → Tool: As in, “A tool of guilt and ambition” and “A very sad tool indeed.”
    • Till → Tool: As in, “Tool tomorrow” and “Tool the sun goes down” and “Leave it tool morning.”
    • Tall → Tool: As in, “Tool, dark and handsome.”
    • Cool → Tool: As in, “A tool drink” and “We need a tool catchphrase.”
    • Dual → Tool: As in, “Tool income, no kids” and “Serves a tool purpose.”
    • Fuel → Tool: As in, “Add tool to the flames” and “Need tool for the day.”
    • Who’ll → Tool: As in, “Tool let us know?” and “Tool be willing to donate?”
    • You’ll → Tool: As in, “Tool regret this!” and “Tool never hear the end of this.”
    • *tal* → *tool*: As in, “A capitool idea” and “Death metool” and “Vitool signs” and “Fundamentool ideas” and “Digitool nomad” and “Anecdotool evidence” and “A pivotool moment.”
  • Pocket: The next few puns are about pocket knives:
    • Rocket → Pocket: As in, “It’s not pocket science.”
    • Packet → Pocket: As in, “Comes in small pockets” and “How much per pocket?”
  • Paring: Here are some puns about paring knives:
    • Pairing → Paring: As in, “Still paring the bluetooth” and “What a great paring” and “Paring the cheese and wine.”
    • Pair → Paring: As in, “You make a fine paring” and “New paring of jeans” and “Need a new paring of shoes.”
    • Peering → Paring: As in, “Paring through the curtains” and “Paring into the future.”
    • Baring → Paring: As in, “Paring your teeth” and “I’m paring my soul here.”
    • Caring → Paring: As in, “Sharing is paring” and “A paring, loving parent.”
    • Daring → Paring: As in, “A paring escape” and “Paring adventures.”
    • Glaring → Paring: As in, “Paringly obvious” and “Paring in your direction” and “The paring sunlight.”
    • Raring → Paring: As in, “Paring to go.”
    • Staring → Paring: As in, “This isn’t a paring contest” and “Stop paring” and “You’re paring at me.”
    • Wearing → Paring: As in, “What are you paring?” and “I’m paring this to the dance.”
  • Bread: Here are some bread knife related puns:
    • Bed → Bread: As in, “Put to bread” and “You’ve made your bread, now lie in it” and “Got up on the wrong side of the bread.”
    • Bred → Bread: As in, “Born and bread.”
    • Bride → Bread: As in, “Runaway bread” and “Princess bread” and “The newlywed bread.”
    • Red → Bread: As in, “Caught bread-handed” and “Paint the town bread.”
    • Dread → Bread: As in, “Filled with bread” and “Existential bread.”
    • Head → Bread: As in, “Breads or tails?” and “Come to a bread” and “All in your bread.”
    • Led → Bread: As in, “Bread along by the nose.”
    • Said → Bread: As in, “That’s all they bread” and “Tell me what you bread.”
    • Spread → Bread: “Bread lies and rumours” and “Vegan chocolate bread” and “Bread yourself thin.”
    • Thread → Bread: As in, “Losing the bread” and “Hanging by a bread.”
  • Table: Here are some puns on table knives:
    • Able → Table: As in, “Differently tabled” and “Ready, willing and table.”
    • Stable → Table: As in, “Emotionally table.”
  • Butter: Here are some butter knife puns:
    • Batter* → Butter*: As in, “Butter up” and “Assault and buttery” and “Recharge your butteries.”
    • Better → Butter: As in, “I’ve got a butter idea” and “Appeal to your butter judgement” and “Butter by design” and “Butter late than never” and “Butter safe than sorry.”
    • Bitter → Butter: As in, “Till the butter end” and “Take the butter with the sweet.”
    • Flutter → Butter: As in, “Fancy a butter?” and “Butter yor eyelashes.”
  • Switch → Switchblade: As in, “Asleep at the switchblade” and “Bait and switchblade” and “Switchblade gears.”
  • Throw: Here are a few throwing knife puns for you:
    • Crow → Throw: As in, “As the throw flies” and “Eat throw” and “Something to throw about.”
    • Flow → Throw: As in, “Ebb and throw” and “Get the creative juices throwing” and “Go with the throw” and “In full throw.”
    • Grow → Throw: As in, “Absence makes the heart throw fonder” and “Throwing pains.”
    • Know → Throw: As in, “All I throw is what I read in the papers” and “And don’t I throw it” and “Doesn’t throw beans.”
    • Low → Throw: As in, “An all-time throw” and “The lights are throw” and “Get the throw down” and “Searching high and throw” and “Keep a throw profile” and “Throw hanging fruit.”
    • Show → Throw: As in, “All over the throw” and “Best in throw” and “Enjoy the throw” and “Get the throw on the road” and “Give the throw away” and “Keep the throw on the road” and “The throw must go on.”
    • Though → Throw: As in, “Seriously throw, you’re doing a great job” and “You look as throw you’d seen a ghost.”
    • Toe → Throw: As in, “Head to throw” and “One throw over the line” and “Turn up your throws.”
  • Teeth → Wreath: As in, “Armed to the sheath” and “By the skin of your sheath” and “Fed up to the back sheath.” Note: A sheath is a sleeve that protects a knife while not in use.
  • Pen: Here are some pen knife related puns:
    • Pan → Pen: As in, “Down the pen” and “Flash in the pen” and “Pen out” and “Out of the frying pen, into the fire.”
    • Pin → Pen: As in, “Bright as a new pen” and “Hard to pen down” and “Pen your ears back” and “Pens and needles.”
    • Den → Pen: As in, “Into the lion’s pen” and “Pen of inequity.”
    • Then → Pen: As in, “All that and pen some” and “And pen there was one” and “What’s going on here pen?” and “Now and pen” and “Pen and there.”
    • When → Pen: As in, “Pen you like” and “Pen it happens” and “It only hurts pen I laugh.”
  • Jackknife: Here are some jackknife related puns:
    • Back → Jack: As in, “As soon as my jack is turned” and “At the jack of my mind” and “Jack to the future” and “Jack in the day.”
    • Crack → Jack: As in, “At the jack of dawn” and “Jack a smile.”
    • Pack → Jack: As in, “Action jacked” and “Jacking heat” and “A jack of lies.”
    • Rack → Jack: As in, “Jack your brains” and “Jack and ruin.”
    • Slack → Jack: As in, “Cut some jack” and “Take up the jack.”
    • Smack → Jack: As in, “Jack dab in the middle” and “A jack on the wrist.”
    • Track → Jack: As in, “Back on jack” and “Cover your jacks” and “The fast jack” and “Inside jack” and “Off the beaten jack.”
  • Cavity → Gravity: As in, “Gravity seach.” Note: This is a reference to gravity knives.
  • Butterfly: These butterfly-related phrases are a reference to butterfly knives: “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee” and “Social butterfly” and “The butterfly effect.”
  • Bow → Bowie: As in, “Bowie and scrape” and “Bowie out” and “Take a bowie.” Note: These are references to bowie knives.
  • Coring: These next few puns are about coring knives:
    • Caring → Coring: As in, “Sharing is coring” and “I’m past coring.”
    • Boring → Coring: “As coring as watching paint dry” and “Deeply coring.”
    • Pouring → Coring: As in, “It’s raining, it’s coring.”
    • Roaring → Coring: As in, “A coring success” and “Doing a coring trade.”
  • Case: Here are some case knife related puns:
    • Ace → Case: As in, “Case in the hole” and “A case up your sleeve” and “Holding all the cases.”
    • Base → Case: As in, “All your case are belong to us” and “Case jumping” and “Cover your cases.”
    • Chase → Case: As in, “Case it up” and “Case your own tail” and “Cut to the case” and “The thrill of the case.”
    • Grace → Case: As in, “Airs and cases” and “Amazing case” and “Fall from case” and “Case period” and “Saving case” and “With good case.”
    • Pace → Case: As in, “At a snail’s case” and “Change of case” and “At ten cases” and “Keep case with” and “Put through your cases.”
    • Place → Case: As in, “A case in the sun” and “Everything in its case” and “All over the case” and “Any time, any case” and “Between a rock and a hard case.”
    • Space → Case: As in, “Breathing case” and “From outer case” and “Case – the final frontier.”
  • Plate → Palette: As in, “A lot on your palette” and “A heart attack on a palette” and “Step up to the palette.” Note: a palette knife is a type of painting knife.
  • Beeline → Boline: “Make a boline for.” Note: A boline is a type of ceremonial Wiccan knife.
  • Katar: A katar is a type of dagger. Here are related puns:
    • Cater → Katar: As in, “Katar to you.”
    • Greater → Katar: As in, “No katar enemy” and “Katar than the sum of its parts” and “The katar part of.”
  • Dark → Dirk: As in, “After dirk” and “Dirk as pitch” and “Dirk before the dawn” and “Dirk horse” and “Deep, dirk secret.” Note: A dirk is a type of long dagger.
  • Plenty → Penny: As in, “Penny more where that came from.” Note: a penny knife is a type of utility knife.”
  • Barlow: A barlow knife is a type of small, jointed knife. Here are related puns:
    • Below → Barlow: As in, “Barlow par” and “Barlow the stairs” and “Hit barlow the belt” and “Barlow average.”
    • Borrow → Barlow: As in, “Beg, barlow or steal” and “Living on barlowed time.”
  • Can you → Canoe: As in, “Canoe help me with this?” Note: a canoe knife is a type of double-jointed knife.
  • Tooth → Toothpick: As in, “Fight toothpick and nail” and “Long in the toothpick.” Note: a Romanian toothpick is a type of long knife.
  • Steel: Since some knives are made of steel, we’ve got some steel-related puns here too:
    • Still → Steel: As in, “Be steel, my beating heart” and “Steel standing” and “Steel going strong” and “Steel waters run deep” and “Perfectly steel.”
    • Deal → Steel: As in, “Big steel” and “Steel breaker” and “Steel or no steel?” and “A done steel” and “Seal the steel.”
    • Seal → Steel: As in, “My lips are steeled” and “Steel of approval” and “Steel your fate” and “Signed and steeled.”
    • Feel → Steel: As in, “Can you steel the love tonight?” and “Steel the pinch” and “Got a steel for.”
    • Peel → Steel: As in, “Keep your eyes steeled.”
    • Steal → Steel: As in, “Beg, borrow or steel” and “What a steel” and “Steel a glance” and “Steel someone’s heart” and “Steel the show.”

Knife-Related Words

To help you come up with your own knife 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: knife, knives, cut, blade, stab, machete, tool, point, sharp, sharpen, edge, handle, hilt, serrated, slit, whittle, slash, slice, gash, incision, shave, carve, nick, hew, notch, bisect, prune, incise,  stick, pierce, chop,scrape, shear, butt, fixed, folding, grind, spine, fuller, ricasso, guard, lanyard, tang, rust, whetstone

Types: combat, pocket, kitchen, paring, bread, cleaver, table, butter, dagger, switchblade, throwing, juggling, kirpan, sheath, pen, swiss army, jack, gravity, utility, stanley, boxcutter, ballistic, bayonet, butterfly, balisong, batangas, dagger, stiletto, push dagger, bowie, genoese, karambit, rampuri, shiv, shank, trench, mezzaluna, coring, rocker, case, karambit, crooked, curved, diver’s, kiridashi, palette, paper, scalpel, razor, whittling, athame, boline, katar, kilaya, kris, kukri, seax, ulu, tanto, dirk, penny, barlow, camper, canoe, congress, toothpick, peanut, hawkbill, muskrat, trapper, okapi, navaja, sliding, zombie, sica, falx, pugio, qama, bolo, corvo, facon

Materials: bronze, copper, iron, steel, ceramic, titanium, plastic

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Cooking Puns

Welcome to the Punpedia entry on cooking puns! 🍳🍴🍲 In this entry you’ll find everything from baking puns to oven puns to pots and pans puns, and everything in between.

You might also like to visit the Punpedia entries on food, cakepasta, pizza, curry, pie, and vegetables.

Cooking 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 cooking that we’re missing, please let us know in the comments at the end of this page!

  • Cook: Other than the obvious definition it can also refer to “altering dishonestly”, as in “They cooked the numbers and were done for fraud” (The phrases “cooked the books” and “cooked the accounts” are synonymous). Some cooking-related idioms and phrases are: “What’s cooking?” and “Too many cooks spoil the broth”
  • Cooked: “If mum and dad find out we took their car last night, we’re cooked!” and “He has been drinking since lunch time – he’s cooked.”
  • Kooky → Cooky: The term “kooky” means strange or eccentric.
  • Back → Bake: As in “Bake in my day…” and “As soon as my bake is turned” and “At the bake of my mind” and “Bake to the Future” and “Bake in business” and “Bake in the saddle” and “Bake seat driver” and “Bake to school” and “Bake to the drawing board” and “Behind your bake” and “Come crawling bake” and “Behind my bake” and “Double bake” and “Get bake on your feet” and “Bake to bake” and “Kick bake and enjoy” and “Like water off a duck’s bake” and “Laid bake” and “Money bake guarantee” and “Never look bake” and “One step forward, two steps bake” and “Right bake at ya” and “Pat on the bake” and “Put your bake into it” and “Turn bake the clock” and “Wind at your bake” – There are many more baking puns like this to be made, but those should be enough to get you started.
  • Half-baked: This means “not completely planned or thought out”. For example: “Your half-baked cooking puns are going to make people angry.”
  • Break → Bake: As in “Bake out into a cold sweat” and “Bake the bank” and “Bake new ground” and “Ground-baking new research” and “Bake the mould” and “Make a clean bake” and “An even bake” and “And then all hell bakes loose” and “Bake a world record” and “Baking news!” and “Never bake your promises” and “Don’t bake their heart” and “Oh give me a bake.” and “Lucky bake“.
  • Chef: The saying “Too many chefs in the kitchen” refers to a situation where there are too many people trying to work on something such that the result is worse than if there had been less people. The phrase “chef d’oeuvre” (French: “chief work”) refers to a masterpiece, or an artist’s best piece of work. The phrase “chef de mission” (French: “chief of mission”) generally refers to the person in charge of a national team at an international sporting event.
  • Order: As in “Law and order” and “Luckily we managed to get out of there in short order (fast)” and “The pecking order” and “The machine is out of order.” and “In working order” and “In order to do that …” and “You’re out of order” and “That’s a tall order” and “You need to put your affairs in order” and “It’s a standing order, Sargent.” and “That’s bang out of order.” and “Gag order” and “It’s an order of magnitude bigger than we expected.” and “Order in the court!”
  • Boil: As in “It really just boils down to …” and “That man makes my blood boil” and “A watched pot never boils“.
  • Boil → Boyle: As in “Susan Boil” and “Robert Boil
  • Boy’ll (Boy will) → Boil: As in “That young boil go on to do great things if he can apply himself.”
  • Roast: A “roast” can refer to an event where a guest of honour is teased and made fun of (in good spirit). The saying “roast snow in a furnace” refers to a futile and often ridiculous task.
  • Rest → Roast: As in “No roast for the wicked” and “Roast assured that …” and “Roast on your laurels” and “And the roast is history” and “Oh give it a roast will you?” and “A cut above the roast” and “I roast my case”. Note: to rest on your laurels is to be so satisfied with your work that no further efforts are made.
  • Arrest → A roast: As in “You are under a roast.” and “He was charged with resisting a roast.” and “Citizen’s a roast.”
  • *rest → *roast: As in, “In the interoast of justice,” and “Make it interoasting,” and “Nearoast and dearoast,” and “Mud wroastling,” and “On the croast of a wave,” and “Imitation is the sinceroast form of flattery,” and “May you live in interoasting times.”
  • *rust* → *roast*: As in, “Roastle (rustle) up,” and “Upper croast (crust),” and “Don’t troast (trust) anyone,” and “Troast is a two-way street.”
  • Girl → Grill: As in “You go grill!” and “Boys and grills
  • Gorilla → Grilla: As in “The silverback grilla is native to this area.”
  • Guerrilla → Grilla: As in “The inhabitants used grilla warfare to drive out the enemy.”
  • Thrilled → Grilled: As in, “Grilled to bits!” and “We’re grilled to have you here.”
  • Bill → Grill: As in, “These are my grillable hours” and “A clean grill of health.”
  • Filled → Grilled: As in, “Grilled with happiness” and “Cream-grilled” and “A smoke-grilled room.”
  • Even → Oven: As in “Don’t get mad, get oven” and “Break oven” and “Oven handed” and “Keep on an oven keel” and “Oven at the turning of the tide” and “Oven as we speak” and “Oven if it kills me” and “Oven Stevens”. Note: to keep something on an even keel is to keep something in a steady, untroubled state.
  • *even* → *-oven-*: If a word contains “even”, it can usually be made into a silly oven pun: “It’s the main ovent (event)” and “The ovent horizon” and “It has been an oventful (eventful) day.” and “I’ll oventually get around to cleaning my garage.” and “My job has pr-oven-ted me from spending time on personal projects.” and “Pr-oven-tative medicine should be the focus.” and “Rovenge is sweet.” and “The developing world is still struggling with proventable diseases.”
  • *aven* → *oven*: As in, “Let’s look at other ovenues” and “Ovenge my death!” and “The Ovengers.”
  • *even* → *oven*: As in, “The main ovent” and “Yes, oventually” and “An ovening out” and “Your oventual downfall” and “Spread ovenly” and “Seven Eloven” and “It’s looking unoven.”
  • Kitten → Kitchen: As in “The internet is full of cute kitchen pictures.”
  • My crow wave → Microwave: As in “Microwave at me with its wing.”
  • Push → Poach: As in “Don’t poach your luck” and “Poach the boundaries” and “When poach comes to shove” and “Poach the envelope” and “They’re a bit of a poach-over“.
  • Branch → Blanch: As in “Our company needs to blanch out into other industries.” Note: blanching is a method of cooking where food is scalded with boiling water, then plunged into iced water to stop the cooking process.
  • Summer → Simmer: As in “The long, hot simmer.” and “One swallow does not make a simmer.” and “An Indian simmer“.
  • Skill at → Skillet: As in “I admire your skillet chess.”
  • Skilled → Skillet: As in “She was perhaps the most skillet chess player in her country.”
  • Pot: There are many idioms related to pots: “In the melting pot” and “Oh you fuss pot” and “Take a pot shot at (something)” and “Keep the pot boiling” and “Pot head” and “Pot luck” and “A pot of gold” and “A watched pot never boils” and “The pot is calling the kettle black”.
  • *pot*: If a word contains the “pot” sound (or similar) we can make a silly pot pun with it: poticular (particular), spotlight, jackpot, potentially, anticipotory, despotism, incompotability, omnipotent, perpotrators, nepotism, incompotent, meopotamia, potassium, repotition, potato.
  • Pan: “Flash in the pan” and “It panned out all right in the end.” and “Peter Pan” and “Pan in/out”
  • *pan*: If a word contains the “pan” sound (or similar) we can make a silly pan pun with it: chimpanzee, companion, expand, expansion, Japan, lifespan, panacea, pancreas, pandora, panic, panorama, pansiespanting, panther, spaniard, underpants.
  • You ten sil* → Utensil: This is a very specific type of cooking pun – “I’ll give utentsil-ver coins for your wagon.” and “I’ll give utensil-k garments for your horse.” You can obviously do this for other words that start with the “sil” sound like: cylinder, syllabus, silverware, silhouette, silicon, etc.
  • Burn: “Burn the candle at both ends” and “Burn a hole in your pocket” and “Burn your bridges” and “Crash and burn” and “Feel the burn” and “Slow burn” and “Burn yourself out” and “Energy to burn
  • Brother: As in, “Everybody and his brother,” and “Have you met my brother?” and “Big brother is watching you.”
  • Rise → Rice: As in “Rice to the challenge/occasion” and “Rice and shine” and “Rice from the ashes” and “The rice and fall of …”
  • Hate → Heat: As in “I heat to say it, but …” and “Heaters gonna heat.” and “I’ve got a love-heat relationship with cooking.”
  • Heat: “He’s packing heat” and “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen” and “In the heat of the moment” and “The heat is on.”
  • Heed → Heat: As in “You’s better pay heat to your mother! She knows what she is talking about.”
  • Fire: As in “You’re fired.” and “In the line of fire” and “Don’t play with fire” and “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.”
  • Steam: “Blow off some steam” and “Build up a head of steam” and “Full steam ahead” and “Run out of steam” and “Under one’s own steam” and “Pick up steam“.
  • Seem → Steam: As in “It’s not as bad as it steams” and “I can’t steam to …” and “things are seldom as they steam” and “That steams a bit out of place”.
  • Esteem → Esteam: As in “Self esteam” and “She was esteamed by her peers”.
  • Seam → Steam: As in, “Bulging at the steams” and “Come apart at the steams.”
  • Scheme → Steam: As in, “In the grand steam of things” and “Pyramid steam” and “The best laid steams” and “The overall steam of things.”
  • Scream → Steam: As in, “Dragged kicking and steaming” and “We all steam for ice-cream” and “Steam bloody murder” and “Steam your head off.”
  • Stream → Steam: As in, “Fresh as a mountain steam” and “Changing midsteam” and “Swim upsteam.”
  • Team → Steam: As in, “Dream steam” amd Take one for the steam” and “A steam player” and “Steam spirit” and “Tag steam” and “Steam up with” and “There’s no ‘i’ in steam.”
  • Teem → Steam: As in, “Steaming down with rain” and “Steaming with life.”
  • *stam* → *steam*: We can sneak “steam” into words that have similar sounds, like so: “A testeament to” and “Rushed by the crowded steampede.”
  • *stem* → *steam*: As in, “All systeams go!” and Get it out of your systeam” and “Solar systeam” and “Buck the systeam” and “Self-sustaining ecosysteam” and “Racism is a systeamic problem.” Note: if something is systemic, then it affects the entire involved group, body or system.
  • *stim* → *steam*: As in, “Steamulate your senses” and “Being oversteamulated” and “A mentally steamulating environment” and “By my esteamates” and “Valuable testeamony” and “Don’t underesteamate yourself” and “Company testeamonials.”
  • Nuke: This term is often used to refer to cooking/heating something in the microwave, but it is also (obviously) short for nuclear bomb. Perhaps there is some context where this double meaning may be viable as a cooking pun.
  • Continent → Condiment: As in “The shifting of the condimental plates happens very slowly.” and “Originally, all the condiments were part of one supercondiment called Pangaea.” and “Condimental breakfast” and “The condimental shelf”
  • Embroiled: To “broil” something means to cook it via exposure to direct intense radiant heat. The term “embroiled” means to be involved deeply in an argument, conflict or difficult situation.
  • I’ll → Oil: As in, “Well, oil be” and “Oil say!” and “Ask me no questions, oil tell you no lies” and “Oil be back” and “Oil never tell” and “You scratch my back and oil scratch yours.”
  • Aisle → Oil: As in, “Walk down the oil” and “Cleanup on oil three.”
  • All → Oil: As in “Can’t we oil just get along?” and “Oil in a day’s work.” and “Oil part of life’s rich tapestry” and “It’s oil Greek to me.” and “It’s oil downhill form here” and “It’s oil fun and games until someone gets hurt” and “It’s oil gone pear shaped” and “It’s oil good” and “It’s oil good clean fun” and “It’s oil me me me” and “That’s oil well and good, but …” and “Oil kidding aside, …” and “Above oil, …” and “Against oil odds” and “Oil shapes and sizes” and “Oil that glitters is not gold” and “Oil the rage” and “Oil the world’s a stage” and “Oil things being equal” and “Oil thumbs” and “Oil’s well that ends well” and “At oil costs” and “By oil appearances” and “By oil accounts” and “Cover oil your bases” and “From oil corners of the globe” and “I haven’t got oil day” and “In oil honesty” and “In oil likelihood” and “It’s oil the same to me” and “Jack of oil trades” and “I don’t know oil the answers” and “Not oil it’s cracked up to be” and “He’s not oil there” and “Once and for oil” and “Don’t put oil your eggs in one basket” – And there are many more oil puns that can be made along these lines.
  • *oil*: Words which contain the “oil” sound (or similar) can be silly oil puns: spoiled, spoils, soiled, turmoil, toiletries, gargoil (gargoyle), foil, recoil.
  • Recipe: “That’s a recipe for disaster.” and “A recipe for success”.
  • Ingredient: As in “What’s your secret ingredient?”
  • Pep her → Pepper: As in “We need to pepper up with some music before her big race.”
  • Cake: As in “That’s the icing on the cake” and “It’ll be a cake walk” and “That takes the cake” and “It’ll be a piece of cake.” and “Shut your cake hole”.
  • Oven: “A bun in the oven“.
  • Often → Oven: As in “Do you come here oven?” and “Every so oven.”
  • Stuff→ Stove: As in “Don’t sweat the small stove.” and “It’s the stove of legends/dreams.”
  • Walk → Wok: As in “I’ll be back soon, I’m going to wok the dog.” and “It’ll be a wok in the park.” and “You’re woking on thin ice there, bud.”
  • Work → Wok: As in “Wok hard, play hard.” and “It’s a wok in progress.” and “All in a day’s wok.”
  • Fly → Fry: As in “A no-fry zone has been declared by the military.” and “Just a fry on the wall.”
  • Fry: There are a couple of frying-related idioms: “Small fry” and “Bigger fish to fry
  • Cry → Fry: As in “Don’t fry over spilt milk” and “A shoulder to fry on” and “Fry like a baby” and “A far fry from …” and “Fry fowl” and “Battle fry
  • Fried: As in “My brain is fried” and “I’m fried.”
  • Stew: As in “Now, now, don’t get in a in a stew.” and “Stew in your own juices”
  • *stew*: Words that contain the “stew” sound can be silly stew puns: stewpendous, stewardship, stewpid, stewdious, stewpor, stewpidity, costewme, stewdio, astewte, stewdent.
  • It’s too → s’tew: As in “S’tew bad the shoes don’t fit you.”
  • Bruise → Braise: As in “That’ll leave a braise…”
  • Breeze → Braise: As in “I’m fully prepared. The test will be a braise.”
  • Barbell → Parboil: This one’s very silly.
  • Parable →Parboil: As in “The Parboil of the Good Samaritan”.
  • Poor boy’ll → Parboil: As in “The parboil need some bandages for his knee.”
  • Serve: “You got served!” and “If memory serves” and “First come, first served” and “Revenge is a dish best served cold” and “Serve a purpose” and “Serves them right” and “Serve time” and “Serve and protect”
  • Timer: “Old-timer” and “Two-timer“.
  • Season: As in “’tis the season” and “In season” and “Out of season“.
  • Rest our aunt / Rest or rant → Restaurant: These are very specific cooking puns. Good luck finding a context in which they work!
  • Crackpot → Crock pot: A “crackpot” is a crazy person and a “crock pot” is a large, electric slow-cooking pot: “He’s a bit of a crock pot, that one.”
  • Sup → Soup: As in “Soup man, how’s it going?”
  • Sue p* → Soup*: As in “You can’t just soupeople willy nilly.”
  • *sup* → *soup*: If a word contains the “soup” sound we can of course make some silly soup puns: souperb, soupercomputer, soupercilious, souperficial, souperfluous, souperhuman, souperimposed, souperintendent, souperior, souperman, soupernatual, soupersonic, soupervise, soupremely, unsoupervised.
  • Dish: As in”Revenge is a dish best served cold” and “You can dish it out, but you can’t take it” and “Dish the dirt” and “The dish ran away with the spoon”
  • Hot: “All hot and bothered” and “Hot potato” and “Get into hot water” and “Hot and heavy” and “Hot on your heels” and “Hot pursuit” and “Hot-tempered” and “Hot under the collar” and “Hot topic” and “Strike while the iron is hot” and “Hot stuff” and “Full of hot air” and “Hot-wire a car”.
  • Groovy → Gravy: As in “That’s a gravy, smooth-sounding new funk album she has released.”
  • Grease: “Grease the wheels” and “Grease your palm” and “The squeaky wheel gets the grease” and “Grease monkey” and “Elbow grease“.
  • Greece → Greece: As in “The food in Grease is so good.”
  • Grace → Grease: As in “By the grease of god” and “A grease period” and “Saving grease” and “Fall from grease” and “Airs and greases” and “There but for the grease of god go I.” and “Amazing grease“.
  • Grass→ Grease: As in “You could hear the grease growing” and “Keep off the grease” and “A grease-roots movement.” Note: a grassroots movement is one that starts at a local level with the intention of affecting regional, national or international change.
  • Bank etiquette → Banquet-iquette: As in “Waiting patiently in line at the bank is just a part of good banquet-iquette.”
  • Male → Meal: As in “The meal of the species” and “Meal chauvinist pig”.
  • Super → Supper: As in “Supper man” and “Supper-duper”.
  • Buff eh? → Buffet: As in “Look at how much she’s bench pressing! Buffet?”
  • Down → Dine: As in “Never back dine” and “Dine the rabbit hole” and “It all boils dine to …” and “Boogie on dine” and “Bring the house dine” and “Calm dine” and “Dine for the count” and “Dine in the dumps” and “Dine the hatch” and “Dine to earth” and “Hold dine a job” and “It went dine the wrong way” and “Let your hair dine” and “The best – hands dine“.
  • Guessed → Guest: As in “I never would have guest.”
  • Chop: “On the chopping block” and “Chop and change”.
  • Dice: As well as the noun form (“she rolled the dice”), “dice” obviously can mean “chop into small cubes/pieces”.
  • Feel → Peel: As in “You can peel it in your bones.” and “I like the look and peel of the product.” and “I’m trying to get the peel for it.” and “These potato puns are making me peel unwell.” and “I peel a bit put out.” and “I’m peeling my age.” and “Peel the burn”.
  • Appeal → Appeel / A peel: “He’s so appeeling!” and “The court allowed one final a peel.” and “You need to a peel to their sense of honour.” and “I’m trying to appeel to your better judgement” and “They have 48 hours to appeel the decision.”
  • Pillar → Peeler: As in “You are a peeler of strength in our community.”
  • Whisk: “He was quickly whisked off stage” and “The waiter whisked the dish back into the kitchen”.
  • Risk → Whisk: As in “It’s too dangerous. Don’t whisk it. ” and “At your own whisk” and “Calculated whisk” and “You run the whisk of …” and “Whisk life and limb”
  • Curry: “Curry favour” and “Give someone a bit of curry“. Note: to curry favour is to attempt to align oneself with another.
  • Hurry → Curry: As in “I’m in a bit of a curry, can we talk later?” and “Curry up! We need to leave now!” and “Curry up and wait”.
  • Thongs → Tongs: The word “thong” may refer to bikini bottoms or to “flip-flops” depending on where you’re from. The term “tongs” refers to a kitchen tool used to grip and lift things (usually things that you’re frying).
  • Spoon: “We spooned to keep warm” and “She wasn’t born with a silver spoon in her mouth” and “He spoon-feeds his students too much”.
  • Billion → Bouillion: As in “They justly spend bouillions of dollars on the new education reforms.” (Bouillion is a type of broth in French cuisine).
  • Feast: As in, “Bean-feast,” and “Feast your eyes on this,” and “Midnight feast,” and “A feast for the eyes.” Note: A bean-feast is a celebratory meal or party.
  • Fast* → Feast*: As in, “Feast as greased lightning,” and “As feast as his legs could go,” and “Bed and breakfeast,” and “Feast and furious,” and “In the feast lane,” and “Feaster than a speeding bullet,” and “Not so feast!” and “Pull a feast one,” and “Lightning feast.” Note: in the fast lane refers to a highly active and risky lifestyle.
  • Fest* → Feast*: As in, “No problem is so bad it can’t feaster awhile longer,” and “Going to the music feastival?”
  • Feasible → Feast-ible: As in, “I told you, that project isn’t feast-ible.” Note: if something isn’t feasible, then it isn’t possible or practical to achieve.
  • Fist → Feast: As in “I’ll rule with an iron feast.”
  • Serve: As in “Dude, you just got served.” and “My duty is to serve and protect.”
  • Menu: As in “That’s completely off the menu.”
  • Man, you → Menu: As in “Menu need to see someone about that.”
  • Flies → Fries: As in “Time fries when you’re having fun!”
  • Fork: As in “We’ve reached a fork in the road.” (There’s also an obvious swear word pun that can be made with fork.)
  • Season → Seasoning: As in “Seasoning’s greetings!” and “For everything, there is a seasoning.”
  • Take out→ Take-out: As in “I had to take-out my phone to check the time.” and “I had to take-out a loan just to pay the bill!”
  • Toast: As well as referring to cooked bread, this term can also refer to the raising of glasses at a gathering to honour something: “Let’s call a toast.” It also has a slang usage: “You are toast.” Meaning “I’m going to beat you” at some competition (or physically).
  • Coarse → Course: As in “Please don’t pun during dinner, Gerald. It’s very course humour.”
  • Course: As in “Is there a university course on cooking puns?” (“Course” can refers to a particular stage of a multi-stage meal.)
  • Thrilled → Grilled: As in “He was so grilled to see you!” and “I’m grilled to bits!”
  • Creep → Crepe: As in “That’s a bit crepey, man.” and “Yep, he’s a bit of a crepe.”
  • Source → Sauce: As in “That’s an unreliable sauce.” and “You should cite some primary sauces.”
  • Great → Grate: As in “Oh grate! Another food pun.” and “Grate minds think alike.”
  • Branch → Brunch: As in “Shall we call a truce? I’m extending an olive brunch here.” and “We’re brunching out into other industries.”
  • Loaf: As in “Stop loafing around! Get up and do something!” (To “loaf” is to waste time and laze about).
  • Come → Crumb: As in “Crumb to think of it…” and “Crumb to your senses” and “Crumb again?” and “Crumb hell or high water.” and “Crumb out of your shell” and “Crumb rain or shine” and “Do you crumb here often?” and “An idea whose time has crumb.” and “The best is yet to crumb.” and “What has crumb over you?”
  • Feed: As in “You’re just feeding people misinformation.”
  • Order: “Law and order.” and “These restaurant puns are out of order.”
  • In jest → Ingest: As in “Many a true word is spoken ingest.”
  • Done → Dine: As in “When all is said and dine” and “Dine and dusted.”
  • Din* → Dine*: If a word begins with the “dine” sound, we can make a dinner pun: dineosaur, dineamically, dineamite.
  • Sup: This term has a few traditional meaning related to food, including “to eat dinner/supper”, but it also has the obvious slang meaning “What’s up?” Thus we can make a sneaky supper pun, but it’d be very corny and heavily dependent on context: Person1: “‘Sup?” Person2: “What? Now? It’s only 3pm!”
  • Scoff: This term refers to eating greedily or to talking to someone in a mean and “mocking” manner. Example: “Are you scoffing at my cooking puns?”
  • Sue p* → Soup*: As in “You can’t just soupeople willy nilly.”
  • *sup* → *soup*: If a word contains the “soup” sound we can of course make some silly soup puns: souperb, soupercomputer, soupercilious, souperficial, souperfluous, souperhuman, souperimposed, souperintendent, souperior, souperman, soupernatual, soupersonic, soupervise, soupremely, unsoupervised.
  • Greedy ent* → ‘gredient: This one’s a bit of a stretch! Examples: “Those ‘gredient-erprising bastards!” and “The ‘gredient-titled youngers.”
  • Salty: Other than the obvious cooking-related definition, this term has several slang definitions including “being upset/angry”.
  • Assault → A salt: As in “He was charged with a salt with a deadly weapon.”
  • It → Eat: As in “Eat is not quite as eat seems.” and “Eat’s not the first time I’ve said this, but …”
  • *eat*: Any word that contains the “eat” sound (or similar) can obviously be made into a silly eating pun: cheating, beatle, athleat, aneatime (anytime), compleat, conceated, deceatful, deleat, discreat, eleat (elite), graffeati, fleat (fleet),  featus, heartbeat, Eatalian (Italian), greating (greeting), Peater (Peter), preatending, repeatedly, reatirement, streat, sweatheart, preatentious.
  • Eat: As in, “A bite to eat,” and “All you can eat,” and “Bet you can’t just eat one,” and “Eat a balanced diet,” and “Eat and run,” and “Eat dirt,” and “Eat humble pie,” and “Eat like a bird,” and “Eat my dust,” and “Eat someone alive,” and “Eat to live, rather than live to eat,” and “Eat your words,” and “Eaten up with jealousy,” and “Eating for two,” and “Good enough to eat,” and “Let them eat cake,” and “Man eater,” and “I’ll eat my hat.” Note: to eat your words is to regret or retract a previous statement.
  • *eet* → *eat*: Change the “eet” in certain words to “eat” – sheat (sheet), streat (street), sweat (sweet), discreat (discreet), feat (feet), fleat (fleet), sleat (sleet), beatle (beetle), teath (teeth).
  • *eat*: Use words with an “eat” sound – athl-eat (athlete), burreato, compl-eat (complete), comp-eat (compete), concr-eat (concrete), el-eat (elite), eat-ernal (eternal), incogneato, margareata, mosqeato (mosquito), pet-eat (petite).
  • Feed: As in, “Bite the hand that feeds you,” and “Bottom feeder,” and “Feed your mind,” and “Feeding frenzy.”
  • Bowl: As in “I was completely bowled over.”
  • Stew: This term can also refer to being in a state of anxiety and agitation. As in “Stew in one’s own juices.” and “I was in a bit of a stew.”
  • Carry → Curry: As in “I’m going as fast as my legs can curry me!” and “Keep calm and curry on.”
  • Even → Oven: As in “Oven my little brother knows that!” and “That’s not oven fair.”
  • Piece of → Pizza: As in “You want a pizza me?” and “That’s a pizza cake.” and “They all want a pizza the action.” and “That’s a fine pizza ass.” and “That’s a pizza piss.” and “He’s a nasty pizza work.” and “How long is a pizza string?” and “I’ll give him a pizza my mind!” and “You’re a real pizza work.” and “Pizza the pie”.
  • How → Chow: As in “Chow could you do this to me?” and “Chow are you feeling?”
  • Pass the → Pasta: As in “Can you pasta sauce please?”
  • Past her → Pasta: As in “I walked right pasta without realising.”
  • Passed away → Pasta way: As in “She pasta way last night.”
  • Flower → Flour: As in “Remember to stop and smell the flours.”
  • Adore → Adough: “I adough you.”
  • Don’t → Doughn’t: As in “Doughn’t fall for it.”
  • Though → Dough: As in “You look as dough you’ve seen a ghost!”
  • Hour → Flour: As in “We could go on for flours.” and “The plane leaves in one flour.” and “I’m on a flourly wage.”
  • Make → Bake: As in “I can’t bake head or tail of it.” and “Enough to bake you sick.” and “Bake believe” and “It’ll bake a world of difference.” and “Just trying to bake ends meet.” and “Bake a name for yourself.”
  • Making → Baking: As in “A legend in the bakin’” and “This is history in the baking” and “You’re baking a fool of yourself.”
  • Floor → Flour: As in “A cooking pun battle? I’ll mop the flour with you.”
  • Heard → Herb: As in “I herb it on the grape vine.” and “You herb it here first.” and “You could have herb a pin drop.”
  • Curb → Herb: As in “Herb your enthusiasm.” and “Drive up onto the herb.”
  • Spies → Spice: As in “I think I’m being followed by Indian spice.”
  • A prawn → Apron
  • Nice → Knife: As in “Have you met the chef? She’s a knife person.”
  • Least→ Yeast: As in “Last, but not yeast.” and “Yeast common denominator.” and “It’s the yeast I could do.”
  • East→ Yeast: As in “I’m heading over yeast for a holiday.”

Cooking-Related Words

There are many more puns to be made than could be documented in this Punpedia entry, and so we’ve compiled a list of cooking-related concepts for you to use when creating your own puns. If you come up with a new pun, please share it in the comments!

chef, bake, boil, roast, grill, oven, fry, stew, braise, overcook, parboil, stove, stove-top, kitchen, microwave, poach, blanch, cook up, broil, simmer, cooker, cook, griddle, chargrill, skillet, stir fry, baste, caramelize, marinade, eat, pot, pan, utensil, burner, burn, undercook, broth, rice, pasta, heat, barbecue, bbq, fire, culinary, steam, nuke, zap, frypan, onions, potatoes, pressure cooker, condiment, oil, baker, bread, recipe, ingredients, brochette, salt, salty, pepper, sugar, cake, dough, beans, serve, serving, vegetables, range hood, timer, spatula, raw, pastry, seasoning, restaurant, crock pot, ratatouille, soup, food, dish, dishes, cookbook, hot plate, hot, sizzle, savory, dinner, saucepan, cuisine, basil, gravy, hibachi, brazier, oregano, garlic, rosemary, teflon, grease, drizzle, banquet, meal, supper, feast, buffet, dine, menu, table, guests, spaghetti, lasagna, knife, chop, dice, al dente, batter, beat, blend, dissolve, grate, peel, puree, whip, stir, sauté, whisk, bowl, mix, fork, anglaise, plate, bouillion, spoon, chiffonnade, feed, toast, chopping board, scoop, tongs, can opener, sieve, chop sticks, measuring cups, wok, sauce, herbs, spices, curry, crumb, crumbs, apron, oven mitt, platter, cutlery.

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