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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Pirate Puns

Welcome to the Punpedia entry on pirate puns! 🏴 ☠ ⛵ 🌊

Pirates today are known as mischievous, swashbuckling characters – cheeky, rule-breaking treasure hunters. But their historical roots are much darker than that, with murder, theft, torture and disease all a common part of a pirate’s lifestyle. We’ve tried to cover all of the different, varied aspects of piracy in this list, from their lingo to their weaponry to famous fictional pirates. So no matter what you’re a fan of or what you’re looking for – whether it be some puns for Talk Like A Pirate Day, or to add some seafaring capers to your Halloween celebrations, we hope that you find the perfect pirate pun.

While this list is as thorough as possible, it is specifically about pirates. If you’re interested in related articles, have a look at our ocean puns, beer puns, boat puns and shark puns.

Pirate 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 pirates 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 pirate puns:

  • Pie → Pie-rate: As in, “Apple pie-rate,” and “Easy as pie-rate,” and “Sweet as pie-rate,” and “Eat humble pie-rate,” and “A piece of the pie-rate,” and “Sweetie pie-rate.” 
  • Corporate → Cor-pirate: As in, “The cor-pirate ladder.” 
  • Irate → P-irate: As in, “This show makes me so p-irate!” 
  • Practical → Piratical: As in, “Piratical walking shoes,” and “A piratical character,” and “Bring some piratical hiking clothes.” Note: if someone is piratical, it means they commit acts of piracy.
  • *pira* → *pirate*: As in, “Res-pirate-ory,” and “Ins-pirate-ional,” and “Res-pirate-ion,” and “As-pirate,” and “Ins-pirate-ion,” and “Cons-pirate-cy.” 
  • Arr*: Emphasise words that have an “arr” sound in them to make some salty pirate puns: “We’ve arrr-ived,” and “A b-arrr-el of laughs,” and “C-arrry on,” and “No holds b-arrr-ed,” and “Arr-ogant,” and “Arrr-ay,” and “Arrrr-est,” and “Arrr-ange,” and “Biz-arrre.”
  • Are → Arrr: As in, “All bets arrr off,” and “Arrr you deaf?” and “Here you arrr,” and “How arrr you?” and “My lips arrr sealed,” and “What arrr the odds?” and “My hands arrr tied,” and “Two heads arrr better than one.”
  • *ore* → *arr*: As in, “Age befarr beauty,” and “Befarr it was cool,” and “Befarr your time,” and “Bite off marr than you can chew,” and “Marr money than god,” and “Marr than meets the eye.”
  • *or* → *arrr*: As in, “Apples and arrranges,” and “This arrr that?”
  • Air → Arrr: As in, “Breath of fresh arrr,” and “Clear the arrr,” and “Dancing on arrr,” and “Arrr guitar,” and “Melt into thin arrr,” and “Out of thin arrr,” and “Spring is in the arrr,” and “Arrrbnb.”
  • R → Arrr: As in, “Arrr2D2,” and “ArrrnB.”
  • Aye: As in, “Aye aye, sir,” and “The ayes have it.” Note: “the ayes have it” is a confirmation that majority of a group have voted in the affirmative. 
  • Eye → Aye: As in, “A wandering aye,” and “All fun and games until someone loses and aye,” and “An aye for an aye,” and “Avert one’s ayes,” and “Beauty is in the aye of the beholder,” and “Bedroom ayes,” and “Before your very ayes,” and “Bright ayes,” and “Aye to aye,” and “A fresh pair of ayes,” and “In the twinkling of an aye,” and “Ayes bigger than your stomach,” and “All ayes.” Note: a wandering eye is when someone is attracted to people other than their current romantic, monogamous partner. 
  • I → Aye: As in, “What can aye say?” and “Aye can help,” and “Aye think so.” 
  • Buy → B-aye: As in, “B-aye now, pay later,” and “B-aye and sell,” and “B-aye into,” and “B-aye some time,” and “Money can’t b-aye you love,” and “The best that money can b-aye,” and “Would you b-aye a used car from this man?”
  • By → B-aye: As in, “B-aye a landslide,” and “B-aye all accounts,” and “B-aye any means,” and “B-aye any stretch of the imagination,” and “B-aye hook or b-aye crook,” and “B-aye my own hand,” and “Cheaper b-aye the dozen,” and “Do b-aye halves,” and “Fall b-aye the wayside,” and “Lead b-aye the nose.” To do something by halves is to not put very much enthusiasm or energy into it. 
  • Bye → B-aye: As in, “Kiss goodb-aye to,” and “Can never say goodb-aye.”
  • I’ll → Aye’ll: As in, “Aye’ll say,” and “Well aye’ll be damned,” and “Ask me no questions, aye’ll tell you no lies,” and “Aye’ll be back,” and “You scratch my back and aye’ll scratch yours.”
  • Eye* → Aye*: As in, “Ayeball,” and “Ayebrow,” and “Ayesore,” and “Ayelash,” and “Bulls-aye.” Note: an eyesore is an unpleasant sight.
  • Ah* → Aye*: Words with an “ah” sound can be changed to “aye” – aye-balaone (abalone), aye-bbreviate (abbreviate), aye-bility (ability), aye-ble (able), aye-bnormal (abnormal), aye-bsolutely (absolutely), aye-ccommodation (accommodation), aye-dmire (admire), aye-mless (aimless), aye-lternative (alternative).
  • Ale → Aye’l: As in, “No more cakes and aye’l?”
  • Ahoy: As in, “Ahoy there,” and “Land ahoy.”
  • Mate → Matey: As in, “Billy no mateys,” and “Matey’s rates,” and “Seeking a soul matey.” Note: Billy no mates is a mocking term for someone with no friends. 
  • Might → Mate: As in, “Cheer up, it mate never happen,” and “Mate as well,” and “Pigs mate fly,” and “The pen is mate-ier than the sword,” and “Mate as well quit.” Note: “the pen is mightier than the sword” means that the media is more powerful than the military. 
  • Meet → Mate: As in, “Fancy mate-ing you here!” and “Make ends mate,” and “Mate and greet,” and “Mate in the middle,” and “More than mates the eye,” and “Please to mate you,” and “Mate your match.”
  • *mate*: Emphasise the “mate” in certain words – material, maternal, ultimate, intimate, consummate, legitimate, estimate, penultimate, decimate, approximate, climate, amateur, animate, automate, checkmate, classmate, cremate, playmate, primate, roommate, stalemate, teammate. Notes: consummate means perfect, or complete in every way. Penultimate means second last. To decimate something is to destroy or devastate it. 
  • *mat*: We can change words that have the “mate” sound to visually include it as well: Mate-riarch (matriarch), mate-rix (matrix), mate-ron (matron) and tomate-o (tomato). Notes: a matriarch is a woman who acts as the head of a group. A matrix is a set of conditions or boundaries in which a thing develops. 
  • I’ve asked → Avast: As in, “Avast her to marry me.”
  • My heart → Me hearty: As in, “A man after me own hearty,” and “Absence makes me hearty grow fonder,” and “Break me hearty,” and “Cross me hearty and hope to die,” and “Don’t go breaking me hearty,” and “Home is where me hearty is,” and “In me hearty of hearts,” and “Set me hearty on.” Notes: To speak of your heart of hearts is to reveal your innermost thoughts. 
  • There → Thar: As in, “Ahoy thar!” and “Are we thar yet?” and “As if thar were no tomorrow,” and “Be thar in spirit,” and “Be thar or be square,” and “Been thar, done that,” and “Don’t go thar,” and “Hang in thar,” and “Here and thar,” and “Here thar be beasts,” and “Here, thar, and everywhere,” and “Hold it right thar!” and “Let thar be light,” and “The truth is out thar,” and “Thar’s no place like home,” and “Thar’s no time like the present.”
  • Their → Thar: As in, “Children and thar toys,” and “Swept of thar feet,” and “Everybody and thar brother,” and “Forgive your enemies – but don’t forget thar names,” and “They learned thar lesson.”
  • They’re → Thar: As in, “Thar blowing in the wind,” and “Thar not okay.”
  • *yo → *yo ho ho: As in, “Tokyo-ho ho,” and “Embryo-ho ho,” and “Mayo-ho ho,” and “Yo yo-ho ho.”
  • Rum: As in, “Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum,” and “Where’s the rum?” 
  • *rum*: Emphasise the “rum” sound in certain words: “Fo-rum,”, “Inst-rum-ent,”, “St-rum,” and “Rum-ble,”, “Rum-inate,”, “Rum-p,”, “Rum-mage,”, “Spect-rum,”, “D-rum,”, “Deco-rum,”, “Tant-rum,”, “Sc-rum,”, “Se-rum,”, “Conund-rum.” 
  • Drum and bass → Rum and bass (Note: drum and bass is a music genre)
  • Boot → Booty: As in, “Tough as old bootys,” and “Bet your bootys,” and “Booty camp,” and “Give someone the booty,” and “Big bootys to fill,” and “My heart sank into my bootys,” and “I got the booty.” 
  • Booty: As in, “Shake your booty.” 
  • Beauty → Booty: As in, “Booty sleep,” and “Make booty-ful music,” and “Booty is in the eye of the beholder,” and “Booty is only skin-deep.” 
  • *boo → *booty: As in, “Tabooty,” and “Bambooty,” and “Peekabooty.” 
  • Treasure: As in, “Hidden treasure,” and “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” and “Treasure chest,”, “Treasure trove,” and “Buried treasure.” 
  • Land → Landlubber: As in, “The landlubber of the free,” and “The landlubber that time forgot,” and “The law of the landlubber,” and “The length and breadth of the landlubber,” and “This landlubber is your landlubber,” and “Far into the bowels of the landlubber,” and “See how the landlubber lies.” Notes: the land that time forgot is a fantasy film. The law of the land refers to all laws within a country or region. To see how the land lies is to determine as many facts as you can about a situation before making a decision or action. 
  • Encourage → Anchorage: As in “Stop anchoraging him!”.
  • Pieces → Pieces of eight: As in, “Dash to pieces of eight,” and “Bits and pieces of eight.” Notes: pieces of eight were large silver coins and is a famous pirate treasure due to its value. 
  • Double → Doubloon: As in, “Doubloon back,” and “Doubloon booked,” and “Doubloon over,” and “A doubloon-edged sword,” and “A doubloon date,” and “A doubloon whammy.” Note: a double-edged sword is something that could provide both benefits and disadvantages. 
  • Lot → Loot: As in, “A loot of fuss about nothing,” and “A loot on your plate,” and “Leaves a loot to be desired,” and “Not a loot.” 
  • *loot*: Make some swashbuckling pirate puns by emphasising the “loot” sound in certain words: “Solootion,” and “Resolootion,” and “Revolootion,” and “Evolootion,” and “Abso-loot,” and “Convolooted,” and “Floot (flute),” and “Di-loot (dilute),” and “Plooto,” and “Pollootant,” and “Saloot (salute).”
  • Late → Loot: As in, “Better loot than never,” and “Catch you loot-er,” and “Read any good books loot-ely?” and “It’s never too loot to learn,” and “A loot bloomer,” and “It’s loot in the day,” and “See you loot-er, alligator.” 
  • Let → Loot: As in, “Loot it be,” and “Loot it bleed,” and “Friends don’t loot friends drive drunk,” and “I won’t loot you down,” and “Loot nature take its course,” and “Loot off steam,” and “Loot your conscience be your guide,” and “Loot your hair down,” and “I never want to loot you go.” 
  • *let → *loot: As in, “A shrinking vio-loot,” and “Run the gaunt-loot,” and “A magic bul-loot,” and “Ske-loot-ons in the closet,” and “Bite the bul-loot.” 
  • Bound → Bounty: As in, “By leaps and bounties,” and “Homeward bounty,” and “On the rebounty,” and “Out of bounty.” 
  • Chest: As in, “Get it off your chest,” and “Hold your cards close to your chest,” and “That old chestnut,” and “Treasure chest.”
  • Chased → Chest: As in, “I chest after him.”
  • Grog: As in, “Where’s the grog?” and “I’m feeling groggy.” Note: Grog is a name for an alcoholic drink made of rum and water. 
  • God → Grog: As in, “An act of grog,” and “All things are possible with grog,” and “A child of grog,” and “For the love of grog,” and “Grog fearing,” and “A man of grog.” 
  • Hook: As in, “By  hook or by crook,” and “Get hooked on,” and “Hook, line and sinker,” and “Hook up with,” and “I’m hooked,” and “Let off the hook.” Notes: “By hook or by crook” means by any means necessary. To fall for something hook, line and sinker means you’ve accepted an idea or explanation entirely without critically examining what you’ve been told.
  • Peg → Pegleg: As in, “Square pegleg in a round hole,” and “Take down a pegleg or two.” Note: a square peg in a round hole describes something that doesn’t fit into its environment – the odd one out.  
  • Leg → Pegleg: As in, “Fast as his peglegs could carry him,” and “Break a pegleg,” and “Cost an arm and a pegleg,” and “Peglegs like tree trunks,” and “On his last peglegs,” and “Shake a pegleg,” and “Tail between your peglegs,” and “Without a pegleg to stand on,” and “You’re pulling my pegleg,” and “Stretch my peglegs.” Notes: if you’re on your last legs, then you’re near to exhaustion, death or giving up. To shake a leg is to hurry or begin something. If you don’t have a leg to stand on, you’re in a very rocky and disadvantageous position. 
  • Leg* → Pegleg*:  As in, “Peg-legacy,” and “What a peg-legend,” and “A peg-legitimate business,” and “Peg-legal,” and “Peg-legible,” and “Peg-legislation.”
  • Eyepatch → Aye-patch 
  • Eye → Eyepatch: As in, “All fun and games until somebody loses and eyepatch,” and “Avert one’s eyepatch,” and “Better than a poke in the eyepatch with a sharp stick,” and “More than meets the eyepatch,” and “Not a dry eyepatch in the house,” and “Turn a blind eyepatch,” and “Catch someone’s eyepatch.”
  • Crew: As in, “Motley crew,” and “Skeleton crew.” Notes: a skeleton crew is the minimum number of workers needed to operate an undertaking. A motley crew is a band of seemingly mismatched individuals of different backgrounds, personalities and appearances. 
  • Roger → Jolly roger: As in, “Jolly roger that.” Note: Jolly roger is the traditional English name for pirate flags.   
  • *crew: As in, “Screw it,” and “Unscrew,” and “Screwdriver,” and “Corkscrew.” 
  • Chew → Crew: As in, “Bite off more than you can crew,” and “Crew it over.” Note: to chew something over is to consider something at length.
  • *cru* → *crew*: Change words that have the “cru” sound in them to “crew” to make pirate puns: “Ac-crew,” and “Crew-cial,”, “Crew-cifix,”and “Crew-de,”, “Crew-l,” and “Crew-lty,”, “Crew-se,”, “Crew-sade,”, “Ex-crew-ciating,”, “Ins-crew-table,”, “Re-crew-t,”, “S-crew-pulous,”, “S-crew-ples,”, “S-crew-tinise,” and “S-crew-tiny.” Notes: to accrue is to slowly increase the amount you have of something over time. To be scrupulous is to be very honest.
  • Gutless → Cutlass: As in, “The cutlass wonder.” Note: this is a derogotary term used to indicate if someone is lacking in bravery.
  • Tank → Tankard: As in, “Built like a tankard,” and “Empty the tankard,” and “Think tankard.” Note: a think tank is a research group. 
  • Wash → Swashbuckle: As in, “All swashbuckled up,” and “Lost in the swashbuckle.” 
  • Buckle → Swashbuckle: As in, “Swashbuckle down,” and “Swashbuckle under the strain.” 
  • Ship: As in, “Abandon ship,” and “Loose lips sink ships,” and “Run a tight ship,” and “Shape up or ship out,” and “Ships that pass in the night,” and “That ship has sailed,” and “The start of a beautiful friendship,” and “Worship the ground someone walks on,” and “A stormy relationship.” Notes: Loose lips sink ships is a warning against gossip or unguarded talk. Ships in the night is a descriptor for strangers who meet for a short and intense moment and never meet again. 
  • Shop → Ship: As in, “All over the ship,” and “Shipping cart.”
  • Shape → Ship: As in, “All ships and sizes,” and “Get into ship,” and “The ship of things to come.” 
  • *ship: As in, “Relationship,”, “Worship,”, “Fellowship,”, “Leadership,”, “Scholarship,”, Friendship,” and “Hardship.” 
  • *sip* → *ship*: If a word contains “sip” it can usually be replaced with “ship”. For example: gosship (gossip), dishipate (dissipate), shipping (sipping), inshipid (insipid). See the boat puns entry for more.
  • *sib* → *ship*: If a word contains “sib” it can usually be replaced with “ship” to create a terrible pun. For example: posshiply (possibly), accesshipility (accessibility), incomprehenshiple, feashipble, irresponshipble, invishipble, ostenshipbly, revershipble, vishipble. An example sentence might be: “I am responshiple for my puns.”  See the boat puns entry for more.
  • Dec* → Deck*: As in, “Deck-line,” and “Deckree,”, “Deckadent,”, “Deckay,” and “Deckorum,”, “Deckade,” and “Decklaration,” and “Decksterity (dexterity).”
  • Deck: As in, “All hands on deck,” and “Deal from the bottom of the deck,” and “All decked out,” and “A stacked deck,” and “Triple decker.” Notes: To deal from the bottom of the deck is to put someone at a disadvantage using dishonest methods. To stack the deck is to arrange a situation in an unfair way against someone or something.  
  • Duck → Deck: As in, “Deck the question,” and “Decking and diving,” and “Like a deck to water,” and “Like water of a deck’s back,” and “Nice weather for decks.” 
  • Shirk → Shark: As in “Stop sharking your responsibilities and get the job done.”
  • Shiver: When sharks travel in groups, they’re called “shivers”. Example sentence: “Shark puns give me the shivers,” and “Shiver me timbers!”
  • Wish → Fish: As in “I just fish we had more time!” and “If you rub the lamp you get three fishes“.
  • Confiscate → Conch-fish-scate: As in “I’m going to have to conchfishcate your pun licence for that one.”
  • *fici* → *fishi*: If a word contains “fici” it can often be replaced with “fishi”. Here are some examples: affishionado, artifishial, benefishial, coeffishient, defishiency, defishit, ineffishient, suffishient, ofishial, profishient, superfishial.
  • Issue → Fishue: As in “That’s not the fishue here though.” and “I was fishued a sign for parking without a ticket”.
  • Umbrage → Um-brig: As in, “She took um-brig at his oblivious comments.” Notes: umbrage is offence or annoyance. 
  • Bring → Brig: As in, ‘Brig it on,” and “Brig it up,” and “You brig out the best in me,” and “Brig tears to your eyes,” and “Brig the house down,” and “Brig to a head,” and “Brig to the boil,” and “Brig to the table,” and “Brig people closer together,” and “Brig-ging up the rear.” To bring something to a head is to intensify a situation to the point that action must be taken. 
  • Bridge → Brig: As in, “Brig the gap,” and “Water under the brig,” and “We’ll cross that brig when we get to it.” Note: water under the bridge refers to past problems that are no longer stressful or troublesome. We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it means to not worry or stress about a possible situation until it actually happens. 
  • But → Boat: As in “Last boat not least” and “Close, boat no cigar,” and “Everything boat the kitchen sink.”
  • Saboteur → Saboateur : As in “Captain, I believe there’s a saboateur on our ship.”
  • Boat: As in, “Don’t rock the boat,” and “In the same boat,” and “Missed the boat,” and “Whatever floats your boat,” and “We’re gonna need a bigger boat.” Notes: to rock the boat is to say something that will upset the people around you. If you need a bigger boat, then you’ve underestimated the situation you’re in. 
  • Butt → Boat: As in, “Kick boat,” and “Kiss my boat,” and “Pain in the boat,” and “My boat is on the line,” and “Boat-terflies in my stomach.” 
  • Bowtie → Boat-tie: As in, “My boat-tie is too tight.” 
  • Beaut* → Boat*: As in, “Boat-iful people,” and “Boat-y mark,” and “I need my boat-y sleep,” and “Make boat-iful music together,” and “Boat-y is in the eye of the beholder,” and “Boat-y is only skin-deep.”
  • About/Abode → Aboat: As in “What aboat the captain?” and “Welcome to my aboat!”
  • What about → Water boat: As in “Water boat we have tofu curry for dinner tonight?” and “Water boat Daisy? Does she want to come to the beach too?”
  • Captain: As in, “Captain Hook,” and “Only the best for the captain’s table,” and “The captain’s pick.” 
  • Sel* → Sail*: If a word starts with “sel” a boat pun can often be made by replacing it with “sail”: sailection (selection), sailect (select), sailf (self), sailling (selling), sail (sell), saildom (seldom), sailfish (selfish), sailfless (selfless), sailective (selective).
  • Assail: As in “We were assailed by pirates on our way here.” and “This ship is unassailable.”
  • Sale → Sail: As in “There’s a big sail down at the boat store.”
  • *sale* → *sail*: Words containing “sale” can be turned into sailing puns: presail, resail, sailsclerk, sailsperson, wholesail.
  • Sell → Sail: As in, “Buy and sail,” and “Past its sail-by date,” and “Sail your soul to the devil,” and “Sailing like hot cakes.”
  • Sail*: As in, “Hello, sailor,” and “Plain sailing,” and “Sail away,” and “Smooth sailing,” and “Take the wind from my sails,” and “That ship has sailed.” Notes: to take the wind from someone’s sails is to discourage or cause them to lose hope and momentum. If that ship has sailed, then an opportunity has been missed and cannot be returned to. 
  • Exhale → Ex-sail: As in, “Inhale, ex-sail.”
  • *sil*→ *sail*: Words with a “sil” sound can be changed to “sail”: “Imbesail (imbecile),” and “Reconsail (reconcile),” and “Sailence (silence).”
  • Reckon → Wrecken: As in “Do you wrecken we’ll make it through the storm?” and “I am a force to be wreckened with.”
  • *rec* → *wreck*: Use words that have a “rec” sound to make nautical pirate puns: “Di-wrecked (direct),” and “Di-wreck-tion (direction),”, “E-wrecked (erect),”, “Wreck-ognise (recognise),”, “Pre-wreck-quisite (prerequisite),”, “Wreckless (reckless),”, “Wreckommend (recommend),”, “Wreckord (record),”, “Wrecktangle,” and “Wrecktify (rectify).”
  • Wreck: The word “wreck” has a few meanings other than shipwreck, including slang ones (like “Ohhh rekt!” and “He’s an emotional wreck.”) and the regular, formal ones (Like “My wedding was wrecked by the storm”).
  • Sea: As in, “All at sea,” and “Between the devil and the deep blue sea,” and “Deeper than the deep blue sea,” and “A sea change,” and “Other fish in the sea,” and “Sea legs.” Note: to have to choose between the devil and the deep blue sea is to be in a dilemma where both outcomes are undesirable. Sea legs is the skill of keeping one’s balance when on a boat or ship. 
  • *Sea*: As in, “Backseat driver,” and “The best seat,” and “Break the seal,” and “My lips are sealed,” and “Strawberry season,” and “In search of,” and “Bursting at the seams,” and “Buckle your seatbelt,” and “I’m feeling nausea,” and “Guard against disease,” and “Do your research.”
  • See → Sea: As in, “As far as the eye can sea,” and “Be the change you wish to sea in the world,” and “Can’t sea beyond the end of your nose,” and “Can’t sea the wood for the trees,” and “Come and sea me,” and “Sea no evil,” and “I call ’em as I sea ’em,” and “Long time no sea,” and “Monkey sea, monkey do,” and “I’m not sea-ing anyone,” and “Nowhere to be sea-n,” and “Sea eye to eye (or sea aye to aye might be more appropriate),” and “Sea the bigger picture,” and “Sea what the future has in store,” and “Sea-ing is believing,” and “I’ve sea-n better days,” and “Plant a sea-d.” Notes: If you can’t see the wood for the trees, then you’re unable to see the bigger picture because you’re too focused on the smaller details of the situation. 
  • She → Sea: As in, “By George, I think sea’s got it!” and “Every little thing sea does is magic,” and “I’ll have what sea’s having,” and “Steady as sea goes,” and “Thar sea blows.”
  • *see/cy* → *sea*: If a word has the “see” sound in it, we can use it to make nautical (naughty) pirate puns: “Absorben-sea (absorbency),”, “Accura-sea (accuracy),”, “Accountan-sea (accountancy),”, “Adequa-sea (adequacy),”, “Advoca-sea (advocacy),”, “Agen-sea (agency),”, “Ant-sea (antsy),”, “Aristocra-sea (aristocracy),”, “Beseach (beseech),”, “Sea-ge (seige),”, “Sea-d (seed),”, “Boun-sea (bouncy),”, “Candida-sea (candidacy),”, “Sea-dar (cedar),”, “Sea-ling (ceiling),”, “Competen-sea (competency),”, “Conseal (conceal),”, “Conseat (conceit),”, “Conspira-sea (conspiracy),”, “Curren-sea (currency),” and “Diploma-sea (diplomacy).”
  • Se* → Sea*: Some words that start with just “se” also have a “sea”-ish sound, and the ones that don’t can usually be made into terrible puns anyway: seacret, searious, seargeant, seacretion, seacure, seacurity, seacondary, seacretariat, seaconds, seacrete, searum, searenity, searvitude, seanile, seadation, seaclusion, seacretive, seaze, seaquential, sealection, seacretly, seaquences, seanior, seaniority, seagregate, seaping, seacession, seariousness, seaminars, seaveral, seaxual, seaparation, seantimental, seansational, seaquential, seacluded, seacularist, seathing, seaquin, seasame, seaclusion.
  • Seizure → Seazure: As in “If I read one more ocean pun I’m going to have a seazure.”
  • Scenic → Seanic: As in “Let’s take the seanic route.”
  • Ocean: As in, “A life on the ocean waves,” and “A drop in the ocean,” and “The motion of the ocean.” Note: a drop in the ocean is a tiny amount compared to what is actually needed. 
  • *o-shun* → *ocean*: We can make pirate puns using words that have the “o-shun” sound in them: “M-ocean (motion),”, “Em-ocean (emotion),”, “N-ocean (notion),”, “L-ocean (lotion),”, “Expl-ocean (explosion),”, “P-ocean (potion),”, “Comm-ocean (commotion),”, “Dem-ocean (demotion),”, “Dev-ocean (devotion),” and “Prom-ocean (promotion).” 
  • *wobb* → *swab*: As in, “Throw a swab-bly,” and “The colly-swabbles.” Notes: A swab is another term for mops used in cleaning ship decks. Swabbing is another word for mopping, or cleaning ship decks, and a swabber is someone who performs this task.  
  • Parrot: As in, “Sick as a parrot,” and “Parrot-fashion.” Notes: to do something in parrot-fashion means automatically or mechanically, without thought or real understanding. To be sick as a parrot is to be extremely ill or disappointed. 
  • *part → *parrot: As in, “A fool and his money are soon parroted,” and “It was good in some parrots,” and “I’ve been sad since the day we parroted,” and “If you’re not a parrot of the solution, you’re parrot of the problem,” and “Drift a-parrot,” and “Fall a-parrot,” and “No-one in parrot-icular,” and “House-warming parrot-y,” and “Get the parrot-y started,” and “Life of the parrot-y,” and “Parrot-ing of the ways,” and “Worlds a-parrot,” and “What parrot of ‘no’ don’t you understand?” 
  • Prepared → Pre-parrot: As in, “Chance favours the pre-parrot mind,” and “Here’s one I pre-parrot earlier,” and “Be pre-parrot.” 
  • Paradise→ Parrot-ise: As in, “A taste of parrot-ise,” and “Fool’s parrot-ise,” and “Trouble in parrot-ise.”
  • Carrot → Parrot: As in, “Parrot and stick.” Note: the carrot and stick are metaphors for using a mixture of reward and punishment to teach certain behaviours. 
  • *rot → *parrot: As in, “Parrot in hell,” and “Spoiled parrot-ten,” and “One parrot-ten apple can spoil the barrel,” and “Parrot-ten to the core.” Note: a rotten apple spoiling the barrel is a metaphor for one single bad influence (whether it be a person, belief, or personality trait) wrecking the entire thing or group. 
  • Sea → Sea dog: As in, “Between the devil and the deep blue sea dog,” and “Sun, sea dog and sand.” Note: a sea dog is someone who is experienced at sea. 
  • Gallery → Galley: As in, “A new art galley.” Note: Galleys have two meanings: a kitchen in a ship, or a type of ship.
  • Alley → Galley: As in, “Galley cat,” and “Right up your galley.”
  • Cannon: As in, “Cannon fodder,” and “Loose cannon.” Notes: Cannon fodder is a  derogatory term for soldiers who are regarded by government as expendable. A loose cannon is a person who is likely to cause unintentional damage.
  • Cannibal → Cannonball: As in, “Corporate cannonballism.” Note: corporate cannibalism is where a company is seemingly “eating into” its own market of established products. 
  • Tears → Privateers: As in, “Blood, sweat and privateers,” and “Bathed in privateers,” and “Crocodile privateers,” and “Fighting back the privateers,” and “It will all end in privateers,” and “No more privateers.” Notes: a privateer is someone who is privately hired to engage in maritime warfare.
  • Wonder → Plunder: As in, “Gutless plunder,” and “It’s a plunder-ful life,” and “Nine days’ plunder,” and “A small plunder,” and “Where plunders never cease,” and “A one-hit plunder.” Note: to plunder is to loot and steal.
  • *anker → *anchor: most words ending in “anker” can be anchor puns: banchor (banker), tanchor (tanker), flanchor (flanker), hanchor (flanker), spanchor (flanker), danchor (danker).
  • Map: As in, “Mind map,” and “On the map,” and “All over the map.”
  • Mop → Map: As in, “Map the floor with.” Note: to mop the floor with someone is to thoroughly defeat them. 
  • Offer → Coffer: As in, “Open to coffers,” and “A coffer you can’t refuse.” Note: a coffer is a chest for treasure. 
  • Cover → Coffer: As in, “Blow your coffer,” and “Coffer to coffer,” and “Extra coffer,” and “We’ve got you coffered,” and “A startling dis-coffer-y!” 
  • Hold: As in, “Can’t hold a candle to,” and “Don’t hold your breath,” and “Got a hold on the wrong end of the stick,” and “Hold a grudge,” and “Hold a mirror up to society,” and “Hold a torch for,” and “Hold all the cards,” and “Hold at bay,” and “Hold back on,” and “Hold it right there!” and “No holds barred,” and “A sight to behold,” and “Lo and behold.” Notes: if you can’t hold a candle to something or someone, then you are very lowly in comparison to them. If there are no holds barred, that means that anything goes in a situation. Lo and behold is an exclamation demanding that one’s attention be directed to a certain thing. 
  • Cock → Coxswain: As in, “Coxswain and bull story.” Note: a coxswain is someone in charge of the navigation and steering of a boat. 
  • Board → Starboard: As in, “All above starboard,” and “Across the starboard.” Note: starboard refers to the right-side orientation on a boat. 
  • Plank: As in, “Take a long walk off a short plank,” and “Walk the plank.” Note: walking the plank was a method of execution used by pirates. Victims were bound so they were unable to swim, then made to walk off a wooden plank into the ocean. 
  • Blank → Plank: As in, “A plank slate,” and “Plank canvas,” and “A plank look,” and “Drawing a plank,” and “Point plank range,” and “I’m planking out,” and “Fill in the plank,” and “Wet plank-et.” Note: a wet blanket is someone that dampens enjoyment or excitement. 
  • Thank → Plank: As in, “Accept with planks,” and “Give planks,” and “Plank god it’s Friday,” and “Plank you for the music,” and “Planks for nothing,” and “Plank your lucky stars,” and “Be plankful.”
  • Sword: As in, “Cross swords with,” and “A double-edged sword,” and “Fall on your sword,” and “Put to the sword,” and “The pen is mightier than the sword.” Notes: a double-edged sword is a thing that provides both benefits and disadvantages. To put someone to the sword is to execute them. To say that the pen is mightier than the sword is to express that the the media is more powerful than the military.  
  • Sort → Sword: As in, “Last re-sword,” and “I’m out of swords,” and “Sword the wheat from the chaff,” and “Sword yourself out,” and “Sword of.” Note: to sort the wheat from the chaff is to sort valuable things or people from those that aren’t needed. 
  • Word → S-word: As in, “A picture paints a thousand s-words,” and “A s-word to the wise,” and “Actions speak louder than s-words,” and “As good as your s-word,” and “Don’t mince s-words,” and “Famous last s-words,” and “Get a s-word in edgeways,” and “The last s-word.” Note: to not mince your words is to not be gentle in your communications – to use blunt and direct language. 
  • Barely → Parley: As in, “Parley there,” and “Parley noticeable.” Note: to parley is to have negotiations with an opposing side. 
  • Sure → Shore: As in “Are you shore?” and “She shore is strong!” and “I shore will.”
  • Shore: As in, “Ship to shore,” and “Shore up.” Note: to shore up is to support something by placing something under or against it. 
  • Not → Knot: As in “Tell me this is knot happening.” and “Knot on my watch.”
  • Not → Naut: As in “I’m naut going to keep arguing with you,” and “Last but naut least,” and “Fear naut!”
  • Naughty → Nauty: As in “There’s that nauty sailor again”.
  • Specific → Pacific: As in “You need to be more pacific.” and “Are you sure you have the pacifications for this?” and “Pacifically, there are two apples and three nectarines.”
  • Passivist → Pascificist: As in “I’m a pascificst. Violence is never the answer.”
  • *ways → *waves: Words than end in “ways” can be made into bad wave puns: alwaves (always), railwaves (railways), sidewaves, pathwaves, lengthwaves, doorwaves.
  • Wave: “Wave goodbye” and “Mexican wave” and “Heat wave” and “Wave the white flag” and “Brain waves“.
  • Cog*: As in, “Cogito ergo sum,” and “Just another cog in the machine.” Notes: cogito ergo sum is a philosophical expression meaning “I think, therefore I am.” A cog is a type of ship. 
  • Clog → Cog: As in, “Clever cogs,” and “Cog up,” and “Pop your cogs.” Notes: Clever clogs is a disapproving way of saying that someone is clever, but in an irritating way. To pop your clogs is to die. 
  • *cog*: As in, “Cognitive,” and “Cognition,” and “Incognito,” and “Recognise,” and “Recognition.” 
  • Sooner → Schooner: As in “Schooner or later.” and “I’ll call her schoon“. A “schooner” is a sailing ship with two or more masts.
  • Slope → sloop: A “sloop” is a type of sailboat with one mast. Example sentence: “Hold on! This is a steep sloop.”
  • Fathom: A “fathom” is a unit of length equal to 6 feet (~1.8m) and is most commonly used in reference to the depth of water. Example sentences: “I can’t fathom what she means.” and “It’s completely unfathomable!”
  • Overboard: As in, “Man overboard!” and “This is going overboard.”
  • Tack → Hardtack: As in, “As sharp as a hardtack.” Note: hardtack is a type of hard biscuit/bread that was commonly eaten on voyages due to it being cheap and long-lasting. 
  • Kraken: As in, “Release the kraken!” Note: the kraken is a legendary sea monster that is popular in pirate stories and mythology. 
  • Cracking → Kraken: As in, “Get kraken!” 
  • Crack → Kraken: As in, “At the kraken of dawn,” and “Kraken a smile,” and “Have a kraken at it,” and “Snap, kraken, and pop.”
  • Afraid → Afeared: As in, “Afeared of your own shadow,” and “Afeared so,” and “Be afeared, be very afeared,” and “Everything you always wanted to know but were afeared to ask,”  and “I’m not afeared of death.” Note: “afeared” is a common bit of pirate lingo. 
  • Go out → Gout: As in, “Don’t gout of your way,” and “Gout on a limb,” and “Gout with a bang,” and “Gout like a light,” and “Good manners never gout of style,” and “I’d like to gout.” Notes: gout is a disease that commonly afflicted pirates due to their lifestyle. 
  • About → Agout: As in, “Agout time,” and “It’s not all agout you,” and “Beat agout the bush,” and “No two ways agout it,” and “Nothing to write home agout,” and “Out and agout.”
  • *goat* → *gout*: As in, “Scapegout,” and “Nice goutee.” Note: a scapegoat is a person who is blamed for the mistakes or wrongdoings of others. 
  • Got → Gout: As in, “I think you’ve gout it,” and “Cat gout your tongue?” and “Give it all you’ve gout,” and “She’s gout a flair for,” and “I’ve gout a soft spot for,” and “Gout it down to a fine art,” and “Hasn’t gout two cents to rub together,” and “Have I gout news for you,” and “The one that gout away.” 
  • Bulge → Bilge: As in, “Battle of the bilge.” Note: a bilge is the underwater part of a ship. Also used as a dismissive term for anything determined to be nonsense or rubbish.
  • Spot → Black spot: As in, “A leopard cannot change its black spots,” and “Got a soft black spot for,” and “Hit the black spot,” and “In a tight black spot,” and “X marks the black spot.” Note: a black spot is a marker of death in the pirating world. 
  • Dinghy → Dingy: A “dinghy” is a small boat and it sounds a bit like the word “dingy” which has multiple slang definitions including “gloomy and drab”.
  • Slope → sloop: A “sloop” is a type of sailboat with one mast. Example sentence: “Hold on! This is a steep sloop.”
  • *sk if → As skiff: If the word “if” follows a word that ends in “sk” then we can create a play on “skiff” (a type of shallow, flat-bottomed boat). Example sentences: “Before giving it to her, askiff she wants it.” and “We’ll be back by duskiff we can fix this motor.” Many more words fit this pattern: riskiff (risk if), deskiff (desk if), taskiff (task if), diskiff, maskiff, briskiff, flaskiff, kioskiff, baskiff, whiskif, muskiff.
  • *s if → As skiff: If the word “if” follows a word that ends in “s” then we can create a play on “skiff” (a type of shallow, flat-bottomed boat). Example sentences: “As skiff!” and “You sound as skiff you’re a bit sick?” and “Ask us skiff you need anything!” There are obviously thousands of words ending in “s” so you can create your own puns using this formula with the help of a list like this.
  • Y’all → Yawl: As in “How are yawl doing today?” A yawl is a type of sailboat.
  • Cuddle → S-cuttle: As in, “S-cuttle buddy,” and “Want to s-cuttle?” Note: to scuttle is to sink a ship. 

The following puns are based on popular fictional pirates.

  • Pearl → Black pearl: As in, “A string of black pearls,” and “Black pearls of wisdom.” Note: The Black Pearl is the ship in the first movie of the Pirates of the Carribean series. 
  • Jack → Jack Sparrow: As in, “All work and no play makes Jack Sparrow a dull boy,” and “Every Jack Sparrow has his Jill.” Note: Jack Sparrow is a fictional pirate from the Pirates of the Caribbean series. 
  • Hook → Captain Hook: As in, “By Captain Hook or by crook,” and “Captain Hook, line, and sinker,” and “I’m Captain Hooked.”
  • One → One Piece:  As in, “All for One Piece and One Piece for all,” and “An army of One Piece,” and “And then there was One Piece,” and “Down it in One Piece.” Note: One Piece is a wildly popular manga about pirates. 
  • Fluffy → F-luffy: As in, “A f-luffy bunny.” Note: Luffy is the Captain of the Straw Hat pirates and the main protagonist from One Piece. 
  • Tsunami → Tsu-nami: As in, “Wreckage from the tsu-nami,” and “There’s a tsu-nami coming.” Note: Nami is the navigator for the Straw Hat pirates from One Piece. 
  • Gold → Gol D. Roger: As in, “After the Gol D rush,” and “All that glitters is not Gol D,” and “As good as Gol.D Roger,” and “Fool’s Gol D,” and “Get a Gol D star,” and “A heart of Gol D,” and “A Gol D mine.” Note: Gol.D Roger is the legendary Pirate King in One Piece. 
  • Straw → Straw Hat: As in, “A drowning man will clutch at a straw hat,” and “The last straw hat,” and “Draw the short straw hat.” 

Pirate-Related Words

To help you come up with your own pirate puns, here’s a list of related words to get you on your way. We’ve split these words up into categories to make it easier to read and use. If you come up with any new puns or related words, please feel free to share them in the comments!

General: pirate, crew, rum, booty, treasure, pieces of eight, doubloon, loot, bounty, grog, tankard, boatswain, swashbuckle/swashbuckler, hook, pegleg, eyepatch, skull and crossbones, jolly roger, buccaneer, cutlass, mutiny, ship, deck, brig, flog, sea, blunderbuss, davy jones’ locker, jack, black spot, gout, hardtack, privateer, plunder, pillage, coffer, swab/swabber, scallywag, rapscallion, scuttle, sea dog, captain, ocean, boat, first mate, swab, hold, map, telescope, parrot, anchor, poop deck, bilge, coxswain, starboard, plank, sail, wreck, chest, scurvy, galley, cannon, marooned, hornswaggle, parley, shore, harbour, pier, nautical, clipper, cog, galleon, long boat, schooner, sloop, fathom, port, overboard, kraken

Lingo: arr, aye aye, ahoy, matey, avast ye, hearty, me hearties, shiver me timbers, landlubber, thar she blows, yo ho ho, cap’n, afeared, lily-livered, bilge rat

Fictional: black pearl, pirates of the carribean, jack sparrow, elizabeth swann, bluebeard, captain hook, flying dutchman,  one piece, luffy, nami, sanji, zoro, usopp, gol.d roger, straw hat pirates, tony chopper, nico robin, franky, brook, jimbei, captain feathersword

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