Bird Puns

Welcome to the Punpedia entry on bird puns! 🐦 Happily, there are quite a few bird puns in the list below, mostly thanks to the many different species and families of birds whose names lend themselves well to wordplay. Hope you find this entry useful!

Note: Pigeon puns, seagull puns and parrot puns will get their own entry at some point, but there are a few of them in this list for completeness.

Bird 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 birds that we’re missing, please let us know in the comments at the end of this page! Without further ado, here’s the list of bird puns:

  • Bird: There are quite a few phrases/idioms related to birds which can be used as puns in the right context: “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush” and “A bird-brain” and “Bird’s eye view” and “A little bird told me …” and “An early bird” and “Early bird gets the worm” and “Like a bird in a gilded cage” and “The birds and the bees” and “Birds of a feather flock together” and “Flip someone the bird” and “Free as a bird” and “The bird has flown” and “Sing like a bird” and “Jailbird“.
  • Woman → Bird: Depending on where you’re from, the term “bird” may be slang for “woman”.
  • Fly: There are a few phrases related to flying which can be used as bird puns in the right context: “Fly by the seat of your pants” and “Fly in the face of the evidence” and “Fly off the shelves” and “A fly on the wall” and “Fly by night” and “On the fly” and “Pigs might fly” and “Let fly” and “Watch the sparks fly” and “Fly in the ointment” and “Fly into a rage” and “Fly off the handle” and “Fly the coop” and “I’ve gotta fly” and “Fly the white flag” and “Wouldn’t hurt a fly
  • Fry → Fly: As in, “Bigger fish to fly,” and “Out of the flying pan, into the fire,” and “Small fly.” Note: to be out of the frying pan and into the fire means to have escaped one situation only to be caught up in a worse one.
  • Feather: There are a few phrases related to feathers: “As light as a feather” and “In full feather” and “Feather in your cap (symbol of honour/achievement)” and “Feather one’s nest” and “Ruffle (a few/someone’s) feathers” and “You could have knocked me down with a feather
  • Father → Feather: As in “The founding feathers” and “Like feather, like son”.
  • Further → Feather: As in “Without feather ado” and “Look no feather” and “Kick the can feather down the road”
  • Beak: “To wet one’s beak” and “beak” may be slang for nose in some places.
  • Peek → Beak: As in “Beak-a-boo” and “Sneak beak“.
  • Peak → Beak: As in “Beak performance” and “They climbed to the beak
  • Wing: “Left wing / right wing” and “Let’s just wing it” and “Take under your wing” and “Clip someone’s wings” and “Spread your wings
  • *wing: Make some turkey puns by emphasising the “wing” in certain words: swing, drawing, following, harrowing, brewing, growing, owing and knowing.
  • Wringer → Winger: As in, “Put through the winger.”
  • Win → Wing: As in, “Can’t wing for losing,” and “Due a wing,” and “Every one a winger,” and “Heads I wing, tails you lose,” and “How to wing friends and influence people,” and “It’s not the winging that counts, it’s the taking part,” and “It’s not whether you wing or lose; it’s how you play the game,” and “Play to wing,” and “Some you wing, some you lose,” and “Winger takes all.”
  • Whinge → Winge: As in, “Having a winge.”
  • Ring → Wing: As in, “Alarm bells began to wing,” and “A dead winger,” and “Doesn’t wing a bell,” and “Don’t wing us, we’ll wing you,” and “In the wing,” and “Wing of fire,” and “Run wings around,” and “Throw your hat into the wing,” and “Give them a wing,” and “My ears are winging,” and “Does that wing any bells?”
  • Tail: As in, “Happy as a dog with two tails,” and “Nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs,” and “Bright eyed and busy tailed,” and “Can’t make head or tail of it,” and “Chase your own tail,” and “Two shakes of a lamb’s tail.” Note: two shakes of a lamb’s tail is a phrase used to indicated that something is very fast.
  • Tale → Tail: As in, “Dead men tell no tails,” and “Fairytail ending,” and “Live to tell the tail,” and “Never tell tails out of school,” and “An old wives’ tail,” and “Tattle tail,” and “Tell tail sign.”
  • Talent → Tailent: As in, “___’s got Tailent,” and “A tailented painter,” and “Where would you say your tailents lie?”
  • Toilet → Tailet: As in, “Down the tailet,” and “In the tailet.”
  • Style → Stail: As in, hairstail, freestail, lifestail, and stailus (stylus)
  • Tile → Tail: As in, fertail (fertile), percerntail (percentile), projectail (projectile), reptail (reptile), and versatail (versatile).
  • Clutch: Clutch has two meanings: to hold onto something tightly, and a group of eggs. We can make some egg puns using this: “A drowning person will clutch at a straw,” and “Pearl-clutcher.” Note: a pearl-clutcher is someone who is overly prudish.
  • Nest: “Leave the nest” and “Empty nest syndrome” and “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and “Love nest” and “Stir up a hornet’s nest” and “A nest of vipers” and “A mare’s nest” and “Nest together”. Notes: empty nest syndrome is the feeling of loneliness a parent may experience when their children move out for the first time. A mare’s nest is a state of confusion or chaos.
  • Next → Nest: As in “Nest minute …” and “Better luck nest time” and “Boy/girl nest door” and “Nest generation” and “Nest in line to the throne” and “Nest to nothing” and “Take it to the nest level” and “Nest to nothing” and “The nest big thing.” and “Cleanliness is nest to godliness” and “In nest to no time” and “Nest to nothing” and “One day chicken and the nest day feathers” and “Catch the nest wave” and “As ___ as the nest girl/guy”. Note: “One day chicken and the next day feathers” is a phrase indicating that things we consider valuable can be lost in no time at all (like a job, marriage, or a house etc).
  • Copy → Parrot: “Parroting (someone’s) words”.
  • Pirate → Parrot: As in “People who parroted the film via bit-torrent were being sent fines.”
  • Fowl: As in, “Neither fish nor fowl.” Note: this refers to something which is not easily categorised.
  • Foul → Fowl: As in “By fair means or fowl” and “Cry fowl” and “Fowl language” and “Fowl up” and “No harm, no fowl” and “A fowl-mouthed person” and “Fowl play”
  • Fell → Fowl: As in “In one fowl swoop” and “Little strokes fowl great oaks” and “The bottom fowl out of the market” and “She fowl asleep at the wheel” and “He fowl under her spell” and “It fowl into my lap” and “She fowl victim to the scammer”. Note: If something is done in one fell swoop, then it was done quickly and in one single action.
  • Fall → Fowl: As in, “A fowling out,” and “Easy as fowling off a log,” and “Bread always fowls butter side down,” and “Can’t help fowling in love,” and “Catch a fowling star,” and “Fowl about laughing,” and “Fowl between the cracks,” and “Fowl from grace,” and “Fowl into bad habits,” and “A fowlen angel,” and “Oh how the mighty have fowlen,” and “The bigger they are, the harder they fowl,” and “United we stand, divided we fowl.”
  • Vowel → Fowl: As in, “The owl without a fowl.” Note: this is a reference to Bill Mlkvy.
  • *fal* → *fowl*: As in, fowllacy (fallacy), fowlter (falter), fowlse (false), fowllout (fallout), buffowlo (buffalo), crestfowllen (crestfallen), defowlt (default), downfowl (downfall), fowlsetto (falsetto), fowlt (fault), fowlsify (falsify), freefowl (freefall), nightfowl (nightfall), waterfowl (waterfall).
  • Owl: “A night owl” and “As wise as an owl“.
  • I will → Owl: As in “Owl not give up.” and “Owl if you will” and “Owl wear my heart upon my sleeve”
  • All → Owl: As in “Free-for-owl” and “A jack of owl trades” and “A man for owl seasons” and “A rising tide lifts owl boats” and “After owl is said and done” and “A know-it-owl” and “Above owl” and “Against owl odds” and “Owl your eggs in one basket” and “Owl at once” and “I’m owl ears” and “Owl else being equal, …” and “Owl by my lonesome” and “Owl hands on deck” and “Owl hell breaks loose” and “Owl gone” and “Owl good things must come to an end” and “Owl in owl” and “Owl in a day’s work” and “It’s owl in your head” and “Owl manner of …” and “Owl of a sudden” and “Owl or nothing” and “Owl over the place” and “Owl right.” and “Owl rights reserved” and “Owl smiles” and “Owl systems are go” and “Owl that” and “Owl talk and no action” and “Owl the best” and “Owl the rage” and “Owl the same” and “Owl things considered” and “Owl things must pass” and “Owl very well” and “Owl walks of life” and “Owl-out war” and “At owl costs” and “By owl means” and “For owl I know” and “For owl practical purposes” and “Give it owl you’ve got!” and “Go owl-out” and “In owl honesty” and “In owl likelihood” and “Firing on owl cylinders” and “If owl else fails” and “In owl seriousness” and “That is owl.” and “Owls well that ends well” and “That’s owl for now.”
  • Who’d → Hoot: As in “Hoot have thought it would be so easy?”
  • *owl*: There are a few words that contain the “owl” sound which can be used as silly owl puns: b-owls (bowels), growl, t-owl (towel), scowling, scowl, fowl, howled, v-owl (vowel), prowling, cowl.
  • Budgie: “Budgie smugglers”. Note: a budgie smuggler is another name for Speedos.
  • Geese: “Cackling geese (those who warn of something that’s about to happen)” and “All one’s geese are swans”. Note: if one’s geese are swans, then they have a habit of over exaggerating accomplishments or things.
  • Goose: “Oh I’m such a silly goose!” and “A wild goose never laid a tame egg” and “Goose bumps/pimples” and “Cook someone’s goose” and “Can’t say boo to a goose” and “Kill the goose that lays the golden eggs” and “A wild-goose chase” and “Goose up (improve performance)”.
  • Fastened → Pheasant: As in “My seat-belt is pheasant, and I’m ready to go.”
  • Swan: “As graceful as a swan” and “Swan song (Final accomplishment)” and “I swan! (What a surprise!)”.
  • Robin: “Robin Hood” and “A round robin” and “Batman and Robin“.
  • Robbing → Robbin’: As in “They were  robbin’ a bank.”
  • Duck: As in “Duck and weave” and “A sitting duck” and “Water off a duck’s back” and “Duck and cover” and “Duck out” and “Ducking and diving” and “Get one’s ducks in a row” and “Golden duck” and “If it looks like a duck and walks like a duck and (etc.) like a duck, it probably is a duck” and “Take to like a duck to water” and “Lame duck” and “Ducked the question”.
  • Cower → Quail: As in “He quailed and trembled but tried to remain still.”
  • Chicken: “A chicken and egg situation” and “Chicken out of something” and “Don’t count your chickens before they’ve hatched” and “Chicken sh*t” and “Get up with the chickens” and “You’re chicken (scared)” and “Curses, like chickens, come home to roost” and “Chicken feed (small amount of money/something)”.
  • Dodo: “Go the way of the dodo” and “As dead as a dodo“. Note: to go the way of the dodo is to become extinct.
  • Hawk: “Watch (someone) like a hawk” and “Have eyes like a hawk” and “I know a hawk from a handsaw” and “Hawks and doves” and “Between hawk and buzzard” Note: to be between hawk and buzzard is to be caught between two extremes.
  • Eagle: “When the eagle flies (payday)” and “Eagle eye” and “Legal eagle
  • *eagle*: If a word contains the “eagle” sound or anything similar, a silly eagle pun can be made: eagle-itarian (egalitarian), illeagle (illegal), geagle (giggle), jeagle (juggle)
  • Cuckoo: “Be in cloud-cuckoo land” and “Cuckoo in the nest” and “A crazy, cuckoo (coo-coo) person.” Note: to be in cloud-cuckoo land is to indulge in an over-optimistic fantasy.
  • Her own → Heron: As in “She’s moved into heron place now.”
  • More → Moa: As in “All the moa reason” and “Moa trouble than it’s worth” and “Bite off moa than one can chew” and “Do moa harm than good” and “Get moa than one bargained for” and “Have had moa than your fair share” and “Have moa luck than sense” and “I couldn’t agree moa” and “Moa and moa” and “Moa bang for you buck” and “That’s moa like it” and “Moa or less” and “Moa often than not” and “Moa power to you!” and “Moa than I bargained for” and “The moa the merrier” and “Need I say moa?” and “What’s more, …” and “You are moa than welcome” and “What moa can I do?” and “Less is moa“. Note: the moa were a type of flightless bird in New Zealand that are now extinct.
  • Swift: Swift means fast/agile, but is also the name of a type of small bird.
  • Flight: “Flight of fancy” and “Take flight” and “Flight of imagination” and “In full flight” and “Flight attendant”.
  • Twitter/Tweet: This can obviously refer to the social network, or to the sound of birds chirping. To “twitter” can also refer to talking rapidly and at length on trivial topics.
  • Swallow: A swallow is a type of bird (and obviously a thing you do when you’re eating/drinking).
  • Two can → Toucan: As in “Toucan play at that game…”
  • Stalk → Stork: As in “To stork one’s prey” and “That guy is a storker“.
  • When → Wren: As in “Wren push comes to shove” and “I’ll believe it wren I see it” and “Say wren…” and “Since wren?” and “Time flies wren you’re having fun” and “Wren in Rome, do as the Romans do” and “Wren it comes to …” and “Wren all’s said and done” and “Wren it comes down to it” and “Wren least expected” and “Wren your back is turned” and “Wren hell freezes over” and “Wren the going gets tough, the tough get going”.
  • Young woman → Chick
  • Chuck → Chick: As in, “Chick a sickie,” and “Get chicked out,” and “Chick overboard.”
  • Trick → Chick: As in, “Bag of chicks,” and “Every chick in the book,” and “How’s chicks?” and “Never misses a chick,” and “One chick pony,” and “A chick of the light,” and “Chick or treat!” and “Chicks of the trade,” and “Up to your old chicks.”
  • Thick → Chick: As in, “As chick as thieves,” and “Blood is chicker than water,” and “In the chick of things,” and “The plot chickens,” and “Chick and fast,” and “Through chick and thin,” and “Lay it on chick.”
  • Egg: There are a few phrases/idioms that contain the word “egg”: “A bad egg” and “Egg on” and “A hard egg to track” and “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket” and “Egg on one’s face” and “A good egg” and “A rotten egg” and “Egg and spoon race”. Note: to have egg on your face means that you’ve been made to look foolish.
  • Show-off → Peacock
  • Thrush: This can refer to a type of infection of the mouth and throat or of the genitals, but also refers to a family of birds that exist all over the world.
  • Turn → Tern: (Terns are a family of seabirds found all over the world) As in “Tern the other cheek” and “Wren (when) your back is terned” and “A tern of phrase” and “A tern of the screw” and “I spoke out of tern” and “Take a tern for the worse/better” and “Take terns” and “Toss and tern” and “Tern a blind eye” and “Tern a profit” and “Tern against” and “Tern around” and “Tern in one’s grave” and “Tern of events” and “Tern of the century” and “Tern of the century” and “The tides have terned” and “Tern up one’s nose” and “Whatever terns you on”.
  • Flock: “To flock around/to (someone/something)” and “Flock together” and “Birds of a feather flock together”. Note: birds of a feather flock together means that ones with similar tastes or interest tend to congregate together.
  • Flick → Flock: As in, “Chick flock,” and “Give it the flock.” Note: to give something the flick is to get rid of it.
  • Fluke → Flock: As in, “A lucky flock.”
  • Flake → Flock: As in, “Flock out,” and “Flock-y pastry.” Note: to flake out is to not stand up to promises or expectations.
  • Migrate: Since some bird species migrate, you might be able to make a bird pun by simply using the term “migrate” or “migration” in place of “move” or similar words, depending on the context.
  • Hen: “Don’t let the fox guard the hen-house” and “As scarce as hen’s teeth” and “A mother hen” and “Hen-pecked” and “Hen’s night/party”. Note: to be henpecked is to be bullied or intimidated by a female.
  • *hen*: Words than contain “hen” can be silly chicken/hen puns: Apprehend, appre-hen-sion, comprehend, comprehension, comprehensive, hence, henceforth, repre-hen-sible, stonehenge.
  • *han* → *hen*: As in, “Give me your hend (hand),” and “Do you have a hendle (handle) on it?” and “You look so hendsome tonight,” and “Your hendwriting has improved,” and “Their kids are a real hendful,” and “She was raised as an orphen,” and “The elephent in the room,” and “Please enhence the image,” and “I’ve had an epipheny!” and “This is your last chence,” and “Change the chennel.”
  • *hin* → *hen*: As in, “You’re hendering (hindering) me,” and “Doorhenge,” and “Give me a hent (hint),” and “In hendsight (hinsight),” and “You’re a hendrance (hindrance),” and “Change comes from withen,” and “Looking a bit then (thin),” and “Take it on the chen (chin),” and “Got kicked in the shens (shins),” and “Contrary to what you may think, dolphens are mammals,” and “A rush of endorphens,” and “A street urchen.” Note: to hinder is to block someone’s progress or to make something difficult to complete.
  • *hon* → *hen*: As in, “Brutally henest (honest),” and “An henourable mention,” and “Hello, heney (honey).”
  • *hun* → *hen*: As in, “A wild hench (hunch),” and “The henter (hunter) becomes the hented (hunted),” and “One hendred,” and “I’m hengry,” and “That’s not what I henger (hunger) for.”
  • Peck: “The pecking order” and “Peck at (eat only a bit)” and “You have to eat a peck of dirt before you die”. Note: having to eat a peck of dirt before you die means that no-one can escape unpleasant things; everyone will have some kind of unfortunate circumstance to endure during their lifetime.
  • *pec* → *peck*: As in, “Peckuliar circumstances,” and “Peckan pie,” and “Work those pecks (pecs)!” and “Don’t make a specktacle of yourself,” and “A different perspecktive,” and “Treat them with respeckt,” and “Take all aspeckts into account,” and “Sexuality is a specktrum,” and “Prospecktive interests.”
  • *pac* → *peck*: As in, “Good things come in small peckages,” and “A blood peckt,” and “Pay pecket,” and “Positive social impeckt,” and “A compeckt car,” and “Peckyderm (pachyderm).” Note: a pachyderm is a type of animal (elephants are pachyderms).
  • *pic* → *peck*: As in, “The big peckture,” and “Peck up sticks,” and “In a peckle,” and “A peckturesque view,” and “A few sandwiches short of a pecknic (picnic),” and “An epeck movie,” and “I’m a bit myopeck,” and “Stay on topeck,” and “A new biopeck,” and “A philanthropeck mission,” and “Acting conspeckuous,” and “An accurate depecktion,” and “A despeckable villain.” Notes: if someone is myopic, then they’re short-sighted. A biopic is a biographical film. A philanthropic cause is one which aims to promote charity and the welfare of others.
  • *poc* → *peck*: As in, “Pecket-sized,” and “Get outta here with your hypeckrisy (hypocrisy),” and “Apeckalyspe now,” and “You’re being a hypeckrite.”
  • *puc* → *peck*: As in, pecker (pucker), peckered (puckered), and cappeckcino (cappucino).
  • *bac* → *peck*: As in, “Peckground noise,” and “Peckterial (bacterial) infection,” and “Political pecklash,” and “A beautiful peckdrop,” and “The peckchelor (bachelor),” and “In my peckyard,” and “What a depeckle (debacle).”
  • *bec* → *peck*: As in, peckome (become), peckon (beckon), barpeckue (barbecue).
  • *bic* → *peck*: As in, aeropeck (aerobic), arapeck (arabic), cupeckle (cubicle).
  • Honey eater → Honeyeater: This one would require a very specific context.
  • Cheap → Cheep: As in “Dirt cheep” and “Talk is cheep” and “On the cheep” and “Cheep and nasty” and “A cheep shot” and “Cheep at twice the price” and “Cheep skate”.
  • Swoop: “In one fell swoop” (suddenly; in a single action)
  • Inexperienced person → Fledgling: A “fledgling” is a bird who has only just developed flight feathers. The term is also used for an inexperienced person.
  • Crane: “Crane your neck over the fence”.
  • Crow: “As the crow flies” and “Be up with the crows” and “A crow to pluck” and “Crow bait” and “As hoarse as a crow” and “Stone the crows” and “Something to crow about”. Note: “As the crow flies” is a phrase indicating the most direct path between two points. To be up with the crows is to be awake and active very early in the morning.
  • Canary: “Canary in the coal mine” and “Like the cat that swallowed the canary“.
  • Bill: As in “A dollar bill” and “Fit the bill“.
  • Brood: As in “Brood over/about” (See wiki article)
  • Raving → Raven: As in “Stark raven mad” and “Raven about (something)”.
  • Sore → Soar: As in “I sight for soar eyes” and “Sticks out like a soar thumb” and “Soar loser”.
  • Wobble → Warble: “Warblers” are a classification of bird.
  • Bastard → BustardBustards are a type of terrestrial bird.
  • Pigeon: There are a few phrases which contain “pigeon” and thus may be used as pigeon puns: “Clay pigeon (person who is easily exploited)” and “Set the cat among the pigeons” and “Stool pigeon (decoy/informer/police spy)” and “Pigeon-eyed (drunk)”.
  • Lark: “Happy as a lark” and “On a lark (whim)” This term is also used as a synonym for “a prank” and also playfulness, especially of a mischievous variety.
  • Lock → Lark: As in “Grid lark” and “Lark and load” and “Lark horns with” and “Under lark and key” and “Lark them up and throw away they key” and “Lark down”.
  • Cage: “Rattle (someone’s) cage” and “A gilded cage” and “Who rattled your cage?”
  • Bitten → Bittern: As in “Once bittern, twice shy” and “Bittern by the same bug”, Note: a bittern is a type of bird.
  • Black swan: This is a phrase used to refer to an event that comes as a surprise and has a major effect.
  • Turkey: As in, “Cold turkey,” and “Talk turkey.” Notes: Cold turkey refers to the abrupt and complete quitting of something. To talk turkey is to speak frankly and openly.
  • The Key → Turkey: As in, “Turkey to your heart,” and “Lock him up and throw away turkey,” and “Turkey to a nice, relaxed evening,” and “Turkey to success.”
  • Coot: This can refer to a foolish or eccentric person, especially an old man. It also refers to a type of aquatic bird.
  • Claw: As in, “Tooth and claw,” and “Get your claws into.”
  • Chlo* → Claw*: As in clawride (chloride) and clawrine (chlorine).
  • Clo* → Claw*: As in, clawbber (clobber), claw-ck (clock), clawckwise (clockwise), clawg (clog), clawset (closet), clawth (cloth).
  • Grasp → Clutch: The term “clutch” has a few meanings outside of the “grip/grasp” one. The bird-related meaning of “clutch” refers to a group of eggs, often laid at the same time and incubated by one adult.
  • Click → Cluck: As in “Cluck on that button” and “Her explanation clucked with me straight away”.
  • Clock → Cluck: As in “The cluck is ticking” and “A race against the cluck” and “Around the cluck” and “Biological cluck” and “Turn back the cluck” and “Stop the cluck” and “10 o’cluck“.
  • *rhea*: A “rhea” is a large, flightless bird related to emus and ostriches. If a word contains the “ree-ah” sound, a silly rhea bird pun can be made: approp-rhea-teness (appropriateness),  aqua-rheas (aquarius), adversa-rhea-l (adversarial), ag-rhea-ble (agreeable), aqua-rhea-m (aquarium), bacter-rhea, a-rhea (area), cerheal (cereal), crite-rhea, curheas (curious), experheance, equilibrheam, glorheas (glorius), illustrheas, industrhealised, libertarhean, librarhean, materheal (material), invarheable, memorheal, mysterheas, precarheas, rhea-djustment, rheaffirm, rhealistically, rhealignment, rheappearance, rheasserted, serheasly (seriously), terrestrheal, victorheas, vicarheas, tutorheal, vegeta-rhea-n.
  • Crest:  We say “the crest of a hill” as well as  “the crest of a parrot”. This double meaning is a potential bird/parrot pun.
  • Regret → Egret: As in “I really egret making that pun.” Note: an egret is a type of heron.
  • Full-fledged / Fully-fledged: This means “Having achieved the full status of one’s title.” It comes from “fledged” which means “Gained flight feathers”.
  • Look / glance → Gander: The term “gander” refers to a male goose. The phrase “Take a gander (at something)” simply means “To look at something.”
  • Grumble / complain → Grouse: The term “grouse” can refer to grumbling and complaining, and can also refer to a particular classification of birds that are related to chickens.
  • Grab → Grebe: A “grebe” is a type of freshwater diving bird. It it pronounced “greeb” which is probably close enough to make a silly word play on “grab”.
  • Formation: Flocking birds (especially those who travel large distances) often fly in formations to reduce air resistance and conserve energy. In the right context you might be able to simply use the word “formation” in a non-bird-related way to make a very subtle bird pun.
  • Aerial: As an adjective this means “existing, operating or happening in the air”. As an noun it is a synonym for antenna. It may be able to be used as a subtle bird pun in the right context.
  • Roost: “Come home to roost” and “Rule the roost“.
  • Snipe: This refers to a wading bird of marshes and wet meadows. It obviously has several other meanings: to shoot at from a long range, or to make a sly and petty verbal attack.
  • Rook: This term refers to a social Eurasian crow but can also refer to taking money from someone by cheating or overcharging them.
  • Strike / hit → Shrike: A “shrike” is a type of carnivorous bird. Idioms: “Shrike a cord” and “Go on shrike” and “Shrike a balance” and “Shrike a pose” and “Lightening never shrikes the same spot twice” and “Shrike up a conversation” and “Three shrikes and you’re out” and “Shrike out” and “Shrike gold”

Bird-Related Words

There are many more bird puns to be made! Here’s a list of bird-related concepts to help you come up with your own. If you come up with a new pun, please share it in the comments!

fly, beak, feather, avian, wing, nest, parrot, fowl, kingfisher, owl, hummingbird, vulture, seagull, ostrich, flamingo, budgie, sparrow, geese, goose, penguin, finch, pelican, woodpecker, pheasant, swan, starling, robin, duck, dove, quail, birdie, chicken, dodo, cassowary, hawk, eagle, nightjar, cuckoo, heron, moa, blackbird, hornbill, nightingale, emu, gull, swift, flight, twitter, tweet, swallow, toucan, stork, wren, magpie, chick, egg, peacock, plumage, buzzard, cormorant, thrush, partridge, tern, waterbird, flock, peregrin falcon, migration, waterfowl, bird watching, ornithologist, mockingbird, hen, rooster, peck, honeyeater, songbird, talon, fledgling, swoop, cheep, chirp, crane, crow, canary, bill, pip, brood, weaver, kookaburra, raven, wren, preen, soar, chitter, osprey, big-bird, warble, swordbill, bustard, pigeon, lark, flightless, albatross, plover, tern, aves, aviary, cage, bittern, black swan, blue jay, bluebird, budgerigar, coot, clutch, cockatoo, cockatiel, rhea, congregation, crest, curlew, egret, fledge, flock, gander, gizzard, grouse, grebe, ibis, incubate, kiwi, kite, kestrel, lorikeet, macaw, mallard, pintail, puffin, roadrunner, rook, roost, sandpiper, snipe, shrike, skylark, turtle dove, birdbath, aerial, float, formation

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Beer Puns

Welcome to the Punpedia entry on beer puns! 🍻 🍺 Whether you need a name for your latest craft brew, a tagline for your beer-related business, a beer pun team name, or just some beer puns for their own sake, I hope you find this entry useful!

There’s a lot of depth to beer culture and so some of the puns in this entry may go over your head if you’re not a brewer or beer fanatic. I’ve tried to order the pun list so that it starts with general beer puns that most people will understand, and then as you go down the puns should get more obscure. That said, I have not done a perfect job of it, so apologies if there are some confusing ones here and there near the top.

A quick side note: Drinking alcohol gives your brain a reward that it didn’t earn. If you drink too often then your brain learns that the best (easiest) way to feel good is to drink more alcohol, rather than do the normal things that make you feel good (work hard, accomplish things, help others, etc.). Be careful messing with your neurotransmitters! 🙂

You might also like to visit the Punpedia entries on coffee puns, tea puns, party puns and food puns.

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

  • All → Ale: As in “Ale in a day’s work.” and “She went ale out.” and “Ale’s well that ends well” and “It’s ale downhill from here.” and “It’s ale gone pear shaped.” and “It’s ale good.” and “It’s ale grist to the mill.” and “It’s ale me, me, me.” and “Not ale it’s cracked up to be.” and “That’s ale well and good”.
  • Stout: As in “He’s a stout young man.”
  • Larger → Lager: As in “Lager than life”.
  • Six-pack: As in “Check out my six-pack.”
  • Bar: As in “You’ve raised the bar.” and “Bar none.”
  • *pub*: If a word contains the “pub” sound (or similar) you may be able to make a terrible pub pun: capubility, capuble, palpuble, public, publicity, publication, publisher, republican, republic, unstoppuble, unpublishedinescapubly, hypubole, pubble (pebble).
  • You → Brew: As in “Brew can do it!” and “Brew silly goose!” and “I’m so glad to see brew!” and “Before brew know it”.
  • Bro → Brew: As in “What’s up, brew?” and “Cool story, brew.”
  • *brew*: If a word contains the “brew” sound (or similar) we can sometimes make a brewing pun: brewmstick (broomstick), brews (bruise), brewnette (brunette), brewtal (brutal), brewtalize (brutalize), brewtish, (brutish), Hebrew.
  • *byoo*: If a word contains the “byoo” sound (or similar) we can sometimes make a terrible beer brewing pun: brewtiful (beautiful), abrews (abuse), attribrewts (attributes), contribrewted, distribrewtion, rebrewke (rebuke), debrew (debut), retribrewtion, tribrewnal (tribunal).
  • *proo*: If a word contains the “proo” sound (or similar) we can sometimes make a terrible brewing pun: abrewval (approval), bulletbrewf, dissabrewve, foolbrewf, imbrewvements, disbrewve, brewdent (prudent), brewdence (prudence), waterbrewf.
  • Déjà vu → Déjà brew: As in “I’m getting déjà brew – have we been to this pub before?”
  • Hop: As in “Just a hop, skip and jump.” and “Take 3 hops to the left.” and “Hop to it!” and “Bunny hop” and “Hip hop“.
  • Hope → Hop: As in “I have high hops.” and “A glimmer of hop.” and “Cross your fingers and hop for the best.” and “Keep hop alive.” and “There there’s life, there’s hop.” and “Cross my heart and hop to die.”
  • Hop*: If a word begins with the “hop” sound (or anything vaguely similar) then there may be an opportunity for a terrible beer pun: “Health, wealth and hoppiness.” and “Life, liberty and the pursuit of hoppiness.”  and “As it hoppens” and “Shit hoppens.” and “See what hoppens?” and “Hopatitis is an inflammation of the liver.”
  • Op* → Hop*: If a word begins with “op” it can often be turned into a silly hops pun: hopportunity, hoperation, hopposition, hopinion, hoption, hoperate, hopposite, hoperations, hoperating, hopportunities, hopera, hopponent, hoperator, hoppose, hoptions, hopposed, hopt, hoperated, hopinions, hoperational, hoptimism, hopponents, hoperates, hoperators, hoppression, hoptimistic, hoptional, hopposing, hoptical, hoptimal, hop, hoperative, hopted, hoptimum, hoppressive, hopenness, hopting, hoppressed, hopenings, hoperand, hopioid, hoptimist, hoptimise, hopaque, hoperatichopposites, hoptician, hopportunist, hoptic, hopposes, hoptimisation, hopacity, hoppress, hoperatives, hopine, hoptimality, hoptics, hoppressors, hoptimised, hopiate, hoptimists, hoptimistically, hoppressor, hopulence, hoptimize, hoppositions, hopportunistic, hopportunism, hopulent, hopportune.
  • *op* → *hop*: There are also quite a few words with the “op” sound (or similar) in them that can be turned into silly beer puns. There are a few here which have the full “hop” sound in them already. Here’s the list: acrhopolis, adhopt, adhopted, authopsy, bihopsy, bookshop, cohoperation, cohoperative, c-hop-yright, cr-hop, drhoplet, drhoppings, drhopped, flhoppy, eavesdrhopping, helic-hop-ter, imprhoper, imprhoperly, inapprhopiately, microschopic, monhopoly, philanthrhopic, photoc-hop-ier, p-hop-corn, p-hop-ularity, p-hop-ulation, prhopaganda, prhopagation, pr-hop-erly, p-hop-ulist, prhopositions, prhopped, p-hop-ulation, raindrhops, shopkeeper, st-hop, st-hop-er, synhopsis, tr-hop-ical, unst-hop-able, whopping.
  • Vain → Vine: As in “I worked so hard but it was all in vine.”
  • Vein → Vine: As in “My vines are bulging.” and “In the same vine …”
  • Fine → Vine: As in “It’s a vine day for a beer.” and “It’s a vine line.” and “You’re cutting it vine.” and “That’s a damn vine beer.” and “One vine day …” and “Treading a vine line.”
  • Van* → Vine*: As in, “Vine Gogh,” and “Vine-ish into thin air.” 
  • *ven* → *vine*: As in, “Sixes and sevines,” and “Blessed evine-t,” and “Break evine,” and “The elevineth hour,” and “Evine the score,” and “Heavine forbid,” and “A match made in heavine,” and “With a vine-geance,” and “Bun in the ovine,” and “Pure as the drivine snow,” and “Nothing vine-tured, nothing gained,” and “Revine-ge is a dish best served cold,” and “Innocent until provine guilty,” and “Lavineder (lavender) scented,” and “Twenty four sevine.”
  • *vin* → *vine*: As in, “Full of vinegar,” and “Get movine,” and “The gift that keeps on givine,” and “In livine memory,” and “In the drivine seat,” and “Knock the livine daylights out of,” and “Livine proof,” and “Livine on borrowed time,” and “Time flies when you’re havine fun,” and “Vinetage,” and “Vinedicate,” and “Vinedictive.”
  • Stain → Stein: As in “There’s a stein on your shirt.” (See beer stein)
  • Sign → Stein: As in “Give me a stein, lord!” and “Stein the pledge.” and “Stein up.” and “Stein of the times.” and “A sure stein.” and “A tell tale stein.” (See beer stein)
  • Sooner → Schooner: As in “Schooner or later.” and “The schooner the better.” and “No schooner said than done.” and “Schooner rather than later.” (A schooner is a type of glass cup.)
  • Tinkered → Tankard: As in “I tankard with this all day but I couldn’t get it working.” (A tankard is a big drinking vessel)
  • Sidle → Seidel: As in “I seideled up to her apologetically.”
  • Picture → Pitcher: As in “A pitcher is worth  thousand words.” and “See the big pitcher.” and “Motion pitcher.” and “Do I have to paint you a pitcher?” and “Pitcher perfect” (Pitcher is a synonym of “jug” – commonly used to serve beer.)
  • Pitcher: There is the potential for a pun here using the baseball meaning of this word.
  • Cling → Clink: As in “Clink on tight!”
  • Kink → Clink: As in “C’mon, be honest. Everyone has a clink or two.”
  • Blink → Clink: As in “In the clink of an eye.” and “Clink and you’ll miss it!”
  • Suds: This refers to the froth made from soap and water, but is also slang for “beer”. By using it in the original “soap and water” context you could potentially make a pun: “I got in the bath and sudsed up.” (Here we’re using the verb-form of “suds” with means “lather”)
  • Sides → Suds: As in “There are two suds to every question.” and “You’ve got to see the issue from both suds.”
  • Plastered: This means “very drunk”, but in the right context we could use its original definition as a pun: “The whole house is plastered.”
  • Wasted: As in “It’s so sad, seeing all these all wasted lives.” and “Youth is wasted on the young.”
  • Sloshed: Another one meaning “very drunk” – perhaps an opportunity to make a pun on its literal meaning: “We all sloshed around in the swimming pool for a while.”
  • Smashed, Hammered, Bombed, Legless, Messed up, Trousered, Trolleyed: Some more terms meaning “very drunk”. Each of them may have contexts in which there’s an opportunity to make a pun on its literal meaning – though these contexts may be quite specific.
  • Hang over → Hangover: As in “Mind if I hang over at your place this morning?”
  • Chug: As well as meaning “to drink fast or without pausing”, this term can refer to “The chug of a motor boat” or “The little train chugged up the hill.”
  • Hug → Chug: As in “Let’s have a group chug.” and “Chug it out.” and “Bro chug.”
  • Toast: When someone raises their beer in honour of something or someone and encourages everyone to do the same, that’s called a toast. There may be some context in which the other (normal) definition of “toast” could be punned upon.
  • Tears → Cheers: As in “Bored to cheers.” and “Burst into cheers.” and “Moved to cheers.” and “Reduced to cheers.” and “Fight back the cheers.” and “It will all end in cheers.” and “Blood, sweat and cheers.”
  • Cheers: This word also has the “the cheers of the crowd were deafening” definition which might be a viable opportunity for a pun in some contexts.
  • Tippy-toes → Tipsy-toes: As in “I snuck in on my tipsy-toes.”
  • Cough → Quaff: As in “I was quaffing all night, so I took the day off work.” (A “quaff” is an alcoholic drink and to “quaff” is to drink an alcoholic quickly or heartily)
  • Lick or → Liquor: As in “Are you going to have a liqu, or?” (Depending on your accent/pronunciation it may more like “lick her”. Please keep your puns respectful!)
  • Stubby: Refers to a beer bottle that is short and fat. This slang is taken directly from the actual definition of “stubby” so it’s an easy pun if the context is right.
  • Growler: A “growler” is a type of jug used to transport draft beer. The term has a bunch of other meanings which could be played upon in the right context.
  • Draught / Draft: Besides the beer-related meaning (beer served from barrel or tank), this term has several others: “He was drafted in 1942″ and “I drafted the letter of resignation.” and “The use of draft horses is outdated and cruel.” and “There was a nice draught coming through the window.” and “She was drafted for the national team at age 23.”
  • Dear → Beer: As in “Oh beer me” and “Hang on for beer life” and “Near and beer to my heart” and “Elementary, my beer Watson.”
  • Ear → Beer: As in “Grin from beer to beer.” and “Let’s play it by beer.” and “Lend a beer” and “In one beer and out the other.”
  • Peer → Beer: As in “Beer pressure” and “It’s like she was beering into my soul.”
  • Pier → Beer: As in “Take a long walk off a short beer.”
  • Bear → Beer: As in “Grizzly beer” and “Beer a resemblance” and “The right to beer arms” and “Beer down upon” and “Bear witness to …” and “Beer false witness” and “Beer fruit” and “Beer in mind that …” and “Bring to beer
  • Bare → Beer: As in “The beer necessities” and “Beer one’s teeth” and “Laid beer” and “The beer bones” and “The cupboard was beer
  • Buyer → Beer: As in “She’s a regular beer at our shop.” (Bit of a stretch!)
  • Beard → Beerd: As in “Neck beerd” and “His beerd was as white as snow.”
  • *ber* → *beer*: Words that contains the “ber” sound (or similar) are often opportunities for terrible beer puns: collabeerate, dismembeermentbeereavement, beereaved, beerds (birds), beerthplace (birthplace), beerglary (burglary), beergeoning (burgeoning), cumbeersome, delibeeration, decembeer, cucumbeer, exubeerant, libeerties (liberties), libeerals, libeertarian, libeeration, novembeer, numbeers, pubeerty, membeership, reimbeers (reimburse), remembeer, reverbeeration, robbeeries, robbeery, slumbeer, sobeer (sober).
  • Be* → Beer*: More terrible beer puns can be made using words that start with the “be” sound: beerwilderment, beerlongings, beerbliography, beerseiged, beerstowed, beermused, beerwitched, beergotry, beertersweetbeerllionair.
  • *pear* → *beer*: As in, “A beerlescent (pearlescent) glow” and “Abeer (appear) from thin air” and “Watch me disabeer” and “Make an abeerance.” Other words you could use: s’beerhead (spearhead), re-abeer (reappear).
  • Shakespeare → Shakesbeer
  • Pier → Beer: As in “Take a long walk off a short beer” and “Ear beercing” and “Never been habbeer (happier).”
  • Bare → Beer: As in “The beer necessities” and “Beer one’s teeth” and “Laid beer” and “The beer bones” and “The cupboard was beer“. You can also replace the “bare” in these words: barely (“beerly there”), threadbare (“A threadbeer toy”), cabaret (cabeeret), barefoot (beerfoot).
  • *bier* → *beer*: As in, grubbeer (grubbier), stubbeer (stubbier), tubbeer, scabbeer and chubbeer.
  • *pare* → *beer*: As in, “Beerent-teacher meeting” and “In beerenthesis” and “Like combeering apples and oranges” and “Be prebeered (prepared)” and “Abbeerently (apparently) so.” Other words you could use: abbeerel (apparel) and transbeerent (transparent).
  • *bar* → *beer*: As in, “Beer none” and “Behind beers” and “Language beerier” and “Raise the beer” and “Beerrelling (barreling) in” and “Beergain basement.” Other words you could use: beeren (barren), beerista (barista) and sidebeer (sidebar).
  • *ber* → *beer*: As in, “Strawbeery flavoured” and “Going beerserk” and “Got your numbeer” and “Sobeer up (this one’s a bit ironic)” and “A membeer of..” Other words you could use: beereft (bereft), beerate (berate), beerth (berth), beereavement (bereavement), chambeer (chamber), ambeer (amber), membeer, cybeer, remembeer, delibeerate, libeeral, libeerty, abeerration (aberration) and cumbeersome. Notes: to be bereft is to be deprived of something.
  • *bir* → *beer*: As in, “A little beerd told me” and “Beerthday suit” and “The early beerd.”
  • *bor* → *beer*: As in, “Beered out of your mind” and “Labeer of love” and “Harbeer a grudge” and “Good neighbeers” and “Please elabeerate” and “Collabeerate with.”
  • *bur* → *beer*: As in, “A heavy beerden.” Other words you could use: beereaucracy (bureaucracy), beergeoning (burgeoning) and excalibeer (excalibur).
  • *per* → *beer*: As in, “A different beerspective” and “Third beerson” and “Motivation and beerseverance.” Other words you could use: beertinent (pertinent), beeriod (period), beerception (perception), beernicious (pernicious), beercieve (perceive), beerformance (performance), beerfect (perfect), imbeerative (imperative) and obeeration (operation).
  • Egs* → Kegs*: Some words which start with the “egs” sound (or similar) can be turned into very bad beer puns: kegs-istence (existence), kegs-iled (exiled), kegs-istential (existential), kegs-it (exit).
  • Tap: This has at least two beer-related meanings: “to tap a barrel” and “what’s on tap?”. It also has several non-beer related meanings which might be pun opportunities in the right context: “He tapped the window gently.” and “We’ve tapped all his phone calls.”
  • Head: The “head” is the frothy foam on top of a beer. Potential puns about: “Air head” and “Don’t mess with my head.” and “Above my head” and “Over my head” and “Bite someone’s head off” and “Be it on your head” and “Couldn’t make head or tail of it” and “It’ll do your head in” and “Get it into your head” and “Get your head together” and “Got your head screwed on” and “Hanging over your head” and “You need to get your head examined.” and “Head and shoulders above the rest” and “Head count” and “Head honcho” and “Head in the sand” and “Head to head” and “Hit the nail on the head” and “I could do that standing on my head” and “Head wind” and “Hold a gun to his head” and “In over your head” and “Laugh your head off” and “Level-headed” and “Lose your head” and “Make your head spin” and “Price on his head” and “Pull your head in” and “Sleepy head” and “Upon your head be it”.
  • Bruise → Booze: As in, “A boozed ego” and “You can’t protect your kids from every bump and booze.”
  • *bas* → *booze*: As in, “On a first-name boozeis (basis)” and “Back to boozeics (basics)” and “Yes, boozeically” and “The boozelisk in the Chamber of Secrets (I’m sure many people will find ways to make boozy pickup lines out of this one…so use it and similar puns with your best judgement).”
  • *bes* → *booze*: As in, “All the boozet (best)” and “Boozet (best) friends forever” and “Boozet of all” and “Boozepoke suit” and “Boozetow your wisdom” and “Sit boozeside me.” Other words you could use: booze-seech (beseech), booze-sotted (besotted), booze-siege (besiege). Notes: to beseech is to beg.
  • *bos* → *booze*: As in, booze-om (bosom), rooibooze (rooibos) and verbooze (verbose). Note: rooibos is a type of tea.
  • *bus* → *booze*: As in, “Thrown under the booze” and “Walk or take the booze” and “None of your boozeiness” and “Boozey bee” and “Course syllabooze.” Other words you could use: nimbooze (nimbus), omnibooze (omnibus) and abooze (abuse). Notes: a nimbus is a circle of light, or a halo.
  • *baz* → *booze*: As in, boozear (bazaar), booze-ooka (bazooka), booze-illion (bazillion).
  • *biz* → *booze*: As in, “Boozear (bizarre) circumstances,” and “That’s showbooze.”
  • *buz* → *booze*: As in, “Booze me in” and “Booze off” and “Booze-ing with excitement” and “Boozewords.” Other words you could use: booze-ard (buzzard), booze-ing (boozing) and boozer (buzzer).
  • *bows* → *booze*: As in, “Chasing rainbooze” and “Rainbooze and unicorns” and “Rub elbooze with.”
  • *eth’ll → *ethyl: “Ethyl” alcohol is the type of alcohol that is in alcoholic beverages like beer. Pun examples: “My brethyl smell really bad if I drink this.” and “At least my dethyl go down in history.”
  • Moult → Malt: As in “I started malting as I got older.”
  • Mould → Malt: As in “There’s malt all over my food!” and “Malty sandwiches don’t taste great.”
  • Tiny → Tinnie / Tinny: As in “The patter of tinny feet.” (“Tinny” is slang for a can of beer)
  • Krikey! → Krieky!: As in “Krieky! That’s a big croc!”
  • Coarse / course → Coors: As in “Of coors!” and “Off coors” and “University coors” and “Blown off coors” and “Crash coors” and “In due coors” and “Let nature take its coors” and “On a collision coors” and “Stay on coors” and “He had a coors voice from drinking too much.”
  • Bro, my → Brah, ma: As in “Brah, ma beer puns are great, hey?” (Brahma is a beer brand)
  • Heinie can → Heineken: As in “Get off your heineken you? We’ve got work to do!” (“Heinie” is slang for bottom)
  • Bud wiser → Budweiser: As in “I’ve got a budweiser than all you uneducated chumps.”
  • Wiser → Weiser: As in “None the weiser” and “Older and weiser
  • Bud: As in “We’re best buds” and “Nip in the bud
  • Too bored → Tuborg: As in “I didn’t stay at the party long – I was Tuborg.”
  • Leffe → Left: Note that “Leffe” has two pronunciations. The French pronunciation sounds like “leff” and the Flemish pronunciation sounds like “leffer”. Here we’re punning with the French pronunciation. Examples: “Exist stage Leffe” and “Keep Leffe” and “Leffe for dead” and “Leffe in the lurch” and “Leffe out in the cold” and “Leffe wing” and “Leffe to your own devices” and “Out of Leffe field”.
  • Leave her → Leffe: (Here we’re using the Flemish pronunciation, see above) As in “Leffe alone!” and “Are you going to Leffe anything in your will?”
  • A lesion → Elysian: As in “What happened to your leg? Is that Elysian?”
  • A legion → Elysian: As in “She has Elysian of fans following her wherever she goes.”
  • Stellar → Stella: As in “A Stella cast has been assembled.” and “The pub received Stella ratings in the guides.” (Wikipedia)
  • Bass: This refers to the famous brewery. If you’re punning with text (rather than speaking it out loud), you can play on the audio-meaning of “bass”: “I like clubs that have good Bass.” but since this has a different pronunciation, the only exact phonetic pun is on the fish of the same name.
  • Basically → Bassically: As in “I drink Bassically the same thing all the time.”
  • Millimeter → Millermeter: As in “A millermeter more and it would have been long enough!” We can do the same thing with other units of measurement too: “The can holds 375 millerliters.” and “We just needed one millersecond longer!” and “This cable is rated to 25 millervolts.” and “A millergram of this is enough to kill a person.”
  • Million → Milleron: As in “Not in a miller-on years.” and “One in a milleron.”
  • Meantime: As in “In the meantime, we should look for a new place.” (Meantime is a brewery)
  • Foster: As in “Foster a sense of confidence in the people.” and “A bar owner must Foster a happy, friendly atmosphere.” (Foster’s is a beer company)
  • Four peeks → Four Peaks: As in “It took me about four peaks to finally read the text.”
  • For Pete’s → Four Peak’s: As in “Four peak’s sake!”
  • Car owner → Corona: As in “All coronas must pay annual car registration fees.”
  • “Youngling” → Yuengling: As in “Youth is wasted on yuenglings” and “He’s a yuengling at heart.”
  • Pills → Pils: As in “I had to pop some pils to help with this headache.”
  • Pills and → Pilsen: As in “Pilsen booze are a fast track to a ruined life.” and “It’s up to parents to keep their kids away from pilsen booze.”
  • Back’s → Beck’s: As in “My beck’s really sort today for some reason.” and “Ow! My beck!”
  • Slits → Schlitz: As in “The surgeon has to make two schlitz in the intestinal wall.”
  • Shits → Schlitz: As in “He did it for schlitz and giggles.” and “You know what gives me the schiltz?”
  • Bitter: As in “He came to a bitter end.” and “That’s a bitter pill to swallow.” and “No need to be bitter! (resentful)”
  • Least→ Yeast: As in “Last, but not yeast.” and “Yeast common denominator.” and “It’s the yeast I could do.”
  • East→ Yeast: As in “I’m heading over yeast for a holiday.”
  • Grain: As in “I’m going to go against the grain here and say …” and “There’s a grain of truth in what he’s saying.” and “I’d take it with a grain of salt.”
  • Grainy: Other than referring to grain (some varieties of which are used to make beer), this can refer to a texture or to a low resolution photograph: “Your profile picture is a bit grainy.”
  • Ingrained: As in “It was ingrained in me from a young age.”
  • Again → A grain: As in “Come a grain?” and “Never a grain.” and “Time and time a grain.” and “Now and a grain.”
  • Wait → Wheat: As in “Wheat a second…” and “I am lying in wheat.” and “Wheat and see.” (See wheat beer)
  • We t* → Wheat: As in “Wheat talked about this last night.” and “Wheat took our time.”
  • We’d → Wheat: As in “Wheat love for you to join us!”
  • What → Wheat: As in “Wheatever, man.” and “Wheat are you up to today?”
  • Why → Rye: “Rye do you ask?” and “Rye do beer puns make me giggle?” and “Rye hast thou forsaken me?” and “Rye are you doing this to me?”
  • Wry → Rye: “A rye smile.” and “With rye Scottish wit.” (Rye is a type of grain used to make beer)
  • Rye: Words that contain the “rye” sound can be made into terribly silly beer puns (Since some beers are made with rye): alryete, bryete, Brydal, b-rye-testcircumscryebed, compryesed, contryeved, copyryete, cryesis, cryeterion, cryeme, dryevers, descryebe, enterpryese, depryeved, fryeday, fryed, fryetened, pryeceless, pryemarily, pryevacy, pryeority, pryez, ryenocerous, ryeteous, ryetfully, ryevalries, samurye, subscryebed, surpryesingly, tryeangle, ryeting, tryeumph, rye-fle.
  • Riled up→ Rye-led up: As in “Jeez, calm down. No need to get rye-led up!”
  • Barely → Barley: As in “I’m barley getting by.” and “That barley passes as a beer pun.”
  • Ought → Oat: As in “You oat to say sorry.” and “Five minutes oat to be enough time.”
  • Its / It’s → Oats / Oat’s: As in “Oat’s just a matter of time.” and “Oat’s a shame.” and “Oat’s nothing personal” and “Oat’s worth oats weight in gold.” and “Takes oats toll.” and “A life of oats own.”
  • Sore gum → Sorghum: As in “I’ve got sorgums because my toothbrush bristles are too hard.” (Sorghum is a grain crop often used to create alcoholic beverages)
  • *sip*: If a word contains the “sip” sound, it’s an opportunity for a terrible pun on “sip” as in “to sip your beer” (so long as you emphasise the “sip” part somehow): Mississipi, disiplinarian, munisipality, presipitate, partisiples, presipitated, prinsipally, resipient, resiprocity.
  • *sep*: If a word contains the “sep” sound it’s a chance to make a terribly corny “sip” pun (perhaps emphasise with hyphens or underline/bold): ac-sip-tability (acceptability), bisips (biceps), consiption (conception), consipt (concept), desiptive, impersiptable, desiptive, misconsiption, persiptive, resiption, resiptionist, resiptivity, resiptors, siparatists (seperatists), siparation, siparate, susiptability, intersipt.
  • Dry: As in “These tea puns are very dry.” and “Dry humour” and “Hung out to dry” and “Keep your powder dry” and “As dry as dust”.
  • Will → Swill: As in “Against your own swill.” and “Bend to my swill” and “Love swill find a way.” and “Swill do.” and “Where there’s a swill, there’s a way.” and “Time swill tell.”
  • Back → Bock / Beck: As in “As soon as my bock is turned” and “At the bock of my mind” and “Bock to the Future” and “Bock from the dead” and “Bock in business” and “Bock in the day” and “Bock on your feet” and “He bocked out of the deal” and “Bock to bock” and “Cast your mind bock” and “Get off my bock” and “Fight bock the tears” and “Get bock on your feet” and “Get bock together” and “Hark bock to” and “Kick bock and enjoy” and “Laid bock” and “Money bock guarantee” and “On the bock burner” and “Never look bock” and “One step forward, two steps bock.” and “Put your bock into it!” and “Right bock at ya” and “Turn bock the clock” and “Watch your bock” and “You scratch my bock, I’ll scratch yours.” (Bock is a strong German lager, and the above examples can be replaced with “Beck” to play on the famous Beck’s brewery)
  • Back* → Bock* / Beck*: Words that begin with the “back” sound can also be silly beer puns: bockache, bockdrop, bockbone, bockground, bocklash, bocklog, bockside, bockroom, bockstage, bockward, bockyard, bockteria (bacteria), bockterium. (These examples can have “bock” replaced with “beck” to play on the famous Beck’s brewery)
  • Handy → Shandy: As in “This is a very shandy tool.”
  • Sandy → Shandy: As in “My towel is all shandy from the beach.”
  • Pass it → Posset: As in “Can you please posset over here?”
  • Spruce: As in “Make sure you leave some time to spruce yourself for the ball.” and “I’m all spruced up.” (See Spruce beer on Wikipedia)
  • Arrogant bastard: A simple pun on the brewing company.
  • I’m a real oldy → Amarilloldy: As in “Amarillo-ldy when it comes to my taste in beer.”
  • Citra → Sit ya: As in “Citra ass down!” – The name of a brew from Against the Grain. “Citra” is a variety of hops.
  • Nugget: As in “Nugget of wisdom” and “Nugget of truth” (Nugget is a hop variety)
  • Soz → Saaz: As in “Oh saaz! I didn’t mean to!”
  • Sim card → Simcoed: As in “I lost my phone so I need a new simcoed
  • Put her → Porter: As in “Porter down!” and “She porter hand to learning coding in her spare time.”
  • Fruity: Other than referring to the fruity taste or aroma of a brew, this term also has several slang definitions including being flamboyant or “bouncy”. It may also refer to someone who is considered crazy in some respect.
  • Noble: As in “That was very noble of you.” and “The four noble truths.” (“Noble hops” are traditionally hops which are low in bitterness and high in aroma, like Saaz)
  • Great → Gruit: As in “All creatures gruit and small.” and “I went to gruit lengths” and “Gruit minds think alike” and “The gruit outdoors” and “No challenge too gruit.” (Very corny! Gruit is an old-fashined herb mixture used for bittering and flavouring beer)
  • Asked → Oast: As in “Frequently oast questions” and “No questions oast” and “I took my harp to the party but no one oast me to play.”
  • Killin’ → Kiln: As in “She’s making a kiln!” and “Stop it, you’re kiln me!”
  • Nipple → Tipple: A tipple can refer to an alcoholic drink, or as a verb to “drink alcohol, especially habitually”.
  • Long neck → Longneck: A longneck is a common type of beer bottle.
  • Mouth feel → Mouthfeel: As in “It makes my mouthfeel funny, but it’s not too bad.” (See Wikipedia entry, Mouthfeel)
  • After taste → Aftertaste: As in “Aftertasting that beer, I’m not going back for seconds.” (See Wikipedia entry, Aftertaste)
  • Stupid → Stube-d: As in “Keep it simple, stube-d” and “Terminally stube-d” and “There’s no such thing as a stube-d question.”
  • Hey for → Hefe: As in “Hefe god’s sake could you cut it out?” (“Hefe” means “yeast” in German and sounds like “hay-fa”)
  • Goes up → Gose-p: As in “Right before it gose-p in flames.”
  • Say, son → Saison: As in “Saison, could you fetch me that spanner?”
  • Worth → Wort: As in “It’s wort it’s weight in gold.” and “For what it’s wort …” and “Get your money’s wort” and “Milk it for all it’s wort” and “Not wort a hill of beans” and “That’s my two cents wort
  • Ton / Tonne → Tun: As in “Came down like a tun of bricks.” and “That’s a tun of beer.”
  • Troop / Troupe → Trub: As in “A comedy trub is performing here tonight.” and “The trubs marched through the town.”
  • Least → Lees: As in “Last but not lees” and “Lees common denominator” and “Not in the lees” and “Line of lees resistance.”
  • Law to → Lauter: As in “There should be a lauter prevent people form making terrible beer puns.”
  • Lautering → Loitering: As in “There’s always a few shady people lautering around there at night.”
  • Spargin’ → Spare gin: As in “There wasn’t any spargin’ so I happily drank beer instead”
  • Tanning → Tannin: As in “Welcome to my tannin salon.”
  • For men t* → Ferment: As in “What we need is fermen to realise that catcalling isn’t friendly.”

Beer-Related Phrases

Common phrases, idioms and cliches which are related to beer can be used for some subtle and witty word play. Here is a list of the beer themed phrases that we’ve found so far:

  • (h)opposites attract
  • process of eliminating (h)options
  • a golden (h)opportunity
  • once in a lifetime (h)opportunity
  • window of (h)opportunity
  • contrary to popular (h)opinion
  • Adam’s ale
  • amber nectar
  • as drunk as a lord
  • as drunk as a skunk
  • as mild as milk
  • barrel of laughs
  • came to a bitter end
  • take the bitter with sweet
  • a bitter pill to swallow
  • bring out your best (a Bud Light slogan)
  • crack a tinnie
  • crack/bust some suds
  • slam a drink
  • drink like a fish
  • driven to drink
  • drink up
  • drink someone under the table
  • full of hops
  • given to drink
  • life’s not all beer and skittles
  • pint sized
  • on the piss
  • rolling drunk
  • six pack
  • slave to drink
  • stout fellow
  • you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make her drink
  • slam some beers
  • egg in your beer
  • small beer
  • knock one back
  • social drinker
  • bottoms up!
  • here’s to [someone/something]!
  • drink to excess
  • drown your sorrows
  • on a bender
  • on the rocks
  • make it a double
  • down the hatch
  • hair of the dog
  • happy hour
  • liquid courage
  • pub crawl
  • another round
  • two/three/four sheets in the wind
  • under full sail
  • under the influence
  • take the edge off
  • chin chin! (cheers!)
  • off their head
  • roll out the barrel
  • BYOB
  • on tap
  • Dutch courage
  • sudsing up
  • beer belly
  • trouble is brewing
  • a hop, skip and a jump
  • hip hop
  • clouded judgement
  • get you over a barrel
  • seperate the wheat from the chaff
  • barrel of laughs
  • belt down some liquor
  • as slow as molasses in january
  • cakes and ale
  • eat, drink and be merry
  • full head of steam
  • head in the clouds
  • hit the nail on the head
  • i’d lose my head if it wasn’t attached
  • i need it like a hole in the head
  • in over your head
  • my head is swimming
  • off the top of my head
  • off with his head
  • put a price on his head
  • two heads are better than one
  • keep your head above water
  • it’s all grist to the mill
  • walk like a drunken sailor

Beer-Related Words

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

brew, brewery, brewski, stein, schooner, tankard, seidel, pitcher, clink, suds, plastered, wasted, sloshed, smashed, hammered, bombed, messed up, hangover, hungover, chug, chugalug, sober, toast, cheers, drunkard, drunk, drunkenness, legless, tipsy, blotto, trousered, trolleyed, inebriated, quaff, sip, numb, corked, stubby, stubbies, ale, cask, cask ale, growler, draught beer, draft beer, draft, draught, keg, nitrokeg, tap, beer tap, head, prohibition, alcohol, alcoholic, alcoholism, ethyl alcohol, malt, hops, noble hops, beverage, liquor, liqueur, pub crawl, drink, wheat, rye, sorghum, barley, oats, millet, brewpub, rotgut, hooch, alcopop, tipple, tippler, intoxication, homebrew, beery, long neck, mouthfeel, aftertaste, imbibe, pub, bar, saloon, brasserie, vine, six-pack, tinnie, chaser, rathskeller, cellar, porter, cerveza, froth, frothie, coldie, swill, alehouse, stube, biergarten, beer garden, Oktoberfest, barrel, full-bodied, thin-bodied, publican, yeast, Ninkasi, palate, punt, chill, binge

bock, maibock, doppelbock, eisbock, weizenbock, altbier, berliner weisse, dortmunder export, dunkel, gose, helles, kellerbier, kolsch, marzen, pale lager, roggenbier, schwarzbier, smoked beer, wheat beer, zoigl, dubbel, Flanders red ale, lambicger, framboise, gueuze, kriek, oud bruin, quadrupel, saison, tripel, witbier, brown ale, Indian pale ale, mild ale, old ale, porter, Scotch ale, stout, amber ale, American pale ale, American wild ale, cream ale, ice lager, Kentucky common beer, pumpkin ale, steam beer, baltic porter, biere de garde, copper ale, corn beer, grodziskie, gratzer, hard soda, Irish red ale, light beer, malt beer, millet beer, pale ale, pilsner, rye beer, sahti, small beer, sour beer, Vienna lager, trappist, sommelier, root beer, apple beer, birch beer, ginger beer, horehound beer, oatmeal stout, sake, shandy, brown ale, posset, schankbier, spruce beer, weissbier, weizen beer, hefe, hefeweizen, Lowenbrau, Hamm, Arrogant Bastard, Fat Tire, Haffenreffer, Pabst Blue Ribbon, Nastro Azzurro

amarillo, cascade, centennial, chinook, citra, crystal, CTZ, fuggle, Golding, lambic, magnum, mosaic, Mt. Hood, Northern Brewer, nugget, Perle, Saaz, Simcoe, Tardif De Bourgogne, Williamette, cluster

Coors, Brahma, Harbin, Heineken, Yanjing, Skol, Budweiser, Bud, Bud Light, Tsingtao, Snow, Carlsberg, Tuborg, Leffe, Elysian, Stella Artois, Bass, Miller, Peroni, Meantime, Radegast, Foster’s, Molson Coors, Labatt, Bintang, Goose Island, Tecate, Amstel, Birra Moretti, Four Peaks, Kronenbourg 1664, Corona, Sam Adams, Guinness, Yuengling, Efes Pilsen, Dogfish Head, San Miguel, Becks, Heady Topper, Kingfisher, Harveys, Hoegaarden, Dos Equis, Sierra Nevada, Theakston, Mikkeller, Schlitz

steep, wort, mashout, lautering, lauter, lauter tun, mash tun, tun, mash, ferment, fermentation, turbidimeter, nephelometer, sparge, sparging, tannin, pH, chaff, husk, starch, starches, sugar, enzymes, dry hopping, sprouted, molasses, carbon dioxide, carbonation, grist, gluten, microbrewery, kegger, barm, leavening, barrelage, all-malt, amber, anaerobic, black malt, bung, caramel, dextrin, ester, filter, fining, malt-extract, priming, tart, milling, nitrogen, phenols, gruit, mugwort, oast house, kiln

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