Vegetable Puns

Welcome to the Punpedia entry on vegetable puns, salad puns and related topics! 🍅🍆🌽🍄 Whether you’re looking for a name for your veggie patch, in a veg pun battle with your friend, trying to come up with some cute vegetable pickup lines, or just want to stock up on some vegetable word play for future use, I hope this entry serves you well.

As well as covering leafy vegetables (lettuce, cabbage, kale), roots, legumes and other vegetable-like foods are covered too, so you’ll see some potato puns, corn puns, onion puns, pumpkin puns, and all sorts of others based around those general topics.

You might also like to visit the Punpedia entries on food puns, fruit puns, cooking puns, corn puns and potato puns.

Vegetable Puns List

Each item in this list describes a pun, or a set of veggie puns which can be made by applying a rule. If you know of any puns about vegetables that we’re missing, please let us know in the comments at the end of this page!

  • Call → Kale: As in “Above and beyond the kale of duty.” and “His authenticity was kaled into question.” and “Kale it quits.” and “Kale the shots.” and “Kale of the wild.” and “Kale to action.” and “A judgement kale.” and “That was a close kale.” and “Wake-up kale“.
  • Gale → Kale: As in “It’s blowing a kale out here!” and “I slept well despite the howling kales outside.”
  • Keel → Kale: As in “Keep an even kale.” and “A yacht’s kale keeps it upright.”
  • Solid → Salad: As in “Salad gold.” and “As salad as rock.” and “Rock salad.” and “Make sure you’ve built a salad foundation.”
  • Sullied → Salad: To be “sullied” is to be defiled, tainted, stained or spoiled. Example: “The politician’s good name was salad by the media after the allegations were confirmed.” This one’s is a bit of a stretch!
  • Salah → Salad: The term “salah” describes the act of worship (5 times a day) in the Islamic religion. Example: “Salad is recommended 5 times a day.”
  • Salary → Celery: As in “I didn’t take the job. The celery was too low.”
  • Leak → Leek: As in “The information was leeked and a huge media storm erupted.” and “I’m just going to take a leek.” and “Be careful with that shopping bag! There’s a leek in it.” and “The dam sprung a leek.”
  • Leg → Leek: As in “It cost me an arm and a leek.” and “Shake a leek!” and “Without a leek to stand on” and “Haha just pulling your leek :)”
  • Lick → Leek: As in “Leek your lips.” and “Stand up for yourself. Don’t leek his boots.” and “Leek your wounds.”
  • Parcel → Parsley: As in “Let’s play pass the parsley!”
  • Leg room → Legume: As in “I always pay a little extra for the aeroplane seats with more legume.”
  • Choke → Artichoke: This is a corny one: “I almost artichoked on my food when she told me.” and “She was artichoked by emotion as she gave her speech at the funeral.”
  • Bumpkin → Pumpkin: As in “I’m a bit of a country pumpkin, but I’m getting used to the city.”
  • Heard → Herb: As in “I herb it on the grape vine.” and “You herb it here first.” and “You could have herb a pin drop.”
  • Curb → Herb: As in “Herb your enthusiasm.” and “Drive up onto the herb.”
  • *erb* → *herb*: If a word contains the “herb” sound (or similar) a cringe-worthy herb pun can sometimes be made: advherb, distherbance, distherbingly, exacherbate, aftherburner, countherbalance, hypherbole, knickherbockers, mastherbate, nonvherbal, refherbishment, rivherbankherbanization, vherbalize.
  • Plant: This can also mean “place in a fixed or specified position”, and “a place where an industrial or manufacturing process takes place”. Examples: “She planted herself squarely in front of him” and “The new automobile manufacturing plant is the biggest in the country.”
  • Planned → Plant: As in “I had plant to get there by 8pm” and “Do you have anything plant?”
  • Bland → Plant: As in “The hospital food was flavourless and plant as usual.” and “He gave a weak, plant smile.” and “It tastes a little plant. More herbs?”
  • Let us → Lettuce: As in “Lettuce eat!” and “Lettuce celebrate!”
  • Led us → Lettuce: As in “You’ve lettuce down the wrong path!” and “But it lettuce to the wrong conclusion.”
  • It’s/Its → Oat’s/Oats: As in “Oat’s about time!” and “Look at oats cute little face!”
  • Maze → Maize: As in “It’s a complicated maize to navigate.”
  • Mace → Maize: Another term for “pepper spray” is “mace”. It can also refer to a medieval spiked club weapon.
  •  Amazing→ Amaizing: As in “Truely amaizing.” and “Amaizing Grace.” and “I’m amaized!” and “To my utter amaizement …” (Maize is another name for corn)
  • *mise → *maize: As in, minimaize (minimise), surmaize (surmise), victimaize (victimise), compromaize (compromise), customaize (customise), maximaize (maximise).
  • Baggage → Cabbage: This one is lovely and corny: “I’m carrying around a lot of emotional cabbage.” or “Please place personal items in the overhead cabbage compartment.”
  • Until → Lentil: As in “It ain’t over lentil it’s over!” and “It’s all fun and games lentil someone gets hurt.”
  • Care at → Carrot: As in “I don’t carrot all.”
  • Not re-enter → Nutrient-er: As in “You should nutrient-er the discussion after that terrible contribution.”
  • Beat → Beet: As in “Let’s not beet around the bush.” and “If you leave now, you’ll beet the rush.” and “Can you hear my heartbeet?” and “You deserve a beeting for that.” and “Damn, these are some fine beets you’re playing!” and “There’s always deadbeets hanging around that park at night.” and “He’s not crazy – just a little offbeet.” and “We pride ourselves in our unbeetable service.” and “I’m feeling fairly upbeet today :)” and “Diabeetes is a pun, but it’s insensitive.”
  • Between → Beetween: As in “Beetween you and me …” and “With your tail beetween your legs.” and “Read beetween the lines.” and “Beetween a rock and a hard place.”
  • Bead → Beet: As in “Tiny round beets are dangerous for children.”
  • Repeat → Rebeet: As in “I’m not going to rebeet myself.” and “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to rebeet it.” and “I warned him rebeetedly.”
  • Pizza → Beet-za: As in “I always buy my beetzas from the same beetzaria.”
  • *pit* → *beet*: If a word contains the “pit” sound, a terrible beet pun can sometimes be made: cabeetal city, hosbeetalisation, palbeetations, abeetizing, precibeetation, serendibeetous, inhosbeetable.
  • Pete → Beet: As in “His name is beet.”
  • Peed → Beet: This one is a stretch: “I laughed so hard I nearly beet my pants.”
  • Corny: As in “Very corny vegetable puns”
  • Con* → Corn*: Very corny corn puns can be made with some words that start with the “con” sound (or similar): corntract, corncern, corntain, cornference, corntext, corncerned, corntrast, cornfidence, corndition, corntinue, cornsider, corntry, cornclusion, cornduct, cornversation, cornstruction, cornflict, corntribution, cornsent, cornsist, cornclude, cornservation, corntest, cornception, cornsequences, corsult, corncert, cornventional, corncrete, corntinent, cornfine, cornsistantly, cornstitutional, cornvey, cornsiderably, cornsitituent, corntempt, corncede, cornfess, cornfrontation, corngregation, corntroversial, cornsensus, cornsultancy, cornquest, cornvicted, corngratulate. See this list for more.
  • Have a car though → Avocado: As in “I don’t ‘avocado.”
  • Her before → Herbivore: As in “I met herbivore at the gym.”
  • Turn up → Turnip: As in “Turnip the music!” and “It’ll turnip somewhere.”
  • Been → Bean: As in “We’ve all bean there.” and “You know, I’ve bean thinking…” and “Bean there, done that.” and “He’s a has-bean.” and “The die has bean cast.” and “I’ve bean had.” and “She’s bean in the wars lately.”
  • Unbeknown(st) →Unbeanown(st): As in “Unbeanownst to me, she made some enquiries.”
  • *peen* →*bean*: If a word contains the “peen” sound we can make some silly bean puns: Phillibeano (Phillipino), beanalize (penalize), unhappbeaness (unhappiness), subbeana (subpoena). Note: a subpoena is a witness summon.
  • Enough →Beanough: As in “Beanough is beanough.” and “Beanough to make you sick.”
  • Enormous →Beanormous: As in “Your vegetable garden is beanormous!”
  • Beam → Bean: As in “Bean me up, Scotty!” and “Tractor bean.” and “Balancing bean.”
  • Bin → Bean: As in “It was in the bargain bean – 30% off!” and “Please put your rubbish in the bean.”
  • Pin → Bean: This one’s a bit of a stretch. Examples: “Bean the tail on the donkey.”
  • Deal → Dill: As in “What’s the big dill?” and “I’m kind of a big dill around here.” (“Dill” is a herb, and is often short for dill-pickle – a cucumber that has been preserved and given the flavour of the dill herb)
  • Pickle: “We’re in a bit of a pickle here.”
  • Much room → Mushroom: “It’s only a little elevator, there isn’t mushroom in here.”
  • Wheat: As in, “Separate the wheat from the chaff.” Note: to separate the wheat from the chaff is to separate the valuable from the worthless.
  • Wait → Wheat: As in “Wheat a second…” and “I am lying in wheat.”
  • White → Wheat: As in, “A wheater shade of pale,” and “A wheat knight,” and “Wheat as a ghost,” and “Wheat as a sheet,” and “Great wheat shark,” and “Like wheat on rice,” and “Little wheat lie,” and “Men in wheat coats,” and “Not everything is black and wheat,” and “Wheat water rafting.” Note: like white on rice refers to a very close situation.
  • Sweet → Swheat: As in, “Home swheat home,” and “Swheat dreams,” and “Swheat nothings,” and “A swheat tooth,” and “Swheaten the pot,” and “Swheaten the deal,” and “Swheatheart,” and “Take the bitter with the swheat,” and “Short but swheat.”
  • Sweat → Swheat: As in, “Blood, swheat and tears,” and “Beads of swheat,” and “Break out in a cold swheat,” and “Don’t swheat it,” and “Running with swheat,” and “My new swheater,” and “Swheating bullets,” and “Swheat it out.”
  • Weight → Wheat: As in, “Pull your wheat,” and “Punching above your wheat,” and “Throw your wheat around,” and “Watch your wheat,” and “A wheat off my mind,” and “Worth your wheat in gold,” and “A dead wheat.”
  • *ate* → *wheat*: As in, evacu-wheat (evacuate), fluctu-wheat (fluctuate), and gradu-wheat (graduate).
  • What → Wheat: As in “Wheatever, man.” and “Wheat are you up to today?”
  • 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!”
  • Please → Peas: As in “Do as you peas.” and “Pretty peas?”
  • Pee → Pea: As in “Brb, really need to pea.”
  • Peace → Peas: As in “World peas.” and “Inner peas” and “Peas of mind” and “Rest in peas.” and “War and Peas” and “Keep the peas” and “Peas be with you”
  • Piece → Peas: As in “Peas by peas” and “Peas of mind” and “Peas of cake” and “Real peas of work” and “Peas of pie” and “Real peas of work” and “Speak your peas” and “How long is a peas of string?”
  • *peas*: There are a few words with the “peas” sound in them: centerpeas (centerpiece), earpeas (earpiece), Greenpeas (Greenpeace), masterpeas (masterpiece), mouthpeas (mouthpiece), peasfully, peaskeepers, peastime, Peasa (Pisa), timepeas (timepiece).
  • *pea*: If a word contains the “pea” sound, you can make a terrible pea pun by adjusting the spelling and emphasising the “pea” part: appealing, appease, bumpea (bumpy), centipeade, champeaon, champeaonship, compeate, copearight (copyright), creepea (creepy), dopea (dopey), encyclopeadia, entropea, escapea, espeaonage, Ethiopean, Europeaan, expeadient, frumpea, grumpea, hippea, happea, happeaest, homosapean, impead, loudspeaker, peacock, peafowl, peak, peadiatric, peanalize, philipeano, peano (piano), peaqued, recipeas, recipeantsm repeal, repeat, scorpeaon, speacies, peaple (people), speach, speaker, speachless, therapea.
  • Snap a piece → Snap a peas: This plays on “snap peas” – a very common type of pea: “Can you snap a peas off for me peas (please)?”
  • Remain → Romaine: “Romaine” is a type of lettuce. Examples: “Everyone romaine calm.” and “It romaines to be seen.”
  • To my toes → Tomatoes: As in “I got a shiver from my head tomatoes.”
  • Tomorrow → Tomato: As in “Here today, gone tomato.”
  • Tube of → Tuber: As in “Can I please purchase a tuber hand cream?”
  • All up in your → Jalapeño: As in “Jalapeño business.” and “Jalapeño grill.”
  • Serial → Cereal: As in “There’s a cereal killer on the loose.”
  • Surreal → Cereal: As in “The view from the summit was cereal.” and “I love impressionism and cereal art.”
  • 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 (the crop food, of course), 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.”
  • Rain → Grain: As in, “Right as grain,” and “Chasing grainbows,” and “Come grain or shine,” and “Grain on my parade,” and “Make it grain,” and “Graindrops keep falling on my head,” and “Graining cats and dogs,” and “Singin’ in the grain,” and “Somewhere over the grainbow,” and “Spitting with grain.” Notes: to chase rainbows is to go after unrealistic things. To rain on someone’s parade is to ruin a happy moment for them.
  • Grey → Grain: As in, “Fifty shades of grain,” and “A grain area,” and “Grain is the new black,” and “Grain matter,” and “Shades of grain.” Note: shades of grey refers to the complexity of a situation.
  • Brain → Grain: As in, “All brawn and no grains,” and “Beat your grains out,” and “Grain dead,” and “Grain fart,” and “Grain teaser,” and “Grain wave,” and “Grainstorming session,” and “Got it on the grain,” and “Hare grained,” and “A no-grainer,” and “Pick your grains,” and “Rack your grains,” and “It’s not grain surgery.”
  • Grind → Grain-d: As in, “Bump and grain-d,” and “Daily grain-d,” and “Grain-d down,” and “Grain-d to a halt,” and “Nose to the grain-dstone,” and “Don’t like the bastards grain-d you down.” Note: to have your nose to the grindstone is to work hard.
  • Gain → Grain: As in, “Capital grains,” and “Grain an advantage,” and “Ill-gotten grains,” and “No pain, no grain,” and “Nothing ventured, nothing grained.” Note: a capital gain is a profit from the sale of a capital asset (like stock or real estate).
  • *gain* → *grain*: As in, “Agrainst all odds,” and “Agrainst the clock,” and “Bar-grain basement,” and “Come a-grain?” and “A fool’s bar-grain,” and “Here we go a-grain,” and “More than you bar-grained for,” and “Now and a-grain,” and “A race agrainst time,” and “You can say that a-grain,” and “Back agrainst the wall.”
  • *ray* → *grain*: Change the “ray” sound in some words to “grain”: grain-ciously (graciously), engrainve (engrave), grain-dation (gradation), grain-dient (gradient), immi-grain-tion (immigration), ingrain-dient (ingredient).
  • I love → Olive: As in “Olive you so much!” and “Olive silly food puns!”
  • Or live → Olive: As in “Live like a king olive on a shoe string.”.
  • All of → Olive: As in “Sending olive my love to your family.”
  • Time → Thyme: As in “All in good thyme.” and “Better luck next thyme.” and “We just need to buy some thyme.”
  • Platter → Plait her: “I love to platter hair – it’s therapeutic.”
  • Dip: As in “Take a dip” and “Dip your toe in.” (Playing on the “crackers and dip” form of “dip”)
  • I am → I yam: As in “I yam who I yam.”
  • Yankee → Yamkee: As in “The Newyork Yamkees are up 3 points!”
  • Mint: “All of the items are mint condition.”
  • Mean’t → Mint: As in “We were just mint to be.” and “You weren’t mint to eat it!”
  • *ment → *mint: Words that end in “ment” can be simple cheesy “mint” puns: governmint, developmint, momint, managemint, departmint, agreemint, environmint, investmint, employmint, equiptmint, commint, assessmint, requiremint, improvemint, appointmint, settlemint, experimint, establishmint, implemint, announcemint, punishmint, measuremint, dissapointmint, advertisemint, encouragemint, embarrassmint, segmint, argumint, pigmint, tormint, paymint, ornamint, sedamint, vehemint, shipmint, treatmint, statemint, merrimint. See this list for more.
  • Clothes → Cloves: As in “I’m only half-cloved” and “The emperor’s new cloves.”
  • Love → Clove: As in “I clove you so much!” and “Clove is in the air.”
  • Garret → Carrot: A “garret” is an attic, loft or roof space.
  • Root: As in “I’m rooting for you!” and “Money is the root of all evil.” (The term “root” is also a synonym for sexual intercourse in some countries/regions)
  • Rude → Root: As in “A root awakening.” and “He has no manners – very root.”
  • Green: This can obviously refer to the colour, but it can also refer to someone who is inexperienced or naive: “A green recruit fresh from college.”
  • Funnel → Fennel: “Fennel” is a herb. Example: “They were all fenneled into the same career by the specialist college.”
  • Final → Fennel: As in “It’s the fennel count down.” and “You have the fennel say.” and “It’s my fennel offer.”
  • Squash: As in “Don’t squash the poor bug!” and “We need to squash the competition.”
  • Roo bar → Rhubarb: In Australia a car’s “bullbar” is often called a “roo bar” (“roo” is short for “kangaroo”).
  • Saw → Seed: The past tense form of “see” is of course “saw”, but we can be make a silly seed pun if we “conjugate” “see” like we normally do with regular verbs: “seed”. Examples:  “I came, I seed, I conquered.”
  • Seedy: This is a describing word for someone or something that is morally questionable, foul, or dirty. Examples: “So many seedy people hanging around that place.”
  • Seed: As in “But it planted a seed of hope.” and “We got more seed capital from investors.”
  • Properly → Broccoli: This one’s a stretch! Example: “If you’re going to do it at all, you might as well do it broccoli.”
  • Leave → Leaf: As in “Absent without leaf.” and “Leaf no stone unturned” and “Leaf your options open.” and “Love them and leaf them.” and “That’s going to leaf a mark!” and “I’m leafing tomorrow morning.”
  • Love → Leaf: As in “I leaf you so much!” and “Leaf is in the air.”
  • Laugh → Leaf: As in “Leaf all the way to the bank.” and “Leaf in your face.” and “Leaf your head off.”
  • Leaves: As in “She leaves without a trace.”
  • So → Soy: This simple soy pun works best if the word after “so” begins with a “y”, but it still works without it. Examples: “Soy you think you can dance?” and “It’s soy sad.” and “There’s only soy much you can do.”
  • Say → Soy: As in “What did you just soy?” and “To have the final soy.” and “Needless to soy, …” and “Never soy never.”
  • Soil → Soyl: As in “That tofu pun was hilarious – I almost soyled my pants.” and “Fertile soyl.”
  • *soy*: Other words containing the “soy” sound can also be soy puns: ellipsoyd (ellipsoid), sinusoydally (sinusoidally).
  • So you been → Soya bean: As in “Soya bean up to much lately?”
  • Corn → Can: As in “Corn’t we all just get along?” and “Appearances corn be deceptive.” and “Bit off more than you corn chew.” and “Corn you believe it?” and “You corn count on me.”
  • Gone → Corn: As in “Here today, corn tomorrow.” and “It’s all corn pear-shaped.” and “Corn, but not forgotten.”
  • Pulse: This term can refer to a couple of different things. First, the pulse of your veins caused by your heart-beat, or more generally, any short burst or vibration (e.g. of sound, electricity, etc.). Second, it is a synonym of “legume” which refers to produce like chickpeas, lentils, and beans.
  • But any → Botany: As in “You expect me to be impressed, botany body can do that.”
  • Culture → Agriculture: A very corny one: “I was feeling homesick and experiencing agriculture shock.”
  • Too bad → Tuberd: As in “You want some? Tuberd, it’s all mine.” and “Tuberd the shoes don’t fit you.”
  • *uber*: Words that contain the “uber” sound (or similar) can sometimes be potato puns: extuberant (exuberant), tuberis (hubris), protuberances, tuberty (puberty).
  • Guarding → Garden: As in “A soldier was garden the entry.” and “The manager was always garden his reputation by blaming others.”
  • Esteemed → E-steamed: As in “Many of these qualities are e-steamed by managers.” and “Contemporary Japanese ceramics are highly e-steamed.”
  • Raw: As in “That was a raw deal.” (a bad deal)
  • Brussels: It’s the name of a region in Belgium, but is also well known as part of the phrase “Brussels sprout” which is a well known vegetable which likely originated there.
  • She weed→ Seaweed: As in “I just got a new pet rabbit and seaweed on my carpet.”
  • Produce: When the emphasis is on the “prod” part of this word, it refers to things that have been grown on a farm. You might be able to make vegetable puns with this in the right context.
  • Crop: As in “If you crop the photo it’ll look better.” and “The cream of the crop.” and “I always ask the hairdresser for a crop.”
  • Crop up: To “crop up” means to appear unexpectedly and/or suddenly, and thus could be a pun on “crop” which is a cultivated grain, fruit or vegetable.
  • Crap → Crop: As in, “A load of crop,” and “Bunch of crop,” and “Cut the crop,” and “The cropper,” and “Full of crop,” and “Do bears crop in the woods?” and “Don’t crop where you eat,” and “A piece of crop,” and “You scared the crop out of me.”
  • Scrap* → S-crop*: As in, “S-crop iron,” and “Bow and s-crope,” and “S-crope along,” and “S-crope the bottom of the barrel,” and “S-crope through,” and “S-crope together,” and “Table s-crops.”
  • Cop → Crop: As in, “Crop an attitude,” and “Crop out,” and “Crop shop,” and “It’s a fair crop,” and “Undercover crop,” and “Crop onto something,” and “A dirty crop.” Notes: to cop an attitude is to behave rudely. A fair cop is when you acknowledge that you’ve been caught doing wrong.
  • *cop* → *crop*: As in, “Under the microscrope,” and “Scrope out,” and “Cropycat,” and “Carbon cropy.”
  • *crop*: Emphasise the “crop” in certain words to make some corny Thanksgiving puns: acrophobia, microphone, acropolis and outcrop. Notes: Acrophobia is an extreme and irrational fear of heights. An acropolis is a citadel.
  • Cartoon → Cardoon: This is thistle of the sunflower family that is often called an “Artichoke thistle”. It has edible leaves and roots. Example: “Disney has some of the most famous cardoons in the world.”
  • Okay→ Okra: As in “Are you feeling okra?” (Terrible! 😀 By the way, okra is a plant the has edible green pods)
  • Rocket: As well as the obvious definition, “rocket” refers to a type of leafy salad vegetable.
  • Law → Slaw: As in “Slaw and order.” and “I am a slaw abiding citizen.” and “The slaw of diminishing returns.” and “The slaw of the jungle.” You could also use “slaw” to replace “it’s law” – perhaps add a preceding apostrophe like so: ‘slaw
  • A thousand islands: “Thousand Island” is a popular salad dressing. If you can somehow work “thousand island” into your prose, you’ve got yourself a salad pun.
  • Dressing: As in “Oh stop dressing it up!” and “Are you dressing up for Halloween?”
  • Sprout: This is a general term for “to emerge and grow rapidly”, but has obvious vegetable-based connotations (and probably origins). Example: “He thought he’d sprout wings and fly.”
  • Iceberg: A popular type of lettuce, and also (obviously) a big chunk of ice floating in the ocean.
  • Fresh: This is a term that is strongly associated with vegetables and so could probably qualify as a vegetable pun if used in the right context (though it’s a bit of a stretch!). Phrases like “a fresh start” and “a fresh pair of eyes” may be useful.
  • Bulb: As in “Can you change that light bulb for me?”
  • Stalk: “The spy stalked the target for days before getting enough intel.”
  • Pretty good → Rad-ish: When something is “rad” it’s awesome, cool or really good. If something is “rad-ish” then it’s just pretty good (and not overly so).

Vegetable-Related Phrases

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

  • as easy as shelling peas
  • as red as beetroot
  • carrot and stick
  • cauliflower ear
  • cool beans
  • cool as a cucumber
  • couch potato
  • sofa spud
  • dangle the carrot
  • (to play) hot potato
  • fine words butter no parsnips
  • full of beans
  • I yam what I yam
  • sprout wings and fly
  • spill the beans
  • know your onions
  • not worth a hill of beans
  • cultivate your garden
  • it ain’t rocket science
  • in a pickle
  • keep your eyes peeled
  • like two peas in a pod
  • he has a green thumb
  • small potatoes
  • separate the wheat from the chaff
  • take a leaf out of my book
  • turn over a new leaf
  • the cream of the crop
  • whatever tickles your pickle
  • you can’t squeeze blood out of a turnip
  • plant a seed of doubt
  • plant the seed
  • seed money / seed capital / seed round
  • the grass is always greener on the other side

Vegetable-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 vegetable-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!

tomato, lettuce, beet, plant, onion, herb, spinach, pumpkin, potato, veggie, vegan, vegetarian, artichoke, cardoon, veg, legume, okra, cucumber, celery, asparagus, eggplant, salad, yam, bamboo shoot, bean, casava, produce, garlic, leek, mushroom, cabbage, radish, carrot, root vegetable, root, greens, fennel, squash, rhubarb, plantain, seed, turnip, chicory, kale, broccoli, leafy, leaf, leafy vegetable, soy, corn, avocado, sweet potato, cauliflower, herbal, soya bean, pulse, watercress, pea, parsnip, botany, agriculture,  tuber, beans, zucchini, garden, maize, cuisine, steamed, organic, wheat, cereals, grains, vegetation, capsicum, raw, soybean, tofu, onions, brussel sprouts, seaweed, beetroot, thyme, lentil, pea pod, runner bean, caesar salad, coleslaw, salad bar, bell pepper, croutons, bean salad, shallot, pickle, peel, aubergine, courgette, salsify, vegetative, green bean, snap peas, broad bean, salad dressing, slaw, rocket, waldorf salad, ranch dressing, thousand island dressing, chicory, greek salad, lemon grass, spring onion, cherry tomato, celtuce, cos lettuce, sprouts, alfalfa sprouts, alfalfa, arugula, butterhead lettuce, head lettuce, iceberg lettuce, chard, parsley, cassava, pickled, green, healthy, vitamins, fibre, fresh, green pepper, acorn squash, basil, black-eyed peas, capers, celeriac, chick peas, chinese cabbage, collard greens, cress, daikon, dandelion greens, endive, fava bean, ginger, gourd, chilli peppers, jicama, kohlrabi, lima bean, mung bean, mustard greens, olive, pattypan squash, peppers, radiccho, rutabaga, scallion, sorrel, spuds, succotash, string bean, swiss chard, taro, tomatillo, vegetable, wasabi, water chestnut, herbaceous, irrigation, bulb, leaves, nature, nutrition, nutrient, vegetable patch, cabbage patch, stalk, jalapeno, crop, clove.

Vegetable Jokes

If you’re looking for some very corny vegetable jokes, you’ve come to the right place. All of these one-liner-style vegetable jokes use puns in their punchline. Some are phonetic puns, others are based on a slang phrase or cliche related to vegetables.

  • Why did the cucumber blush? – Because it saw the salad dressing!
  • What do you call an angry pea? – Grump-pea.
  • Why did the potatoes argue? – Because they couldn’t see eye-to-eye.
  • How did the farmer fix his jeans? – With a cabbage patch!
  • Why did the tomato get embarrassed? – Because it saw the chick pea.
  • Which vegetable do Sailors ban from their ships? – Leeks.
  • What did the lettuce say to the celery? – Quit stalking me!
  • What is small, red and whispers? – A hoarse raddish.
  • What is green and goes to summer camp? – A Brussel scout!
  • What do root vegetables wear to bed? – Yammies!
  • What do you call a retired vegetable? – A has-bean.
  • When is a vegetable too fresh? – When he insults the farmer.
  • Why do fungi have to pay double bus fares? – Because they take up too mushroom!
  • What’s the difference between broccoli and boogers? – Kids don’t eat broccoli.
  • Why shouldn’t you tell secrets in a cornfield? – There are too many ears.
  • What’s a vegetable’s favourite martial art? – Carot-e!
  • What’s the coolest vegetable? – A rad-ish!
  • Why did the chef quit? – They cut his celery.
  • What did the sweet potato say to the pumpkin? – I yam what I yam.
  • What does a nosey pepper do? – Gets jalapeno business!
  • How do you fix a broken tomato? – Tomato paste.

Vegetable Pun Images

Below is a collection of vegetable-related visual puns and meme-type images. If you’ve created your own visual vegetable puns or found one that we’ve missed, please post us a link in the comments section 🙂

Did this Punpedia entry help you?

Did you find the vegetable-related pun that you were looking for? If so, great! Otherwise, please let us know what you were looking for in the comments, below! Are you looking for puns for text messages, Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, or some other social media platform? Would you like to see more funny vegetable pun images? Or perhaps you just want more vegetable puns for your photo captions? Whatever the case, please let us know, and help us improve this Punpedia entry. If you’re got any vegetable puns (image or text) that aren’t included in this article, please submit them in the comments and one of our curators will add it as soon as possible. Thanks for visiting Punpedia 🙂

Tree Puns

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

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

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

Tree Puns List

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

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

Tree-Related Words

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

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

Tree-Related Phrases

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

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

Tree Pun Images

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

Tree Pun Conversations

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

Did this Punpedia entry help you?

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