Puns

What is a homophone for aloud? Or right? Fifth graders complete a list of 24 homophones, choosing another word that sounds like a given word but has a different meaning. At the bottom of the page, they write punning sentences to practice...

Tickle your funny bone with a activity that presents five famous puns drawn from Shakespeare's Richard III, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and Much Ado About Nothing. Readers identify the play on words as a homographic or homophonic pun. 

Students examine the wit of characters in two plays. In this drama lesson, students read The Shakespeare Stealer by Gary L. Blackwood and Twelfth Night by Shakespeare. Students analyze the puns used in both plays and write essays that...

Students analyze why puns are funny. In this puns usage lesson, students work in small groups to analyze Shakespearean puns, then write their own puns to share with the class. Students are encouraged to use VisualThesaurus to aid in...

Introduce your middle school writers to a higher level creative writing activity. They become familiar with the literary term pun, and illustrate their writing with clipart they find online. They complete a worksheet on puns in which...

Read and analyze a variety of Shakespearean and contemporary puns using Visual Thesaurus computer software. Middle and high schoolers analyze a pun as a class; in small groups they analyze a Shakespearean pun using contextual clues and...

In this figurative language worksheet, students review the definition of puns. Then, they read sixteen short excerpts and describe the pun that is being used.

Explore the writing traits of word choice and conventions. Middle school writers use this Six-Traits Writing instructional activity to discuss the writing style of the Tom Swift Adventure Series by Victor Appleton. They examine "Tom...

Scholars demonstrate the ability to evaluate authors' use of literary elements such as metaphor, simile, personification, imagery, and onomatopoeia. They are provided with a checklist and must shop for poems that contain the poetry terms...

Explore how language is used for comic effect. Middle schoolers determine which of the three formulas for jokes (double meanings, unexpected outcome, humorous mental image) make each of 18 classic, corny examples funny. They complete a...