What makes Spanish puns truly great? They’re so versatile and they show you the flexibility of the language.
For native speakers, this means that they have a goldmine of funny Spanish puns at their disposal. But for those learning Spanish, all the double meanings and puns in the Spanish language present a great learning opportunity.
If you’re able to understand jokes in Spanish, it shows that you’re able to grasp the complexities of the language and can appreciate all of the double meanings.
So if you aren’t very familiar with funny Spanish puns, now is the perfect time to learn some and, along the way, practice your Spanish skills, just in case no los pillas (you don’t get them).
20 Hilarious Spanish Puns and Jokes
1. La cocinera
A: La nueva cocinera es un sol.
B: ¿Cocina bien?
A: No, lo quema todo.
This is a classic pun and has everything funny Spanish jokes need. It’s short, easy to understand, and has a quick play on words at the end.
“The new cook is a sol (a doll / a sun). Does she cook well? No, she burns everything”
When you say that someone is a sol, it means they’re very pleasant and great to be around. But here, it also has a double meaning, since the sun burns everything.
2. Calcetines
¿Cómo se escribe calcetines en inglés?
Eso sí que es
This is a great bilingual joke in general. It’s a Spanish pun that works in English, too! What more could you want?
Eso sí que es (SO C K S)
3. Cincuenta estrellas
¿Cuántas estrellas hay en el cielo?
Cincuenta.
Maybe this pun is harder to get just by reading it. This joke works because “cincuenta” is how you say “50”, but “sin cuenta” is pronounced the same way and means uncountable/infinite.
This is one of the more simple Spanish puns, but it will still impress any Spanish speakers you tell it to.
4. La fruta que se ríe
¿Cuál es la fruta que más se ríe? La naranja, ja, ja, ja, ja…
Have you noticed that the Spanish word for “haha” is spelled differently? It’s spelled differently in almost every language. Since the letter H is silent in Spanish, but the J makes a similar sound to the English H, it’s spelled “jaja” or “ja ja”.
Do you get it now? The fruit that laughs the most is a naranja, jaja.
5. La sal
¿Cuál es la sal que más mal huele? La sal pargatas.
This one might be one of the more difficult Spanish puns if you’re not familiar with this vocabulary word.
“Which salt smells the worst? The sal pargatas.” Pargatas isn’t a real Spanish word, but “sal palgatas” sounds very similar to alpargatas, which is the type of sandal that the Romans used to wear.
This is definitely one of those puns that makes you roll your eyes.
6. Two animals
¿Cuál es el animal que es dos animales? El gato, porque es gato y araña
To translate this literally: What animal is two animals? A cat, because it’s a cat and a spider.
So now you might be thinking, “what?”
This is one of the best Spanish puns for learners since you’re probably going to learn a new Spanish verb. Araña means spider, but it also could mean “scratch” from the verb “arañar”.
7. The chicken thief
El policía buscaba al ladrón de las gallinas. Cuando le veí él llama con su radio y dijo “¡Apoyo, apoyo!”
This one is another one of those funny Spanish jokes that are helpful for people learning Spanish.
“The police officer was searching for the chicken thief. When he saw him, he yelled on his radio and said – support, support”.
So in the translation, it might not sound like the funniest Spanish joke. But the pun comes into play when you realize that “apoyo” (support) sounds almost the same as “pollo” (chicken).
8. The smelly plant
¿Cuál es la planta más apestosa? La planta del pie.
This is another good pun if you want to learn a new meaning for a Spanish word you already heard before. Planta, as you probably already know, means “plant”. However, it has another meaning of “floor/base”.
So “planta del pie” usually refers to the sole of your foot, but here it serves a nice double meaning.
9. Vente
¿Qué le dijo ’18’ a ‘2’? Vente conmigo.
Just like in English, these types of “qué le dijo…” jokes are super common in Spanish. And this joke can help you practice your numbers and the command form of verbs.
What did 18 say to 2? Come (20) with me.
In many places in Spain, the number 20 is pronounced as vente instead of veinte. And in North and South America, although it’s pronounced as “veinte”, it still sounds close enough that this funny Spanish joke works.
10. Patron Saint of Shoes
¿Quién es el santo patrono de los zapatos? San Dalia.
Even if you just started to learn Spanish, you’ll probably understand this joke without much effort. It’s a simple pun that everyone can enjoy without putting too much thought into it.
Who is the Patron Saint of shoes? San Dalia.
11. ¡Ojalá!
¡Ojalá lloviera! ¡Ojalá yo también!
This is an awesome Spanish joke for learners to start getting a hang of Spanish pronunciation. Since words in whole sentences tend to get smushed together when speaking Spanish, it’s easy to make jokes like this.
The first person says “I hope it rains” and the second says “I hope I can, too”.
When spoken out loud, the first part of the joke could be “ojalá lloviera” (I hope it rains), while at the same time, it could be “ojalá yo viera” (I hope I can see).
So now you can understand the joke. As you can tell, a lot of these puns are better when you say them out loud.
12. El delfín
¿Cuál fue el último animal en entrar al Arca de Noé? El delfín.
What was the last animal to get into Noah’s ark? The dolphin.
This is one of those funny jokes that is slightly pushing the limits of acceptable punniness. El delfín (the dolphin) can also sound like el del fin (the one from the end). It’s slightly pushing it since it doesn’t sound very natural, but any native Spanish speaker would understand it.
So feel free to steal this one the next time you have to speak Spanish and tell some jokes.
13. Talking bread
¿Cómo haces para que un pan hable? Lo pones en agua toda la noche y a la mañana siguiente ya está blando.
This is one of the most well-known jokes in Spanish. “How do you make bread talk? You put it in water all night and by the next morning it’ll be soft”.
The double meaning here is that “ya está blando” would be pronounced the same way as “ya está hablando” because of Spanish pronunciation rules. It’s not something you always realize right at the beginning, but when you’re learning a new language, you’ll soon find out that people blend their words way more than you originally thought.
14. The Renaissance
—Dice que sabe de historia del arte.
—Soy un experto.
—¿Qué opina del Renacimiento?
—Que es imposible, si te mueres, te mueres.
This starts the section for famous tweets that are nothing but Spanish puns. Not only are these types of jokes great because they make you laugh, but from a learning perspective they are really helpful to practice your language skills realistically.
Are you familiar with what the Renaissance means? It means “rebirth”, so that’s the double meaning in this joke.
QUICK NOTE…
Pay attention to the punctuation. Did you know that in Spanish, it’s more common for — to represent a dialogue than “”? So the next time you go to read a Spanish language novel, you won’t be confused by the punctuation.
15. Un tercio
-De cada 30 alcohólicos, 10 hemos conseguido dejarlo.
-¿Un tercio?
-¡Venga!
This one takes some cultural knowledge to understand. In many places in Spain and Latin America, a “tercio” refers to a serving size of beer. So if you’re in Spain and someone asks if you want “un tercio”, they’re asking if you want a glass of beer that is ⅓ liter.
Then, something else that beginners might not know is the use of “venga” here. In this context, it’s used to agree to something. In other words, it’s like saying “Let’s do it!”
So there you go, not only did you learn a quick little pun, but you also got some help on Spanish culture.
16. Manuel
—Manuel, ¿tu coche es automático?
—Es manual.
—Manual, ¿tu coche es automático?
This joke is obvious, even if you barely know any Spanish. Manuel and manual are two words that can sound pretty similar, leading the way for some funny Spanish puns that deserve a “like”.
17. ¿Cómo se llama?
—Buen curriculum, señor Antonio, pero escribió que no tiene teléfono.
—Así es.
—¿Y cómo le llamamos?
—Antonio.
This is a classic style of joke that you’ve probably come across before. Llamar can be used both for telephone and for names. For example, you can say “Te llamo luego” (I’ll call you later) and “Se llama José” (His name is José).
A joke using a simple Spanish verb is great for any learner, even if you just started to learn Spanish. There are a ton of variations on these “cómo se llama” jokes, so feel free to steal this one.
18. Imperativo
—¿Algún doctor en la sala?
—Yo soy doctor en filología hispánica.
—¡¡Ayudarme, este hombre se muere!!
—Por Dios, ese imperativo…
This is probably one of the most difficult puns on the list. However, it offers a great opportunity to learn a little bit about Spanish grammar, as well as to learn a bit about how native speakers aren’t perfect, either.
“Any doctors in the room? – I’m a doctor in Spanish Philology – Help me, this man is dying – Good god, that imperative (verb)…”
The joke here (besides the fact that he’s a Ph.D. doctor, not a medical doctor) is the use “ayudarme”. Typically, if you want to make a command/plea out of a verb, you should use the imperative form. So, it should be “Ayúdame / Ayúdeme / Ayúdenme” depending on who they are talking to.
However, just like in any language, native speakers don’t always use the language “correctly”. It’s quite common to hear Spanish speakers use the infinitive form instead of the imperative in certain contexts.
And this, to someone who has a doctorate in language/literature, is like nails on a chalkboard.
19. Modern architecture
—Dice usted que es experto en arquitectura moderna.
—Así es.
—Díganos, ¿cuál es su puente favorito?
—El de Semana Santa.
Another great joke to learn a little bit about double meanings of certain words as well as learn just a little bit of cultural phrases. Here, we are looking at the different meanings for the word “puente”.
Usually, puente means “bridge”, which should be clear enough. However, in the Spanish-speaking world, when there is a holiday that falls near a weekend, it’s called a “puente” because it bridges the weekend to the holiday, so you end up with a much longer one.
The holiday for la Semana Santa (the holy week for Easter) almost always lasts for a whole week, so usually people get a nice vacation in the springtime for this reason.
So who wouldn’t love that puente?
20. Agudo
—Doctor, me duele la cabeza.
—¿El dolor es agudo?
—Si, pero no se pone tilde porque acaba en “r”.
Not only does this teach you some useful vocabulary, this one is also perfect for learning the Spanish language since the joke makes you learn the pronunciation word.
Agudo can mean “sharp” when talking about pain or sounds. So here, the doctor is asking if he’s experiencing any sharp pain.
But when learning Spanish, one of the pronunciation categories for words is “aguda”, which are words that are stressed on the last syllable. So the joke is correct, dolor is an aguda word, but you don’t put an accent on it because it ends in the letter R.
Of course, that’s a topic for another day, but it’s a nice little joke that gives you an introduction to the world of Spanish phonetics.
Use what you learned
Did you get enough punny goodness for one day? Hopefully, you found these Spanish jokes to be funny as well as learned some new vocabulary words. But there are also hundreds of funny Spanish puns out there waiting to be discovered by you (look up te echo de menos / techo de menos or vino de la casa for a classic!).
Funny jokes and puns are a great way of learning to improve your comprehension skills and your vocabulary. So if you want to master your ability to speak Spanish, this is a great start.
So if you’re ready to put your joke-telling abilities into practice, go ahead and sign up for a free private class or a 7-day free trial of our group classes so you can show us what you got.
Want to learn Spanish, fast?
Download our e-book, Easy Spanish Shortcuts, and learn your first 1,000 Spanish words in under a day!
