How Well Do You Know Types of Wordplay?

Word play is defined as "the witty exploitation of the meanings and ambiguities of words, especially in puns." How good are you at identifying the different kinds of word play? Take our quiz to find out!
START THE QUIZ!

Question 1/12

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What is an abbreviation formed by combining the initial components (such as the first letters) in a phrase or name?
anagram
acronym
pangram

Question 2/12

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What do we call a new word that fuses two words or morphemes?
portmanteau
oxymoron
malapropism

Question 3/12

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What do we call a word or phrase that reads the same in either direction?
acronym
chronogram
palindrome

Question 4/12

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What do we call a writing in which certain letter is missing?
ambigram
homonym
lipogram

Question 5/12

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What do we call an artificial fictitious name, used as an alternative to one's legal name?
sobriquet
pseudonym
eponym

Question 6/12

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What do we call the device that uses pictures to represent words or parts of words?
rebus
kenning
engrish

Question 7/12

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What are you creating when you deliberately mix two similar-sounding words?
neologism
pun
palindrome

Question 8/12

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What is a combination of two contradictory terms?
auto-antonym
pangram
oxymoron

Question 9/12

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What is created through the incorrect usage of a word by substituting a similar-sounding word with different meaning?
malapropism
retronym
anagram

Question 10/12

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What do we call a phrase or sentence in which every word starts with the same letter?
chronogram
tautogram
backronym

Question 11/12

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What do we call words with same sounds and same spellings but with different meanings?
homonyms
homographs
homophones

Question 12/12

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What do we call words with same sounds but with different meanings?
homonyms
homophones
homographs
Word play got you, and it got you good here. There is a wide, wide variety of word play out there in the world, so it's understandable that you wouldn't be able to identify all of it - but you gotta study up a bit so you can at least pull off a better score than this!

C+, Wordy Wimp

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Right!
What we've learned from this quiz: some types of word play confuse you, but you certainly know your stuff when it comes to a majority of them! With a little more studying, you could be a real word warrior!

B+, Wordsmith

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Right!
You know your stuff when it comes to all the different kinds of word play - and there is a wide, wide variety as you've seen here. Word play is all over the place, and if you're doing something clever in your writing, odds are you're participating in it in some way!

A+, Word Warrior

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Right!
1
What is an abbreviation formed by combining the initial components (such as the first letters) in a phrase or name?
anagram
acronym
pangram
2
What do we call a new word that fuses two words or morphemes?
portmanteau
oxymoron
malapropism
3
What do we call a word or phrase that reads the same in either direction?
acronym
chronogram
palindrome
4
What do we call a writing in which certain letter is missing?
ambigram
homonym
lipogram
5
What do we call an artificial fictitious name, used as an alternative to one's legal name?
sobriquet
pseudonym
eponym
6
What do we call the device that uses pictures to represent words or parts of words?
rebus
kenning
engrish
7
What are you creating when you deliberately mix two similar-sounding words?
neologism
pun
palindrome
8
What is a combination of two contradictory terms?
auto-antonym
pangram
oxymoron
9
What is created through the incorrect usage of a word by substituting a similar-sounding word with different meaning?
malapropism
retronym
anagram
10
What do we call a phrase or sentence in which every word starts with the same letter?
chronogram
tautogram
backronym
11
What do we call words with same sounds and same spellings but with different meanings?
homonyms
homographs
homophones
12
What do we call words with same sounds but with different meanings?
homonyms
homophones
homographs