From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishplay on wordsplay on wordsSAYa use of a word that is interesting or amusing because it can be understood as having two very different meanings SYN pun → play
Examples from the Corpus
play on words• But most of all, children laugh at jokes that are a play on words.• Perhaps the best solution is to see the place as a play on words.• Some scholars believe that Matthew is making a play on words and that the original word was Nezer.• In this chapter, I hope to show that these distinctions are important and not merely a play on words.• This was a play on words.• With Abraham's and Sarah's laughter the storyteller is indulging in another play on words.• Such, at least, is the suggestion of that play on words.• None the less the play on words is there in the text, and is appropriate. 