Editing Visual pun (section)

{{Short description|Pun involving an image, often a rebus}}
{{Cleanup rewrite|almost the whole article is unsourced and unlikely to be sourced; some new sources are listed in the Further reading section|date=March 2018}}
{{no footnotes|date=September 2014}}
[[File:Batenburg gevelsteen, Prinsengracht, Amsterdam.JPG|thumb|upright|A [[gable stone]] in the village of [[Batenburg]], [[Netherlands]] depicting a visual pun: Batenburg ([[Dutch language|Dutch]] for "profit castle") is shown as a castle turning [[silver coin]]s into more valuable [[gold coin]]s, thus creating [[Profit (accounting)|profit]].]]
A '''visual pun''' is a [[pun]] involving an [[image]] or images (in addition to or instead of [[language]]), often based on a [[rebus]].

Visual puns in which the image is at odds with the inscription are common in [[cartoon]]s such as ''[[Lost Consonants]]'' or ''[[The Far Side]]'' as well as in Dutch [[gable stone]]s. For instance, a gable stone in the village of [[Batenburg]] puns on the words {{lang|nl|baten}} (‘to profit’) and {{lang|nl|burg}} (‘castle’) by depicting silver coins becoming gold in a castle.

European [[heraldry]] contains the technique of [[canting arms]], which can be considered punning.