13 Funny Palindrome Sentences That Will Crack You Up

Word nerds, unite!

We’re going to take a trip down palindrome lane and full disclosure: It’s going to get a little weird (but, like, the good kind of weird). Before we get going, here’s a quick recap on what palindromes are: They’re words, sentences, phrases, or even numbers that read the same forward and backward. Pretty simple, right? So, why have we never noticed some of these palindrome examples that are basically hidden in plain sight?

We need to talk about the fact that palindrome sentences exist in the first place. Whole sentences that read the same forward and backward? Surely not all of those sentences can make perfect sense, right? Well, fellow word nerds, some of them do, some of them don’t, and some of them—uh—really don’t (but those are our favorites). Speaking of not making sense, these tricky English grammar rules are downright perplexing.

Sit on a potato pan, Otis

Yep, first up on our list of bizarre-yet-humorous palindrome sentences is “Sit on a potato pan, Otis.” In case you’re wondering, this is definitely our new favorite comeback. Now we just need to find a potato pan…and someone named Otis. Make words even more fun by cracking grammar jokes.

Ah. Satan sees Natasha.

We don’t know what Natasha did, but apparently, Satan sees her—so that’s a problem. Good luck, Natasha.

Cigar? Toss it in a can. It is so tragic.

Did anyone else read this palindrome sentence and instantly think this could make for some great palindromic anti-smoking advertisements? If these palindromes seem simple, your skills will be tested with a list of the hardest words to spell.

Did Hannah see bees? Hannah did.

As if the name “Hannah” being a palindrome wasn’t cool enough, now she gets to see bees in this fun palindrome sentence. (Hopefully not too up-close!)

Yo, banana boy!

Uh, does “banana boy” sell bananas, or is it just a weird nickname? (As you can tell, this is one of those weird palindrome sentences we were talking about earlier. We’re going to try not to ask any further questions.) Did you know that these 7 words were examples of onomatopoeia?

Oh, who was it I saw? Oh, who?

We’ve all had those days—but more importantly, does anyone know who’s on first?

Murder for a jar of red rum

For a jar of red rum? Seems excessive—but we wouldn’t put it past, say, Captain Jack Sparrow. (Stephen King made great use of this order reversal!) Here are some fun malapropism examples that’ll make you laugh.

Borrow or rob?

A question we might ask ourselves when rummaging through our significant others’ closets.

Eva, can I see bees in a cave?

A valid response: “No, but I can see bats in your belfry.” Learn some cool words from the thesaurus only English majors know.

Evil, olive!

This next example on our list of palindrome sentences is more of a weird phrase—and by the way, it may be time to call a priest to exorcise that expired jar of olives in the back of your fridge. Yeah, you know the one we’re talking about.

Poor Dan is in a droop

Okay, this could totally work as the intro to a children’s book. Here, we’ll kick it off: Poor Dan is in a droop. He sits on his stoop with a bowl of soup. (We’ve all been there, Dan.) Speaking of children’s literature, we bet we could write an entire book filled with these kid-friendly puns.

Oozy rat in a sanitary zoo

If you’re finding oozy rats in a “sanitary” zoo, something’s telling us you’ve been lied to.

Step on no pets

Great advice. You shouldn’t step on pets, but they can (and will) step on you. All over you, in fact—no matter where you are in the house. For more fun with words, check out these cool pangram sentences.