Fun means enjoyable and pleasant, a good time; funny means making you laugh. If you enjoyed an activity, it was fun: The party was fun. If something made people laugh, it is funny: a funny video.
fun or funny — can you pick the right one?
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have fun + -ing; be fun; it's fun to + verb; funny + story/joke/video; something funny about + noun (= strange)
- Learning to cook with friends is more fun than following videos alone.
- My colleague told a funny story about his first day at work.
- There's a funny smell in the fridge, so check the milk.
What changed
First versionThe picnic on Sunday was really funny, so thank you for inviting us.
RevisionThe picnic on Sunday was really fun, so thank you for inviting us.
People usually say thank you for a pleasant time, and that needs fun. With funny, the sentence sounds as if the picnic was comical and people were laughing at it. The mistake is common because funny looks like the obvious adjective from fun, even when the meaning has nothing to do with laughter.
Funny can mean strange as well as amusing: There's something funny about this email, meaning something is wrong with it. In such cases British speakers sometimes ask: funny ha-ha or funny peculiar? In other words, amusing or strange?
Your turn
We didn't laugh much, but the museum tour was ___ and the kids want to go again.
Show the answer
fun — The sentence says there wasn't much laughing, so not much was amusing. But the kids want to go again: the tour was interesting and enjoyable, which is fun. Funny would contradict the start of the sentence.
Write about a recent weekend or trip. Use fun to say you had a good time and funny to describe one amusing moment.
Our weekend at the lake was fun, and it was really funny when my dad tried to catch a fish with his hands.
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