The French love sonnets of the second half of the 16th century make extensive use of various techniques which can be named “wordplay”. The present study consistently examines the different kinds of wordplay (literalization of metaphor, double entendre, syllepsis, lexical repetition, anagram) found in the sonnets of P. Ronsard and A. d'Aubigné and, by comparing the originals with existing translations, draws a conclusion about the possibility to transmit the play on words in translation and about the advisability of its translation in each particular case. It is found out that metaphor literalization and double entendre of proper names are the easiest to translate, while anagrams and double entendre of common names are almost untranslatable. Syllepsis and lexical repetition can be translated, but it is not always appropriate, because the French reader of the 16th century and the modern Russian reader have different aesthetic experiences.