put on something/someone
— phrasal verb with put us/pʊt/verb present participle putting, past tense and past participle put
(PRETEND)
to appear to have a feeling or way of behaving that is not real or not natural for you:
I can’t tell whether he’s really upset or if he’s just putting it on.
If you put someone on, you deceive someone, often in a joking way:
He said they wanted me to do a show for the president, and I thought he was putting me on.