Tongue Twisters to improve pronunciation in English

Tongue twisters of all sorts and sizes have been raising laughs and knotting tongues for decades. For example, the world-famous Peter Piper tongue twister first appeared in print sometime in 1813, in a book called “Peter Piper’s Practical Principles of Plain and Perfect Pronunciation” (a tongue twister in itself, isn’t it?). Nevertheless, to this day, people all around the world still love to have a laugh and improve their pronunciation with a good old tongue twister.

So what’s a tongue twister? Cambridge Dictionary defines it as “a sentence or phrase that is intended to be difficult to say, especially when repeated quickly and often”. Tongue twisters don’t make a lot of sense, but they are filled with repeated sounds making them extremely helpful in speech therapy. Basically, a tongue twister works the same way as physical exercise. The more you practice, the better your pronunciation will be. What is more, tongue twisters were – and probably still are – used by actors before a representation, by politicians before a speech, and even by news anchors before going live.

If you too want to improve or perfect your English pronunciation, let’s dive into this complete list of English tongue twisters: from short tongue twisters to tongue twisters for kids, tongue twisters with the letter “s” and tongue twisters in Spanish & French to further challenge your pronunciation.

1. Short tongue twisters
2. Tongue twisters for kids
3. Funny tongue twisters
4. Tongue twisters with “s”, “r”, “l” and “th”
5. Hardest tongue twister

Read: What are the basic steps for learning English

1. Short tongue twisters

Before trying the English tongue twisters for champions that talk fast, let’s warm up your speech muscles with some short and fairly easy tongue twisters for beginners.

1. Eleven benevolent elephants.
2. She sees cheese.
3. Six sticky skeletons.
4. Truly rural.
5. Pad kid poured curd-pulled cod.
6. Which witch is which?
7. Willy’s real rear wheel.
8. Six sleek swans swam swiftly southwards.
9. Scissors sizzle, thistles sizzle.
10. A happy hippo hopped and hiccupped.
11. Cooks cook cupcakes quickly.
12. Really leery, rarely Larry.
13. Twelve twins twirled twelve twigs.
14. A snake sneaks to seek a snack.
15. Six Czech cricket critics.

2. Tongue twisters for kids

Tongue twisters for kids are all sweet, fun, and games until you increase the speed. If you haven’t had enough training, they can tie your tongue into a Gordian knot. Literally.

Take a little brother, sister, or your own kid, and let’s see who wins the challenge!

Tongue twisters for kids

1. Blue bluebird.
2. Red lorry, yellow lorry.
3. Daddy Draws Doors.
4. Three free throws.
5. The big bug bit the little beetle.
6. Friendly fleas and fireflies.
7. Fresh fried fish.
8. Specific Pacific.
9. Fred fed Ted bread and Ted fed Fred bread.
10. Betty’s big bunny bobbled by the blueberry bush.
11. Six sticky skeletons.
12. Green glass globes glow greenly.
13. Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear. Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair. Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn’t very fuzzy, was he?
14. If a dog chews shoes, whose shoes does he choose?
15. Rubber baby buggy bumpers.

Tongue twisters with 'S'

1. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers;
2. A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked;
3. If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
4. Where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked
5. How much wood would a woodchuck chuck
6. if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
7. He would chuck, he would, as much as he could,
8. and chuck as much wood as a woodchuck would
9. if a woodchuck could chuck wood.
10. I scream, you scream,
11. We all scream for ice cream.
12. Betty Botter bought some butter but, said she, the butter’s bitter.
13. If I put it in my batter, it will make my batter bitter.
14. But a bit of better butter will make my bitter batter better.
15. So she bought some better butter, better than the bitter butter,
16. put it in her bitter batter, and made her bitter batter better.
17. So ‘t was better Betty Botter bought some better butter.
18. She sells seashells on the seashore.
19. The shells she sells are seashells, I’m sure.
20. And if she sells seashells on the seashore,
21. Then I’m sure she sells seashore shells.
22. Yally Bally had a jolly golliwog. Feeling folly, Yally Bally Bought his jolly golli’ a dollie made of holly! The golli’, feeling jolly, named the holly dollie, Polly. So Yally Bally’s jolly Golli’s holly Dollie Polly’s also jolly!
23. Birdie birdie in the sky laid a turdie in my eye.
24. If cows could fly I’d have a cow pie in my eye.
25. How much ground would a groundhog hog, if a groundhog could hog ground? A groundhog would hog all the ground he could hog if a groundhog could hog ground.
26. Yellow butter, purple jelly, red jam, black bread.
27. Spread it thick, say it quick!
28. Yellow butter, purple jelly, red jam, black bread.
29. Spread it thicker, say it quicker!
30. Yellow butter, purple jelly, red jam, black bread.
31. Don’t eat with your mouth full!
32. I slit the sheet, the sheet I slit, and on the slitted sheet I sit.

4. Tongue twisters with “s”, “r”, “l” and “th”

As we already mentioned, tongue twisters can be extremely helpful for speech therapy. If you are having problems pronouncing certain sounds like “s”, “r”, “l” or “th”, practicing with the right tongue twisters can ameliorate your speech impediment. Here are a few examples:

Tongue twisters with “s”

1. She sells seashells by the seashore of Seychelles.
2. “Surely Sylvia swims!” shrieked Sammy surprised. “Someone should show Sylvia some strokes so she shall not sink.”
3. Selfish shellfish. (repeat it several times)
4. Tongue twisters with “r” and “l”
5. Red lorry, yellow lorry.
6. A really leery Larry rolls readily to the road.
7. Rory’s lawn rake rarely rakes really right.
8. Lucky rabbits like to cause a ruckus.
9. I looked right at Larry’s rally and left in a hurry.
10. Round and round the rugged rocks the ragged rascal ran.

1. Tongue twisters with “th”

1. The thirty-three thieves thought that they thrilled the throne throughout Thursday.
2. I thought a thought.
3. But the thought I thought
4. Wasn’t the thought I thought I thought.
5. If the thought I thought I thought,
6. Had been the thought I thought,
7. I wouldn’t have thought I thought.
8. Something in a thirty-acre thermal thicket of thorns and thistles thumped and thundered threatening the three-D thoughts of Matthew the thug – although, theatrically, it was only the thirteen-thousand thistles and thorns through the underneath of his thigh that the thirty-year-old thug thought of that morning.
9. Thirty-three thousand feathers on a thrushes throat.

5. Hardest tongue twister: Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious?

When it comes to tongue twisters and talking fast, we can’t help but think about Eminem. Did you know that he manages to rap with a whopping speed of 11.4 syllables per second in his song “Rap God”? We don’t know much about rap, but that sure sounds like something only the God of Rap could do.

Now back to supercalifragilisticexpialidocious – as it turns out, this is not the hardest tongue twister in existence. Neither is the longest word in the world.

At some point, “the sixth sick sheik’s sixth sheep’s sick” held the Guinness World Record for the toughest twister, but since the category no longer exists, the title was probably revoked.

hardest tongue twister

To sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock,
In a pestilential prison, with a life-long lock,
Awaiting the sensation of a short, sharp shock,
From a cheap and chippy chopper on a big black block!
To sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock,
In a pestilential prison, with a life-long lock,
Awaiting the sensation of a short, sharp shock,
From a cheap and chippy chopper on a big black block!
A dull, dark dock, a life-long lock,
A short, sharp shock, a big black block!
To sit in solemn silence in a pestilential prison,
And awaiting the sensation
From a cheap and chippy chopper on a big black block!
If you must cross a course cross cow across a crowded cow crossing, cross the cross coarse cow across the crowded cow crossing carefully.
Brisk brave brigadiers brandished broad bright blades, blunderbusses, and bludgeons — balancing them badly.
Six sick hicks nick six slick bricks with picks and sticks.
Can you can a canned can into an un-canned can like a canner can can a canned can into an un-canned can?
Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager managing an imaginary menagerie.
Rory the warrior and Roger the worrier were reared wrongly in a rural brewery.
Send toast to ten tense stout saints’ ten tall tents.
Bonus: Tongue twisters in Spanish & French
If you are ready to go even further and surpass your own performance with English tongue twisters, here are a few tongue twisters in Spanish and French. Careful though! They may open up your appetite for language learning!

Tongue twisters in Spanish

Ñoño Yáñez come ñame en las mañanas con el niño. – “Silly Yañez eats yams in the morning with the boy.”
Erre con erre guitarra, erre con erre barril. Rápido corren los carros, cargados de azúcar del ferrocarril. – “R and r guitar, r and r barrel. The carts roll along quickly, laden with sugar from the train.”
Cuando cuentes cuentos, cuenta cuantos cuentos cuentas cuando cuentes cuentos. – “When you tell stories, say how many stories you tell when you tell stories.”
Tres tristes tigres tragaban trigo en un trigal. – “Three sad tigers were eating wheat in a field.”
Hoy ya es ayer y ayer ya es hoy, ya llegó el día, y hoy es hoy. – “Today is already yesterday, and yesterday is already today, the day’s here, and today is today.”

Tongue twisters in French

Cinq chiens chassent six chats. – “Five dogs hunt six cats.”
Ces six saucissons-secs-ci sont si secs qu’on ne sait si s’en sont. – These six dried sausages are so dry that we don’t know if they are (dried sausages).
Si mon tonton tond ton tonton, ton tonton sera tonu. – “If my uncle chaves your uncle, your uncle will be shaved.”
Je suis ce que je suis, et si je suis ce que je suis, qu’est ce que je suis. – “I am what I am, and if I am what I am, what am I?”
Si six scies scient six cyprès, six cent scies scient six cent cyprès. – “If six saw saw six cypress, six hundred saw saw six hundred cypress.”