70+ Fun, easy, and hard tongue twisters for kids and adults to master English

Need to nail pronunciation or fancy a verbal challenge? Tongue twisters are your answer!

English learners can use tongue twisters as a tool to improve pronunciation and enunciation, strengthening the muscles needed to create the sounds used in English. But tongue twisters aren’t just for learning – they are also downright entertaining!

In this article we will look at what makes a good tongue twister, how to create your own, and some fun games to play with them.

And, of course, we have lots of inspiration with over 70 top tongue twisters including:

Don’t get your tongue in too much of a twist as you read through them all.

What are tongue twisters?

Tongue twisters are phrases or sentences that are difficult to say, especially when repeated quickly. They don’t always make much sense, but the combination of rhyming words and repeated sounds challenges the diction of even the most eloquent speakers.

Categories of tongue twisters

Famous English tongue twisters

Some common English tongue twisters have been around for a long time, even before the term ‘tongue twister’ was coined in 1904.

Try these famous sayings that have been baffling brains for decades:

• Round the rugged rocks, the ragged rascal ran.
• Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
• She sells seashells by the seashore.
• Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (from the 1964 film Mary Poppins)

Did you know that tongue twisters have also been referred to as ‘tongue tanglers’ and ‘tongue teasers’ in the past?

Fun and easy tongue twisters for kids

These make good tongue twisters for kids because they are not too challenging and they have fun imagery:

• A happy hippo hopped and hiccupped.
• If a dog chews shoes, whose shoes does he choose?
• Fred fed Ted bread, then Ted fed Fred bread.
• Cute kitten eating chicken in the kitchen
• The big bug bit the little beetle.
• Katy the ape hates grape cakes.
• I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!
• Twelve twins twirled twelve twigs.
• Double bubble gum, bubbles double.
• Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear. Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair. Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn’t very fuzzy, was he?
• Four fine fresh fish for you.
• The bare bear could barely bear the cold air.
• Curious cooks cook cupcakes quickly.
• Five frantic frogs fled on a sled.

Kids’ tongue twisters like these are a great tool for developing speech and communication skills in a playful manner.

The Dr. Seuss children’s books Oh Say Can You Say? and Fox in Socks are packed full of good tongue twisters for kids, as is The Snail and the Whale by Julia Donaldson.

Funny tongue twisters for adults

We have labeled these as ‘tongue twisters for adults’ because any slip-ups are likely to result in rude or obscene words. You have been warned…

I’m not the pheasant plucker, I’m the pheasant plucker’s son.
I’m only plucking pheasants ’til the pheasant plucking’s done.

One smart feller, he felt smart,
Two smart fellers, they both felt smart,
Three smart fellers, they all felt smart.

I slit the sheet, the sheet I slit;
And on the slitted sheet I sit.

Sally shines shoes in a shoe shine shop.
Where she sits she shines, and where she shines she sits.

Polish it behind the door. (repeat rapidly for full effect)

Short tongue twisters

These short tongue twisters might not be too tricky if you say them slowly, but try speeding up and repeating them five or ten times…

• Toy boat, boy tote
• Bad money, mad bunny
• She sees cheese
• Cricket critic
• Wasps’ nests
• Selfish shellfish
• Upper roller, lower roller
• Top cop in a crop top
• Stupid superstition
• A proper copper coffee pot
• Irish wristwatch, Swiss wristwatch
• Sheena leads, Sheila needs
• Seventy-seven benevolent elephants
• Six sticky skeletons

The real challenge comes in maintaining clarity with quick repetition.

Hard tongue twisters

Once you’ve mastered the easy ones, it’s time to level up. Advanced tongue twisters present a substantial challenge, even to native speakers, with intricate sounds and longer phrases. They require precise articulation as well as maintaining the rhythm and pacing of the spoken phrase.

Challenge your linguistic capabilities with some of these hard tongue twisters:

• Pad kid poured curd pulled cod (MIT researchers identified this as the hardest tongue twister in 2013).
• How can a clam cram in a clean cream can?
• Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager managing an imaginary menagerie.
• Fresh French fried fly fritters
• The sixth sick sheik’s sixth sheep’s sick. (featured as the world’s hardest tongue twister by Guinness World Records in 1974)
• The seething sea ceaseth and thus the seething sea sufficeth us.
• Kenny the anemone met twenty enemies when he mentioned the many men he sees.
• You know you need unique New York.
• A skunk sat on a stump and thunk the stump stunk, but the stump thunk the skunk stunk.
• A synonym for cinnamon is a cinnamon synonym.
• Lesser leather never weathered wetter weather better.
• Top chopstick shops stock top chopsticks.

If you can say all of these tricky tongue twisters quickly ten times in a row, you really have mastered English speaking.

Long tongue twisters

Tongue twisters don’t have to be just a few words; you can make a whole poem or rhyme out of them!

Here are some examples of long tongue twisters:

Betty Botter bought a bit of butter.
The butter Betty Botter bought was a bit bitter
And made her batter bitter.
But a bit of better butter makes better batter.
So Betty Botter bought a bit of better butter
Making Betty Botter’s bitter batter better.

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers;
A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked;
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
Where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?

A tutor who tooted the flute
Tried to teach two young tooters to toot.
Said the two to the tutor,
“Is it harder to toot, or
To tutor two tooters to toot?”

One One was a racehorse,
Two Two was one too.
One One won one race,
Two Two won one too.

A flea and a fly in a flue
Were imprisoned, so what could they do?
Said the fly, “let us flee!”
“Let us fly!” said the flea.
So they flew through a flaw in the flue.

Whether the weather be fine or whether the weather be not,
Whether the weather be cold or whether the weather be hot,
We’ll weather the weather whatever the weather,
Whether we like it or not.

Tongue twisters for different sounds

These are good tongue twisters for English learners who need to focus on a particular sound, or on distinguishing between two similar sounds:

‘Th’ tongue twisters

• These are theirs but whose are those?
• She threw three free throws.
• Thirty-three moths with thick cloth flew forth.

‘Sh’ and ‘S’ tongue twisters

• Shiny seashells shimmer in the sunshine by the seashore.
• Selfish shellfish (repeat)
• Santa’s short suit shrunk.

‘R’ tongue twisters

• Red lorry, yellow lorry (repeat)
• Round the rugged rocks, the ragged rascal ran.
• Rory’s lawn rake rarely rakes really right.

‘L’ tongue twisters

• Yellow leather (repeat)
• Hello dolly with a lolly
• Lonely llamas listen late to lullabies.

‘I’ and ‘ee’ tongue twisters

• We ship sleek sheep to the ship’s steep peak.
• The big bee bit the beet and felt sweet relief.
• A chip slips, and the cheap chick leaps.

Tongue twister games and activities

Practicing tongue twisters alone is a good linguistic exercise, but they’re fun to incorporate into games and activities as icebreakers or classroom exercises.

For instance, try using funny tongue twisters as telephone game phrases. Whisper them from one person to the next and see how they sound at the end of the chain!

Or, turn it into a competition and see who can say each tongue twister the most times without making a mistake.

Finally, you can encourage your class to make their own kids’ tongue twisters, perhaps providing a particular letter or theme to work around.

How to create your own tongue twisters

Creating your own tongue twister can be a fun and educational exercise. Here are some steps to help you get started:

1. Choose a consonant or a pair of consonants as the initial sound or letter to create the basis for alliteration and consonance.
2. Incorporate elements like alliteration, consonance, assonance, similar but distinct sounds, a theme, and even a narrative to your tongue twister for added complexity. A rhyming dictionary can be very helpful for this step.
3. Make sure to practice saying it multiple times quickly and have others try it to find common stumbling points.

Who knows, you might end up creating the next famous tongue twister!

Benefits of practicing tongue twisters

Repeatedly practicing tongue twisters strengthens the neurological pathways associated with speech, enhancing the coordination between the brain and the muscles involved in producing each sound.

They can help children and adults of any age as they learn to speak English, particularly if they have trouble pronouncing certain words, distinguishing between certain sounds, or understanding the rhythm of the language.

The sense of accomplishment you get from mastering tongue twisters can boost your confidence in general conversation and public speaking, too.

So, whether you’re a language learner, a public speaker, a parent, or a teacher, we hope you have enjoyed this selection of fun tongue twisters, from easy to hard, and that your tongue didn’t get too tangled in the process!

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