100 Tongue Twisters, From Easy to Genuinely Impossible

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Girl laughing while attempting a tongue twister

A tongue twister is a sentence engineered to make your mouth betray you. The good ones are not just hard, they are hard in a specific way, where two sounds sit close enough together that your tongue picks the wrong one and everybody hears it happen. I have sorted these by how badly they hurt. The first section is fine for a five year old. The last section contains sentences that professional voice actors use as warm ups, and several of them beat me every time. The rule that makes any of this fun is that you have to say it three times fast. Once is not a test of anything. Three times is where your mouth gives up and starts inventing new words. If you are using these in a classroom, that rule is also what turns a list into a game.

What you will find here

Easy tongue twisters for kids

Short, clean, and achievable. Good for younger children who want to win.

  1. Red lorry, yellow lorry.
  2. Toy boat.
  3. Unique New York.
  4. She sells seashells.
  5. Big black bug.
  6. Four fine fresh fish.
  7. Truly rural.
  8. Green glass globes.
  9. Blue bluebird.
  10. Six sleek swans swam south.
  11. Eleven benevolent elephants.
  12. Six sticky skeletons.
  13. Flash message.
  14. A proper copper coffee pot.
  15. Cooks cook cupcakes quickly.
  16. Nine nice night nurses.

Toy boat looks like nothing written down. Say it five times and watch it turn into a completely different word around the third go.

Classic tongue twisters everyone knows

The famous ones. You probably know the first line of most of these already.

  1. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked.
  2. She sells seashells by the seashore, and the shells she sells are surely seashells.
  3. How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
  4. Betty Botter bought some butter, but she said the butter’s bitter.
  5. Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear. Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair. Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn’t very fuzzy, was he?
  6. I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream.
  7. A skunk sat on a stump and thunk the stump stunk, but the stump thunk the skunk stunk.
  8. How can a clam cram in a clean cream can?
  9. If a dog chews shoes, whose shoes does he choose?
  10. Whether the weather is warm, whether the weather is hot, we have to put up with the weather, whether we like it or not.
  11. Can you can a can as a canner can can a can?
  12. I saw Susie sitting in a shoeshine shop.
  13. Fred fed Ted bread and Ted fed Fred bread.
  14. Betty and Bob brought back blue balloons from the big bazaar.

Short ones that are harder than they look

These are three or four words long and considerably meaner than the paragraph length ones above.

  1. Irish wristwatch.
  2. Rural juror.
  3. Willy’s real rear wheel.
  4. The sixth sick sheikh’s sixth sheep’s sick.
  5. Pad kid poured curd pulled cod.
  6. Good bread, bad bread.
  7. Thin sticks, thick bricks.
  8. Selfish shellfish.
  9. Crisp crusts crackle.
  10. Freshly fried flying fish.
  11. Which wristwatches are Swiss wristwatches?
  12. Lesser leather never weathered wetter weather better.
  13. Six slippery snails slid slowly seaward.
  14. Black background, brown background.
  15. Send toast ten to ten, ten to ten send toast.
  16. Really leery, rarely Larry.

Irish wristwatch is the one I have never once completed three times. I have made peace with it.

Longer tongue twisters to perform

These reward practice. They are the ones worth actually learning.

  1. Theophilus Thistle, the successful thistle sifter, sifted a sieve of unsifted thistles.
  2. A tutor who tooted the flute tried to tutor two tooters to toot. Said the two to the tutor, is it harder to toot or to tutor two tooters to toot?
  3. Denise sees the fleece, Denise sees the fleas, at least Denise could sneeze and feed and freeze the fleas.
  4. Mr See owned a saw and Mr Soar owned a seesaw. Now See’s saw sawed Soar’s seesaw before Soar saw See.
  5. If you must cross a coarse cross cow across a crowded cow crossing, cross the cross coarse cow across the crowded cow crossing carefully.
  6. The thirty three thieves thought that they thrilled the throne throughout Thursday.
  7. Around the rugged rocks the ragged rascal ran.
  8. Give papa a cup of proper coffee in a copper coffee cup.
  9. Roberta ran rings around the Roman ruins.
  10. Wayne went to Wales to watch walruses.
  11. Nine nimble noblemen nibbling nuts.
  12. A loyal warrior will rarely worry why we rule.
  13. Brisk brave brigadiers brandished broad bright blades.

Tongue twisters that beat almost everyone

The final section. Say any of these three times cleanly and you have earned something.

  1. The sixth sick sheikh’s sixth sheep’s sick. This is often called the hardest tongue twister in English.
  2. Pad kid poured curd pulled cod. Researchers at MIT used this one and found people simply stopped being able to speak.
  3. Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.
  4. The seething sea ceaseth and thus the seething sea sufficeth us.
  5. Amidst the mists and coldest frosts, with barest wrists and stoutest boasts, he thrusts his fists against the posts and still insists he sees the ghosts.
  6. One smart fellow, he felt smart. Two smart fellows, they felt smart. Three smart fellows, they all felt smart.
  7. I slit the sheet, the sheet I slit, and on the slitted sheet I sit.
  8. A pessimistic pest exists amidst us.
  9. Shep Schwab shopped at Scott’s Schnapps shop, one shot of Scott’s Schnapps stopped Schwab’s watch.
  10. Something in a thirty acre thermal thicket of thorns and thistles thumped and thundered.
  11. Six sharp smart sharks.
  12. Ripe white wheat reapers reap ripe white wheat right.

The MIT one is real. A speech research team found that pad kid poured curd pulled cod caused people to stop talking altogether rather than mispronounce it, which is a genuinely strange result.

Tongue twisters for speech practice

These target one sound each, which is why speech therapists and singers use this kind rather than the funny ones.

  1. S sound. Sally’s silly sister sold seven silver spoons.
  2. R sound. Rory the warrior and Roger the worrier were reared wrongly in a rural brewery.
  3. L sound. Lucy likes light literature less than little lively lyrics.
  4. TH sound. The thirty three thankful thinkers thanked them thoroughly.
  5. P and B. Purple paper people, purple paper people.
  6. K and G. Kindly Katie kicked a green gate gently.
  7. F and V. Vivid violet vines flourish vividly.
  8. CH and SH. Cheerful children chase shiny shells.
  9. T and D. Two toads totally tired trying to trot to Tewkesbury.
  10. M and N. Many merry men making merry music in the moonlight.
  11. W sound. William wanted warm water while working with wide wooden wheels.
  12. Mixed vowels. How now brown cow, now how brown cow now.
  13. S and TH together. Sixth sense, sixth sense.
  14. Hard C. Cross crossings cautiously.
  15. Soft G. Gently judge a giant gesture.
  16. Long E. Each eagle eagerly eats.
  17. B and P pairs. Bobby brought back big purple parcels.

Funny tongue twisters

These are built to make you laugh as much as to trip you up, which makes them the best ones for a group.

  1. A flea and a fly flew up in a flue. Said the flea, let us fly. Said the fly, let us flee.
  2. I wish to wish the wish you wish to wish, but if you wish the wish the witch wishes, I will not wish the wish you wish to wish.
  3. How many cans can a canner can if a canner can can cans?
  4. Sheena leads, Sheila needs.
  5. Two tried and true tridents.
  6. Nick knits Nick’s knickers.
  7. Which witch switched the Swiss wristwatches?
  8. Stop chop shops selling chop suey.
  9. A big black bug bumped a big brown bear and made the big brown bear bounce.
  10. If two witches were watching two watches, which witch would watch which watch?
  11. Scissors sizzle, thistles sizzle.
  12. Fresh French fried fly fritters.

The flea and the fly is the only tongue twister that is also a genuinely decent joke, which is why it has survived about two hundred years.

More jokes to try next

Before you go

The trick nobody tells you is to go slowly first. Say the hard one four times at half speed, get your mouth used to the shape, then speed up. It feels like cheating and it is how every voice actor learns them.

Questions people ask

What is the hardest tongue twister in English?

Two get named most often. The sixth sick sheikh’s sixth sheep’s sick has been called the hardest by dictionary editors, and pad kid poured curd pulled cod came out of a speech research study where people stopped speaking entirely rather than get it wrong.

Why are tongue twisters hard to say?

They put similar sounds close together, so the instruction your brain sends your mouth gets confused with the one just before it. The effect is strongest with pairs like s and sh, or p and b.

Do tongue twisters help with speech?

Speech therapists and singers use them as warm ups because they force precise control of the tongue and lips. The last section here is built that way, one target sound each.

What age can children start tongue twisters?

Around four or five for the short ones. The first section is written for exactly that, with two and three word twisters that a young child can actually win at.

What is the rule for saying them properly?

Three times fast, out loud. Once proves nothing, and saying them slowly removes the entire difficulty.


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