Do tongue twisters REALLY help to

improve your pronunciation?

YES! Tongue twisters have long been used to perfect
people's speech. Actors, TV presenters and public
speakers often use them to warm up and articulate
sounds clearly during their performance.

What is a tongue twister?

A tongue twister is a phrase or sentence that is difficult to say, usually because of
the repetition of similar sounds. They are fun to practise because you are
supposed to say them quickly and accurately without stumbling over the words and
getting tongue-tied (which is often very difficult!)

Tongue twisters can certainly help you to improve YOUR pronunciation. Regular
practice will improve clarity and your articulation of English sounds.

Of the 50 tongue twisters I’m sharing with you here, you’ll find some of them easier
than others. Make sure you highlight the ones where you really get stuck or
tongue-tied - these are the ones you need to spend more time practising.

Take it slowly at first - speed can come once you have got comfortable with the
sounds and sound combinations, OK? It’s not a race!

50 TONGUE TWISTERS
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Do you know which English sounds are difficult for you to produce when you speak
in English? If you are not sure, I recommend you take a look at this lesson and note
down the sounds that you need to practise below.

Sounds I need to work on:

Notes
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YouTube lesson:
50 Tongue Twisters
 Tongue Twisters (Consonant focus)
/h/ A happy hippo hopped and hiccuped

/k/ Cooks cook cupcakes quickly

/g/ /b/ Gobbling gargoyals gobbled gobbling goblins

/s/ /z/ Scissors sizzle thistles sizzle

/s/ /ʃ/ She sells seashells by the seashore

selfish shellfish

/z/ Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear. Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair. Fuzzy
Wuzzy wasn’t very fuzzy, was he?

/ʃ/ /s/ /ʧ/ She sees cheese

/ʃ/ /ʧ/ If a dog chews shoes, whose shoes does he choose?

50 TONGUE TWISTERS
/k/ /ʧ/ I saw a kitten eating chicken in the kitchen.
/θ/ He threw three free throws

I thought I thought of thinking of thanking you.

Thirty-three thirsty, thundering thoroughbreds thumped Mr

Thurber on Thursday

/θ/ /ð/ English can be understood through tough, thorough thought

though.

The thirty-three thieves thought that they thrilled the throne

throughout Thursday

YouTube lesson:
50 Tongue Twisters
 Tongue Twisters (Consonant focus)
/w/ Wayne went to Wales to watch walruses

/w/ /ʧ/ How much would would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck

could chuck wood?

/f/ Fourty-four fine fresh fish for you

/f/ /v/ Eleven benevolent elephants

/r/ Round and round the rugged rocks the ragged rascal ran

/l/ Linda-Lou Lambert loves lemon lollipop lip gloss.

/r/ /l/ Red lorry, yellow lorry

Really leery, rarely Larry

50 TONGUE TWISTERS
Lucky rabbits like to cause a ruckus

Truly rural

/r/ /w/ Willy’s real rear wheel

Rory the warrior and Roger the worrier were reared wrongly
in a rural brewery

/l/ /w/ Lesser leather never weathered wetter weather better

/l/ /n/ No need to light a night-light on a light night like tonight

/j/ /n/ You know New York, you need New York, you know you
need unique New York

YouTube lesson:
50 Tongue Twisters
 Tongue Twisters (Vowel focus)
/e/ /ɒ/ /ɔ:/ /ʌ/ Betty Botter bought some butter

/i:/ /eɪ/ /aʊ/ The great Greek grape growers

/ɪə/ Near an ear, a nearer ear, a nearly eerie ear

/ɜ:/ /aɪ/ Birdie birdie in the sky, laid a turdie in my eye

Nine nice night nurses nursing nicely

/i:/ /aɪ/ /ɪ/ /e/ Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers
A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked

Tongue Twisters (Consonant Cluster focus)

/ks/ /st/ /sk/ six sticky skeletons

50 TONGUE TWISTERS
/tw/ twelve twins twirled twelve twigs

/kl/ /kr/ How can a clam cram in a clean cream can?

/sw/ /sl/ /ks/ Six sleek swans swam swiftly southwards

/tr/ /str/ /ks/ Trust the strategy before tragedy strikes

/ks/ /st/ /sk/ A skunk sat on a stump and thunk the stump stunk, but the
stump thunk the skunk stunk.

/ks/ /kt/ six sick hicks nicked six slick bricks with picks and sticks

/br/ /bl/ Brian brewed beer with a black bear’s blood and broke the
bag he brought it in

/fr/ /br/ Fred fed Ted bread and Ted fed Fred bread

YouTube lesson:
50 Tongue Twisters
 Tongue Twisters (Vowel focus)
/ps/ Top chopstick shops stock top chopsticks.

/ks/ The sixth sick sheikh’s sixth sheep’s sick.

Longer Tongue Twisters

Betty bought butter but the butter was bitter, so Betty bought better
butter to make the bitter butter better.

Susie works in a shoeshine shop. Where she shines she sits, and
where she sits she shines.

If practice makes perfect and perfect needs practice, I’m perfectly

practised and practically perfect.

50 TONGUE TWISTERS
BONUS Twisters!
If you must cross a coarse cross cow across a crowded cow
crossing, cross the cross coarse cow across the crowded cow
crossing carefully.

I thought a thought. But the thought I thought wasn’t the thought I

thought I thought. If the thought I thought I thought had been the
thought I thought, I wouldn’t have thought I thought.

Do you know any other tongue twisters?

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YouTube lesson:
50 Tongue Twisters