Tongue Twisters: Best, Hard, Funny
This list of tongue twisters covers all types, including funny, difficult, short, and story-length twisters. Say them fast or say them slowly – either way, you are sure to find the perfect line to twist and tangle your tongue!
Top 10 best tongue twisters
1.) Betty bought butter, but the butter was bitter, so Betty bought better butter to make the bitter butter better.
2.) Many an anemone sees an enemy anemone.
3.) She sifted thistles through her thistle-sifter. Success to the successful thistle-sifter!
4.) Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager managing an imaginary menagerie.
5.) There was a young fisher named Fischer
Who fished for a fish in a fissure.
The fish with a grin,
Pulled the fisherman in;
Now they’re fishing the fissure for Fischer.
6.) Brisk brave brigadiers brandished broad bright blades, blunderbusses, and bludgeons balancing them badly.
7.) Who washed Washington’s white woolen underwear when Washington’s washerwoman went west?
8.) Silly Sally swiftly shooed seven silly sheep.
The seven silly sheep Silly Sally shooed
shilly-shallied south.
These sheep shouldn’t sleep in a shack;
sheep should sleep in a shed.
9.) Gertie’s great-grandma grew aghast at Gertie’s grammar.
10.) The ochre ogre ogled the poker.
Funny tongue twisters to tangle your tongue
11.) Any noise annoys an oyster, but a noisy noise annoys an oyster more.
12.) Of all the felt I ever felt,
I never felt a piece of felt
which felt as fine as that felt felt,
when first I felt that felt hat’s felt.
13.) Lesser leather never weathered wetter weather better.
14.) Give me the gift of a grip top sock:
a drip-drape, ship-shape, tip-top sock.
15.) Betty and Bob brought back blue balloons from the big bazaar.
16.) Tim, the thin twin tinsmith.
17.) One smart fellow, he felt smart.
Two smart fellows, they felt smart.
Three smart fellows, they all felt smart.
18.) Fred fed Ted bread, and Ted fed Fred bread.
19.) Cows graze in groves on grass which grows in grooves in groves.
Hilarious
20.) My dame hath a lame tame crane,
My dame hath a crane that is lame.
21.) One-One was a racehorse.
Two-Two was one, too.
When One-One won one race,
Two-Two won one, too.
22.) A big black bug bit a big black bear made the big black bear bleed blood.
23.) A lusty lady loved a lawyer and longed to lure him from his laboratory.
24.) Once upon a barren moor
There dwelt a bear, also a boar.
The bear could not bear the boar.
The boar thought the bear a bore.
At last, the bear could bear no more
Of that boar that bored him on the moor,
And so one morn he bored the boar—
That boar will bore the bear no more.
A mouthful
25.) Hi-tech traveling tractor-trailer truck tracker.
26.) Don’t pamper damp scamp tramps that camp under ramp lamps.
27.) I saw Esau kissing Kate. I saw Esau, he saw me, and she saw I saw Esau.
28.) Old oily Ollie oils old oily autos.
29.) A flea and a fly flew up in a flue.
Said the flea, “Let us fly!”
Said the fly, “Let us flee!”
So they flew through a flaw in the flue.
30.) What a shame such a shapely sash should such shabby stitches show.
31.) A pleasant place to place a plaice is a place where a plaice is pleased to be placed.
32.) I am not the pheasant plucker. I’m the pheasant plucker’s mate. I am only plucking pheasants ’cause the pheasant plucker’s running late.
33.) Two Truckee truckers truculently truckling to have truck to truck two trucks of truck.
34.) I slit a sheet, a sheet I slit. Upon the slitted sheet, I sit.
35.) Kris Kringle carefully crunched on candy canes.
36.) To begin to toboggan first, buy a toboggan, but don’t buy too big a toboggan. Too big a toboggan is too big a toboggan to buy to begin to toboggan.
37.) A bloke’s back bike brake block broke.
38.) The sawingest saw I ever saw was the saw I saw in Arkansas.
Famous Tongue Twisters
39.) The bottom of the butter bucket is the buttered bucket bottom.
40.) Sarah sitting in her Chevrolet,
All she does is sits and shifts,
All she does is sits and shifts.
41.) Does your sports shop stock short socks with spots?
42.) I need not your needles. They’re needless to me;
For kneading of noodles, ’twere needless, you see;
But did my neat knickers but need to be kneed,
I then should have need of your needles indeed.
Difficult sentences to say
43.) Many mumbling mice are making merry music in the moonlight.
44.) The crow flew over the river with a lump of raw liver.
45.) She saw Sharif’s shoes on the sofa. But was she so sure those were Sharif’s shoes she saw?
46.) Say this sharply, say this sweetly,
Say this shortly, say this softly.
And, say this sixteen times in succession.
47.) I cannot bear to see a bear
Bear down upon a hare.
When bare of hair, he strips the hare,
Right there, I cry, “Forbear!”
48.) Thank the other three brothers of their father’s mother’s brother’s side.
49.) Rory the warrior and Roger, the worrier, were reared wrongly in a rural brewery.
50.) What time does the wristwatch strap shop shut?
51.) Hassock hassock, black spotted hassock. Black spot on a black back of a black spotted hassock.
52.) Mix a box of mixed biscuits with a boxed biscuit mixer.
53.) The blue bluebird blinks.
54.) Did Dick Pickens prick his pinkie pickling cheap cling peaches in an inch of Pinch or framing his famed French finch photos?
55.) Six sticky sucker sticks.
Awesome tongue twisters for kids
56.) A noisy noise annoys an oyster.
57.) If a black bug bleeds black blood, what color blood does a blue bug bleed?
58.) Kindly kittens knitting mittens keep kazooing in the king’s kitchen.
59.) Sam’s shop stocks short spotted socks.
60.) Are our oars oak?
61.) A big black bug bit a big black bear,
made the big black bear bleed blood.
62.) I thought a thought.
But the thought I thought wasn’t the thought
I thought I thought.
Fat frogs fly
63.) Fat frogs flying past fast.
64.) No need to light a night-light on a light night like tonight.
65.) Swan swam over the sea, Swim, swan, swim! Swan swam back again. Well, swum, swan!
66.) Which wristwatches are Swiss wristwatches?
67.) The myth of Miss Muffet.
68.) Give papa a cup of proper coffee in a copper coffee cup.
69.) Mix, Miss Mix!
70.) The two-twenty-two train tore through the tunnel.
71.) Cedar shingles should be shaved and saved.
72.) We surely shall see the sunshine soon.
73.) Friendly Frank flips fine flapjacks.
74.) Three gray geese in the green grass grazing. Grays were the geese, and green was the grass.
75.) On mules, we find two legs behind and two we find before. We stand behind before we find what those behind be for.
76.) Give Mr. Snipa’s wife’s knife a swipe.
77.) If you notice this notice, you will notice that this notice is not worth noticing.
English pronunciation test
78.) Irish wristwatch.
79.) Which witch wished which wicked wish?
80.) Will you, William?
81.) Crisp crusts crackle crunchily.
82.) Six shimmering sharks sharply striking shins.
83.) If Stu chews shoes, should Stu choose the shoes he chews?
84.) Sly Sam slurps Sally’s soup.
85.) If two witches were watching two watches: which witch would watch which watch?
86.) Six sick slick slim sycamore saplings.
87.) I saw Susie sitting in a shoeshine shop.
A few classic tongue twisters
88.) Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
Did Peter Piper pick a peck of pickled peppers?
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?
89.) How much wood would a woodchuck chuck
if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
He would chuck, he would, as much as he could,
and chuck as much wood as a woodchuck would
if a woodchuck could chuck wood.
90.) Ruby Rugby’s brother bought and brought her back some rubber baby-buggy bumpers.
91.) She sells seashells by the seashore.
The shells she sells are surely seashells.
So if she sells shells on the seashore,
I’m sure she sells seashore shells.
Kids will love these: Repeat three times fast!
92.) Red lorry, yellow lorry.
93.) Inchworms itching.
94.) Sixish.
95.) Lovely lemon liniment.
96.) Toy boat.
97.) Greek grapes.
98.) Truly rural.
99.) Six sharp, smart sharks.
100.) Tragedy strategy.
101.) Shredded Swiss cheese.
102.) Please pay promptly.
103.) Flash message!
104.) Two toads, totally tired.
105.) Girl gargoyle, guy gargoyle.
106.) Cheap ship trip.
107.) Selfish shellfish.
108.) Pacific Lithograph.
109.) Good blood, bad blood.
110.) Black bug’s blood.
111.) Knapsack straps.
112.) Peggy Babcock.
Some of the hardest tongue twisters
113.) A skunk sat on a stump and thunk the stump stunk, but the stump thunk the skunk stunk.
114.) Suddenly swerving, seven small swans
Swam silently southward,
Seeing six swift sailboats
Sailing sedately seaward.
115.) She stood on the balcony
inexplicably mimicking him hiccupping,
and amicably welcoming him home.
116.) Untwirling the twine that untwisted between,
He twirls, with his twister, the two in a twine;
Then twice, having twisted the twines of the twine,
He twitcheth the twice he had twined in twain.
117.) Amidst the mists and coldest frosts,
with stoutest wrists and loudest boasts,
he thrusts his fist against the posts
and still insists he sees the ghosts.
118.) The seething seas ceaseth and twiceth the seething seas sufficeth us.
119.) If one doctor doctors another doctor, does the doctor
who doctors the doctor doctor the doctor the way the
doctor he is doctoring doctors? Or does he doctor
the doctor the way the doctor who doctors doctors?
120.) Whereat with blade,
with bloody, blameful blade,
he bravely broached his boiling bloody breast.
121.) While we were walking, we were watching window washers wash Washington’s windows with warm washing water.
Pronunciation challenges
122.) Pick a partner and practice passing,
for if you pass proficiently,
perhaps you’ll play professionally.
123.) I slit the sheet, the sheet I slit, and on the slitted sheet, I sit.
124.) Six thick thistle sticks. Six thick thistles stick.
125.) They have left the thrift shop and lost both their theatre tickets and the volume of valuable licenses and coupons for free theatrical frills and thrills.
126.) The twain that in twining before in the twine,
As twines were intwisted he now doth untwine;
Twist the twain inter-twisting a twine more between,
He, twirling his twister, makes a twist of the twine.
127.) “Surely Sylvia swims!” shrieked Sammy, surprised.
“Someone should show Sylvia some strokes so she shall not sink.”
128.) If you stick a stock of liquor in your locker,
It’s slick to stick a lock upon your stock,
Or some stickler who is slicker
Will stick you of your liquor
If you fail to lock your liquor
With a lock!
129.) Super-duper storm troopers whoop it up at Death Star groupers: helmet thrashing, rebel bashing, laser-blasting at party poopers.
Short tongue twisters
130.) Rory’s lawn rake rarely rakes, really, right.
131.) She sold six shabby sheared sheep on ship.
132.) Quick kiss. Quicker kiss.
133.) Freshly fried fresh flesh.
134.) Brad’s big black bath brush broke.
135.) Shy Shelly says she shall sew sheets.
136.) Chop shops stock chops.
137.) Betty better butter Brad’s bread.
138.) Nine nice night nurses nursing nicely.
139.) They both, though, have thirty-three thick thimbles to thaw.
140.) Shelter for six sick scenic sightseers.
141.) Preshrunk silk shirts.
142.) The bootblack bought the black boot back.
143.) The soldiers shouldered shooters on their shoulders.
144.) The epitome of femininity.
145.) Flee from fog to fight flu fast!
146.) Strange strategic statistics.
147.) Vincent vowed vengeance very vehemently.
148.) The Leith police dismisseth us.
149.) Sure the ship’s shipshape, sir.
150.) Plague-bearing prairie dogs.
151.) Six short slow shepherds.
152.) I correctly recollect Rebecca MacGregor’s reckoning.
153.) Three twigs twined tightly.
154.) Six twin screwed steel steam cruisers.
155.) The sixth sick sheik’s sixth sheep’s sick.
156.) Lily ladles little Letty’s lentil soup.
157.) Twelve twins twirled twelve twigs.
158.) Six slippery snails slid slowly seaward.
159.) Freshly-fried flying fish.
160.) The bootblack brought the black boot back.
161.) Pope Sixtus VI’s six texts.
162.) Listen to the local yokel yodel.
Best Tongue Twisters Meme
Quick Sayings
163.) Thieves seize skis.
164.) Ed had edited it.
165.) You know you need unique New York.
166.) Is this your sister’s sixth zither, sir?
167.) Mrs. Smith’s fish-sauce shop.
168.) Three free throws.
169.) Moose noshing much mush.
170.) The eligible but gullible bachelor bought bluebonnets.
171.) Shave a single shingle thin.
172.) On a lazy laser raiser lies a laser ray eraser.
Difficult stories to pronounce
173.) Betty Botter had some butter,
“But,” she said, “this butter’s bitter.
If I bake this bitter butter,
it will make my batter bitter.
But a bit of better butter–
that would make my batter better.”
174.) Pretty Kitty Creighton had a cotton batten cat.
The cotton batten cat was bitten by a rat.
The kitten that was bitten had a button for an eye,
And biting off the button made the cotton batten fly.
175.) Mr. See owned a saw.
And Mr. Soar owned a seesaw.
Now See’s saw sawed Soar’s seesaw.
Before Soar saw See,
Which made Soar sore.
Had Soar seen See’s saw
Before See sawed Soar’s seesaw,
See’s saw would not have sawed
Soar’s seesaw.
So See’s saw sawed Soar’s seesaw.
But it was sad to see Soar so sore
Just because See’s saw sawed
Soar’s seesaw!
176.) Theophilus Thistle, the successful thistle-sifter,
in sifting a sieve full of un-sifted thistles,
thrust three thousand thistles through the thick of his thumb.
Now…..if Theophilus Thistle, the successful thistle-sifter,
in sifting a sieve full of un-sifted thistles,
thrust three thousand thistles through the thick of his thumb,
see that thou, in sifting a sieve full of un-sifted thistles,
thrust not three thousand thistles through the thick of thy thumb.
177.) A bitter biting bittern
Bit a better brother bittern,
And the bitter better bittern
Bit the bitter biter back.
And the bitter bittern, bitten,
By the better bitten bittern,
Said: “I’m a bitter biter bit, alack!”
List of tongue twisters
178.) A tree toad loved a she-toad
Who lived up in a tree.
He was a two-toed tree toad.
But a three-toed toad was she.
The two-toed tree toad tried to win
The three-toed she-toad’s heart,
For the two-toed tree toad loved the ground
That the three-toed tree toad trod.
But the two-toed tree toad tried in vain.
He couldn’t please her whim.
From her tree toad bower
With her three-toed power
The she-toad vetoed him.
More story tongue twisters
179.) Susan shineth shoes and socks;
socks and shoes shine, Susan.
She ceased shining shoes and socks,
for shoes and socks shock Susan.
180.) If a Hottentot taught a Hottentot tot
To talk ere the tot could totter,
Ought the Hottentot tot
Be taught to say aught or naught,
Or what ought to be taught her?
If to hoot and to toot a Hottentot tot
Be taught by her Hottentot tutor,
Ought the tutor get hot
If the Hottentot tot
Hoot and toot at her Hottentot tutor?
181.) When a twister a-twisting will twist him a twist,
For the twisting of his twist, he three twines doth intwist;
But if one of the twines of the twist do untwist,
The twine that untwisteth untwisteth the twist.
182.) You’ve no need to light a night-light
On a light night like tonight,
For a night-light’s light’s a slight light,
And tonight’s a night that’s light.
When a night’s light, like tonight’s light,
It is really not quite right
To light night-lights with their slight lights
On a light night like tonight.
183.) A Tudor who tooted a flute
tried to tutor two tooters to toot.
Said the two to their tutor,
“Is it harder to toot
or to tutor two tooters to toot?”
Rapid speech quiz
184.) Ned Nott was shot
, and Sam Shott was not.
So it is better to be Shott
than Nott.
Some say Nott
was not shot.
But Shott says
he shot Nott.
Either the shot Shott shot at Nott
was not shot.
185.) So she bought a bit of butter,
better than her bitter butter,
and she baked it in her batter,
and the batter was not bitter.
So ’twas better Betty Botter
bought a bit of better butter.
Bonus Tongue Twisters
I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!
The thirty-three thieves thought that they thrilled the throne throughout Thursday.
Pad kid poured curd-pulled cod.
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 with 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.
Six sick hicks nick six slick bricks with picks and sticks.
How can a clam cram in a clean cream can?
Send toast to ten tense stout saints’ ten tall tents.
Round the rough and rugged rock, the ragged rascal rudely ran.
Through three cheese trees, three free fleas flew.
Yellow butter, purple jelly, red jam, black bread. Spread it thick; say it quick!
How to use these tongue twisters
Reciting tongue twisters out loud is a great way to practice verbal dexterity. Warm up your lips by selecting a short phrase or two. Repeat each line three times. Start slowly and then pick up the pace.
You’ll find that the faster you go, the harder it gets. Now choose a difficult twister and see how fast you can read it. Concentrate on each word and sound out each syllable before moving on to the next word. Master each twister by repeating the line as fast as possible.
Use these tongue twisters to challenge your friends. Make it a competition to see who can say the most without error. Good for a laugh at any social event!
By Greg Johnson
Greg has a much easier time with his name than his cousin Jerry Jeff Johnson. Greg follows his Minnesota sports teams, including the Gophers and the Vikings, when not compiling tongue twisters.
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