Top 25 Tough Tongue Twisters

While tongue twisters in general are excellent for pronunciation, you can use specific ones to work on specific weaknesses. If your students tend to have problems with consonant blends, for example, you’ll want to use twists that encourage the correct pronunciation of those.

Get your quiet students talking with a few of these beauties!

Consonant Blends

Two consonants that form a blended sound can be hard for new English speakers. Build up their confidence with these:

1. She sells seashells by the seashore
2. I saw a kitten eating chicken in the kitchen
3. I thought I thought of thinking of thanking you
4. Slim slam slap
5. A big black bug snoozed on a big black rug
6. He threw three free throws
7. Thin sticks, thick bricks
8. Fred fed Ted bread and Ted fed Fred bread

L vs. R

Some of your students may have difficulty saying L and R. Asian language speakers often confuse the two letter sounds, so these tongue twisters are perfect practice.

1. Red lorry, yellow lorry
2. Truly rural
3. I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream
4. Rolling red wagons
5. Red blood, bad blood

B vs. V

Spanish speakers frequently pronounce these two letters the same way, making it very hard to hear the difference. These rhymes will get your students speaking clearer.

1. Blue blurry vines blind 
2. Betty loves the velvet vest best
3. Barber baby bubbles and a bumblebee
4. Burnt base, vicious  vase
5. Vivacious Val vacuumed Violet’s very vivid vehicle

Vowels

The correct pronunciation of vowels is essential if your students are going to be fluent in their new language. These tongue twisters will give them plenty of practice with enunciating their vowels.

1. Eddie edited Earl’s easy music
2. Gooey gopher guts
3. Excited executioner exercising his excising powers excessively
4. Annie ate eight Arctic apples
5. An orange oval spooks the odd operative
6. An awful aardvark and an aching ape ate an antelope

Bonus Twists

These ones can be a good way to fill a little extra time between classes or simply to break the tension in a classroom. Better yet, ask your students to share tongue twisters in their native language, too. Nothing is more entertaining than seeing the teacher attempt a funny twist in another language!

1. Printed papers under pressure make pens prickle
2. The poor boar pours batter over his putter
3. Six sticky skeletons
4. Thunder sunders thick sticks

If you find success with this pronunciation practice, make sure you always keep an eye out for more twisters to help your class speak as accurately and accessibly as possible. Everyone loves a good jumble… you can even make your own!

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