Tongue Twisters

What it does

A tongue twister is a phrase packed with similar sounds, so it's hard to say quickly. This page picks one at random from our collection, which mixes traditional twisters with new ones we wrote ourselves.

Choose a difficulty and a category, and tap read it to me to hear the twister spoken by your browser's built-in voice.

How to use it

1. Choose a difficulty. Easy, medium or hard.
2. Pick categories with the chips if you want a theme.
3. Set the age rating. Kids and teens show by default.
4. Press Next (or the Space bar) for a new tongue twister.
5. Tap read it to me to hear how it should sound. The voice comes from your device, so it may differ between phones and computers.
6. Show a list or copy a twister when you want to save it or share it.

How to run a tongue twister challenge

1. Read the twister slowly once, so everyone knows the words.
2. Each player says it three times in a row, as fast as they can.
3. Count the slips. Every stumble, long pause or swapped sound is one mistake.
4. Fewest mistakes wins. For a tie-break, add a fourth time – or move up a difficulty.

Want to make it harder? Ask players to say the twister while clapping a steady beat.

Write your own tongue twister

Making up a twister is a fun challenge for kids and adults alike.

1. Pick a sound, such as "b".
2. Collect words that start with it, plus a few with a close cousin of that sound, such as "bl" and "br".
3. Build a sentence that almost makes sense. Silly is good.
4. Test it. Say it three times fast. If you don't stumble, swap in a word with a trickier sound.

Here's one we made: Brisk Brenda bakes black-and-blue berry bread. Short sentences that switch between similar sounds are the hardest to say.

Ways to use tongue twisters

Clear speech practice

Twisters train your mouth to switch quickly between similar sounds. Many people use one as a warm-up before a talk or a presentation.

Learning English

Lots of twisters focus on sounds that learners find tricky, such as "th", "r" and "l". Listen with read it to me, then repeat.

Classroom warm-ups

A quick twister wakes up a sleepy class. Use easy ones for younger kids and let them try in pairs.

Drama and choir rehearsals

Actors and singers use twisters to loosen up their lips and tongue before a rehearsal or a show.

Party challenge

Take turns with the hard ones and keep score. The mistakes are half the fun.

Tips

• Slow down first. Get every sound right before you speed up.
• Exaggerate. Move your lips and tongue more than you normally would.
• Listen, then repeat. The read it to me button gives you a model to copy.
• Three times fast is when the twist really kicks in.
• More word fun: try the song word game or the rhyme generator.