Ways to use this list
- Drama and speech warm-ups: say the twister slowly as a group, then twice as fast, then three times in a row as fast as you can without a slip.
- Phonics fun with 5 and 6 year olds: Red lorry, yellow lorry is a workout for the r and l sounds that young children often swap.
- English learners: Thin sticks, thick bricks practises the th sound, and Sheep should sleep in a shed practises s and sh.
- A party round: anyone who fumbles a twister passes the phone on, and the last person still talking clearly wins.
- Make your own: pick a letter on the random letter generator, write three words that start with it, then add a verb.
Press Spin the wheel, tap the game or press the Space bar. Change the list in the box as you
like: add your own, delete what doesn't suit you, or write *2 after an entry to give it double the
chance. The game buttons switch the same list to a duck race, hat, claw machine and more.
The full list (47 entries)
- She sells seashells by the seashore
- Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers
- How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
- Red lorry, yellow lorry
- Unique New York
- Toy boat, toy boat, toy boat
- Betty Botter bought some butter, but the butter was bitter
- A proper copper coffee pot
- Six slippery snails slid slowly seaward
- Rubber baby buggy bumpers
- Eleven benevolent elephants
- Fred fed Ted bread, and Ted fed Fred bread
- I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream
- Truly rural
- Red leather, yellow leather
- Six sticky skeletons
- Four fine fresh fish for you
- Black background, brown background
- A big black bug bit a big black bear
- Which witch is which?
- Freshly fried flying fish
- Silly Sally swiftly shooed seven silly sheep
- Can you can a can as a canner can can a can?
- A skunk sat on a stump and thunk the stump stunk
- Pad kid poured curd pulled cod
- Three free throws
- Thin sticks, thick bricks
- Green glass globes glow greenly
- Selfish shellfish
- Kitty caught the kitten in the kitchen
- Many an anemone sees an enemy anemone
- Larry sent the letter later
- Round the rugged rock the ragged rascal ran
- Clean clams crammed in clean cans
- Mixed biscuits
- Specific Pacific
- Good blood, bad blood
- Eddie edited it
- Lesser leather never weathered wetter weather better
- Wayne went to Wales to watch walruses
- Cooks cook cupcakes quickly
- Bake big batches of bitter brown bread
- Gobbling gargoyles gobbled gobbling goblins
- Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager
- Nine nice night nurses nursing nicely
- Sheep should sleep in a shed
- Swan swam over the sea. Swim, swan, swim
📖 Related guide: Who goes first? 12 fair ways to decide
Questions people ask
What is the hardest tongue twister?
Speech scientists at MIT reported in 2013 that "Pad kid poured curd pulled cod" was the hardest in their tests: some volunteers simply stopped talking. Unique New York and Red leather, yellow leather are close behind.
How do I make up my own tongue twister?
Choose two sounds that are easy to mix up, such as s and sh or p and b, and build a short sentence that keeps swapping between them. Short twisters said fast are often harder than long ones.
Why do actors and presenters use tongue twisters?
They wake up the lips, tongue and jaw before a show or a broadcast, so every sound comes out clearly. Saying one slowly and precisely is better practice than racing through it.
Which tongue twisters are best for young children?
Short ones with fun pictures in them: Toy boat, Six sticky skeletons, Which witch is which? and Fred fed Ted bread. Press Easy for a set that a five year old can say at least once.