Hard tongue twisters
These are the twisters that trip up practised speakers. Most alternate sounds made in nearly the same spot in the mouth, so the tongue has to switch position faster than it wants to.
Practise these 42 twisters
Betty Botter bought some butter, but she said the butter's bitter. If I put it in my batter, it will make my batter bitter. But a bit of better butter will make my batter better. So she bought a bit of butter better than her bitter butter, and she put it in her batter, and the batter was not bitter. So 'twas better Betty Botter bought a bit of better butter.
Hard · sounds: b, t · traditional
The consonants barely change, so let the vowels do the work: butter, bitter, better, and batter each need their own distinct vowel.
Say it 3 times fast
Time three clean repetitions.
Clean repetitions
Aim for 5 in a row without a slip.
Record and listen back
How to practise
- Say it once slowly with every consonant crisp before trying for speed.
- Find the exact word where you trip and repeat just that pair ten times.
- Speed up only when three slow repetitions in a row are clean.
All hard tongue twisters, easiest first
- 1.
Betty Botter bought some butter, but she said the butter's bitter. If I put it in my batter, it will make my batter bitter. But a bit of better butter will make my batter better. So she bought a bit of butter better than her bitter butter, and she put it in her batter, and the batter was not bitter. So 'twas better Betty Botter bought a bit of better butter.
Hard · sounds: b, t · traditional
The consonants barely change, so let the vowels do the work: butter, bitter, better, and batter each need their own distinct vowel.
- 2.
Irish wristwatch, Swiss wristwatch.
Hard · sounds: r, sh, s, ch · traditional
Say wrist and watch as two clear beats, moving from the 'st' straight into a rounded 'w' without slipping in an extra 'sh'.
- 3.
Theophilus Thistle, the successful thistle sifter, in sifting a sieve full of unsifted thistles, thrust three thousand thistles through the thick of his thumb. If Theophilus Thistle, the successful thistle sifter, thrust three thousand thistles through the thick of his thumb, see that thou, in sifting a sieve full of unsifted thistles, thrust not three thousand thistles through the thick of thy thumb.
Hard · sounds: th, s, thr · traditional
Place your tongue tip lightly between your teeth for each 'th' and pull it back behind them for each 's', so thistle and sifter never blur.
- 4.
Truly rural.
Hard · sounds: r, l, tr · traditional
Say it slowly first: keep the tongue tip off the roof of your mouth for both 'r' sounds in rural, and touch the gum ridge only for the final 'l'.
- 5.
Pad kid poured curd pulled cod.
Hard · sounds: p, k, d · Created by MIT speech researchers for a 2013 study
The words alternate between a lip 'p' and a back-of-tongue 'k', each ending in 'd', so hold that p-k-p-k pattern steady before you speed up.
- 6.
Many an anemone sees an enemy anemone.
Hard · sounds: m, n · traditional
Break anemone into a-NEM-o-nee and enemy into EN-e-my, closing your lips only for 'm' and lifting your tongue tip for every 'n'.
- 7.
Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.
Hard · sounds: m, n, j · traditional
Anchor the stresses, i-MAJ-in, me-NAJ-er-ee, MAN-ij-er, and keep each soft 'j' quick and light.
- 8.
The thirty-three thieves thought that they thrilled the throne throughout Thursday.
Hard · sounds: th, thr · traditional
Voice the 'th' in the, that, and they, and keep it breathy and voiceless in thirty, thieves, thought, and Thursday.
- 9.
I saw Susie sitting in a shoeshine shop. Where she sits she shines, and where she shines she sits.
Hard · sounds: s, sh · traditional
Spread your lips slightly for 's' and round them for 'sh', so sits and shines never trade their opening sounds.
- 10.
Black background, brown background.
Hard · sounds: bl, br, k, g · traditional
Switch between the 'l' in black and the 'r' in brown, and keep the 'k' and 'g' in background as two separate stops.
- 11.
Fresh fried fish, fish fresh fried, fried fish fresh, fish fried fresh.
Hard · sounds: f, fr, sh · traditional
Keep the 'r' in fresh and fried but never in fish, and round your lips for each final 'sh'.
- 12.
Mix a box of mixed biscuits with a boxed biscuit mixer.
Hard · sounds: ks, b, sk · traditional
Treat every 'x' as a quick 'ks', and keep the final 't' in mixed (mikst) and boxed (bokst).
- 13.
Brisk brave brigadiers brandished broad bright blades, blunderbusses, and bludgeons, balancing them badly.
Hard · sounds: b, br, bl · traditional
Alternate 'br' and 'bl' deliberately, with the tongue pulled back for 'r' and touching the gum ridge for 'l', while the lips stay firm on every 'b'.
- 14.
A skunk sat on a stump and thunk the stump stunk, but the stump thunk the skunk stunk.
Hard · sounds: s, sk, st, th · traditional
Start thunk with the tongue between the teeth and stunk with it behind them; that one small shift is the whole trick.
- 15.
If two witches were watching two watches, which witch would watch which watch?
Hard · sounds: w, ch, tw · traditional
Round your lips for each 'w' and release each 'ch' sharply, keeping the short 'i' in witch distinct from the 'ah' in watch.
- 16.
The great Greek grape growers grow great Greek grapes.
Hard · sounds: g, gr · traditional
Go straight from the back-of-tongue 'g' into the 'r' each time, and give great, Greek, and grape their own final 't', 'k', and 'p'.
- 17.
Cheap ship trip.
Hard · sounds: ch, sh, tr, p · traditional
Start cheap with a full stop of the tongue against the roof of your mouth and ship with friction only, then close your lips on every 'p'.
- 18.
Rory the warrior and Roger the worrier were reared wrongly in a rural brewery.
Hard · sounds: r, w · traditional
Make each 'w' with strongly rounded lips and each 'r' with the tongue pulled back, so warrior, worrier, and were reared stay clear.
- 19.
Willy's real rear wheel.
Hard · sounds: w, r, l · traditional
End real and wheel with the tongue tip on the gum ridge, but keep it pulled back and touching nothing at the end of rear.
- 20.
Peggy Babcock, Peggy Babcock, Peggy Babcock.
Hard · sounds: p, b, g, k · traditional
Close your lips fully on the 'b' in the middle of Babcock before lifting the back of your tongue for the 'k', and stay slow until each repetition is clean.
- 21.
A bloke's back brake block broke.
Hard · sounds: bl, br, k · traditional
Alternate 'bl' and 'br' carefully, and stop each 'k' crisply before your lips close for the next 'b'.
- 22.
Thank the other three brothers of their father's mother's brother's side.
Hard · sounds: th · traditional
Most 'th' sounds here are voiced (the, other, brothers, their, father's, mother's), so keep your voice on except for the breathy 'th' in thank and three.
- 23.
Mrs. Smith's Fish Sauce Shop.
Hard · sounds: s, sh, th · traditional
Move from the 'th-s' at the end of Smith's straight into the 'f' of fish, and keep the 's' of sauce distinct from the 'sh' of shop.
- 24.
Ripe white wheat reapers reap ripe white wheat right.
Hard · sounds: r, w, t · traditional
Round your lips strongly for the 'w' in white and wheat, and pull the tongue back for the 'r' in ripe, reap, and right, so the two never blur together.
- 25.
A pleasant place to place a plaice is a place where a plaice is pleased to be placed.
Hard · sounds: pl, p, s, z · traditional
Keep each 'pl' tight and listen for the buzzing 'z' in pleasant and pleased against the hissing 's' in place, plaice, and placed.
- 26.
Six Czech cricket critics.
Hard · sounds: s, ks, ch, kr · traditional
Czech starts with a 'ch' sound, so move from the 'ks' of six to that 'ch' and then to two firm 'kr' starts in cricket and critics.
- 27.
Crisp crusts crackle crunchily.
Hard · sounds: kr, sp, sts · traditional
Hit the 'kr' at the start of every word, and don't drop the 'sp' at the end of crisp or the 'sts' at the end of crusts.
- 28.
Literally literary.
Hard · sounds: l, r, t · traditional
Literally is lit-er-al-ly and literary is lit-er-ar-y, so the only change is an 'l' becoming an 'r' in the third syllable; keep that switch clean.
- 29.
The rural ruler rarely rules literally.
Hard · sounds: r, l · SceneDub original
Touch the gum ridge with your tongue tip only for the 'l' sounds, and keep it raised but untouched for every 'r' in rural, ruler, and rarely.
- 30.
Raleigh's railroad relied on rarely reliable railcars.
Hard · sounds: r, l · SceneDub original
Nearly every word slides from 'r' to 'l', so practice that move slowly in rail, then keep the same tongue path through the whole line.
- 31.
Earl's girl twirls her curls around a pearl.
Hard · sounds: rl, r, l · SceneDub original
In Earl's, girl, twirls, curls, and pearl, glide from the 'r' straight into the 'l' without adding an extra syllable, so girl stays one beat.
- 32.
Sasha's sushi shop sells sixty sashimi sets.
Hard · sounds: s, sh · SceneDub original
Sasha, sushi, and sashimi each switch from 's' to 'sh' mid-word, so spread your lips for 's' and push them forward for 'sh' every time.
- 33.
Fresh shrimp shrink; shrunken shrimp shrivel.
Hard · sounds: sh, shr, fr · SceneDub original
Build each 'shr' by moving from a rounded 'sh' straight into 'r' with no vowel in between, and let fresh end on a soft 'sh' before shrimp begins.
- 34.
Shoe shop sock stock.
Hard · sounds: sh, s, st, k · SceneDub original
Round your lips for shoe and shop, spread them for sock and stock, and close the back of the tongue firmly on the final 'k' of sock and stock.
- 35.
Seth's sister thinks Sid's thesis is thin.
Hard · sounds: s, th · SceneDub original
Pull your tongue behind your teeth for each 's' and forward between them for each 'th', taking extra care with Seth's, which goes 's', 'th', 's' in one syllable.
- 36.
Though the thief thought through the theft, three thorns thwarted him.
Hard · sounds: th, thr, thw · SceneDub original
Voice the 'th' only in though and the, keep every other 'th' voiceless, and round your lips right after the 'th' in thwarted.
- 37.
The builder measured the widths, lengths, and depths of the sixth and seventh paths.
Hard · sounds: th, ths, ksth · SceneDub original
Finish each cluster in full, 'dths' in widths, 'ngths' in lengths, 'pths' in depths, and 'ksth' in sixth, instead of dropping the 'th'.
- 38.
Bill paid Phil's pill bill.
Hard · sounds: b, p, f, l · SceneDub original
Close your lips for 'b' and 'p', but touch your top teeth to your lower lip for the 'f' in Phil's, so pill and Phil never sound alike.
- 39.
Cold glue, gold clue, cold clue, gold glue.
Hard · sounds: k, g, kl, gl · SceneDub original
Your tongue does the same thing for 'k' and 'g', so focus on your voice: off for cold and clue, on for gold and glue.
- 40.
Craig's cracked clay crock grew greasy green crusts.
Hard · sounds: kr, kl, gr, g · SceneDub original
Keep the back of your tongue busy for every 'k' and 'g', and make sure clay gets its 'l' while every other word gets an 'r'.
- 41.
Wasps' nests rest on dentists' desks.
Hard · sounds: sps, sts, sks · SceneDub original
Pronounce every consonant in the endings, 'sps' in wasps', 'sts' in nests and dentists', and 'sks' in desks, slowly before you speed up.
- 42.
The ghost's hosts boast the most toasts.
Hard · sounds: st, sts · SceneDub original
Close a real 't' between the two 's' sounds in ghost's, hosts, and toasts instead of letting it vanish into one long hiss.
More tongue twister sets
Warmed up? Put it to work with a free voice acting script or dub a scene online.
Frequently asked questions
What's an easy hard tongue twister to start with?
Try "Betty Botter bought some butter, but she said the butter's bitter. If I put it in my batter, it will make my batter bitter. But a bit of better butter will make my batter better. So she bought a bit of butter better than her bitter butter, and she put it in her batter, and the batter was not bitter. So 'twas better Betty Botter bought a bit of better butter." Say it slowly three times before speeding up.
What's the hardest hard tongue twister here?
"Betty Botter bought some butter, but she said the butter's bitter. If I put it in my batter, it will make my batter bitter. But a bit of better butter will make my batter better. So she bought a bit of butter better than her bitter butter, and she put it in her batter, and the batter was not bitter. So 'twas better Betty Botter bought a bit of better butter." The consonants barely change, so let the vowels do the work: butter, bitter, better, and batter each need their own distinct vowel.
How many times should I repeat a tongue twister?
Aim for five clean repetitions in a row at a comfortable speed, then three times fast. A few minutes a day is enough for a warm-up; stop if your jaw or voice feels strained.