P and B tongue twisters
P and B are plosives: both stop the air with your lips and release it in a burst. P is voiceless and B is voiced. Voice actors also practise them to control microphone pops.
Practise these 23 twisters
Big pink pigs bake plump blueberry pies.
Easy · sounds: b, p, pl, bl · SceneDub original
Close your lips for every 'b' and 'p', letting a little puff of air out only on the 'p' sounds.
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
- Press the lips together firmly and release cleanly on every P and B.
- Hold a hand in front of your mouth: you should feel a puff on P and much less on B.
- When recording, speak slightly across the mic, not straight into it, to avoid pops.
All p and b tongue twisters, easiest first
- 1.
Big pink pigs bake plump blueberry pies.
Easy · sounds: b, p, pl, bl · SceneDub original
Close your lips for every 'b' and 'p', letting a little puff of air out only on the 'p' sounds.
- 2.
Baby Bea picked a big purple berry.
Easy · sounds: b, p · SceneDub original
Pop your lips apart gently for each 'b' and with a little more air for each 'p' in picked and purple.
- 3.
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked. If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?
Medium · sounds: p, k · traditional
Release each 'p' with a small puff of air, then relax your lips straight away so the plosives stay crisp instead of piling up.
- 4.
Rubber baby buggy bumpers.
Medium · sounds: b, g, r · traditional
Press your lips together for every 'b', and lift the back of your tongue for the 'g' in buggy so it doesn't turn into 'bubby'.
- 5.
A proper cup of coffee from a proper copper coffee pot.
Medium · sounds: p, k, f · traditional
Alternate the lip-closed 'p' and the back-of-tongue 'k' cleanly, especially in copper coffee, where the two sit side by side.
- 6.
A big black bug bit a big black bear, made the big black bear bleed blood.
Medium · sounds: b, bl, g · traditional
Lift your tongue tip for the 'l' the instant your lips part in black, bleed, and blood, so 'bl' never shrinks to plain 'b'.
- 7.
Good blood, bad blood.
Medium · sounds: g, b, bl, d · traditional
Finish every 'd' fully before the next 'b' so good blood doesn't smear into 'goo blood'.
- 8.
Plain bun, plum bun, bun without plum.
Medium · sounds: pl, b, m · traditional
Close your lips firmly for every 'p' and 'b', adding a quick 'l' after the 'p' in plain and plum.
- 9.
Proud Pru planted plump, prickly pears.
Medium · sounds: pr, pl, p · SceneDub original
Seal your lips fully for every 'p', then decide quickly whether the tongue touches the gum ridge for 'pl' or pulls back for 'pr'.
- 10.
Blake's brother blew bright blue bubbles.
Medium · sounds: bl, br, b · SceneDub original
Press your lips together for every 'b', then listen for the 'l' in Blake, blew, and blue against the 'r' in brother and bright.
- 11.
Bob popped by Pip's pub, but Pip's pub was booked.
Medium · sounds: b, p · SceneDub original
Hold a hand in front of your mouth: each 'p' should release a small puff of air, while each 'b' should release almost none.
- 12.
Peg baked Pip a big pepper bagel.
Medium · sounds: p, b, g, k · SceneDub original
Every word pairs a lip sound with a back-of-tongue sound, so keep 'p' and 'k' breathy and 'b' and 'g' voiced as you alternate.
- 13.
A plump pelican plopped a big pebble into Bob's bubble bath.
Medium · sounds: p, pl, b · SceneDub original
Seal your lips completely for each 'p' and 'b', and add the 'l' quickly after the 'p' in plump and plopped.
- 14.
Drop a pebble in a puddle, blow a bubble in a bottle.
Medium · sounds: p, b, d, t · SceneDub original
Close your lips for 'p' and 'b', tap your tongue tip for 'd' and 't', and end pebble, puddle, bubble, and bottle on a clear 'l'.
- 15.
Pablo's black backpack bulges with bulky books.
Medium · sounds: b, p, k · SceneDub original
In black backpack, stop each 'k' cleanly before your lips close for the next 'b' or 'p' instead of blending them into one sound.
- 16.
Precisely pronounced plosives produce pleasantly polished performances.
Medium · sounds: p, pr, pl · SceneDub original
Keep each 'p' crisp but controlled, letting out only a small puff of air so it would not pop on a microphone.
- 17.
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.
- 18.
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.
- 19.
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'.
- 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.
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.
- 23.
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.
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 p and b tongue twister to start with?
Try "Big pink pigs bake plump blueberry pies." Say it slowly three times before speeding up.
What's the hardest p and b 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.