To practise and enhance pronunciation and fluency, use tongue twisters. By repeating sounds, or using alliteration, they can also help improve your intonation to sound more natural. Actors, politicians, and public speakers who want to speak clearly in front of an audience also practice with these. Some of the most well-known English tongue twisters are listed here. Say them slowly first and pick up the speed little by little. You will feel much more confident speaker the more you master them.
Short Tongue Twisters
To practice the ‘H’ sound
- A happy hippo hopped and hiccupped.
To practice the ‘S’, the ‘SH’ and the ‘CH’ sounds
- She sells seashells by the seashore.
- I saw Susie sitting in a shoe shine shop. Where she shines, she sits, and where she sits, she shines.
- If a dog chews shoes, whose shoes does he choose?
- Thirty-three thirsty, thundering thoroughbreds thumped Mr. Thurber on Thursday.
- He threw three free throws.
- I slit the sheet, the sheet I slit, and on the slitted sheet I sit.
To practise the “B” and “V” sounds
- The view of the valley is very beautiful.
- Betty loves the velvet black vest best.
To practise the “R” sound:
- Truly rural.
- Red lorry, yellow lorry.
- Rory’s lawn rake rarely rakes really right.
Longer Tongue Twisters
- I thought a thought.
But the thought I thought
Wasn’t the thought I thought I thought.
If the thought I thought I thought,
Had been the thought I thought,
I wouldn’t have thought I thought - How much wood would a woodchuck chuck
if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
He would chuck, he would, as much as he could,
and chuck as much wood as a woodchuck would
if a woodchuck could chuck wood. - Betty Botter bought some butter but, said she, 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 bitter batter better.
So she bought some better butter, better than the bitter butter,
put it in her bitter batter, made her bitter batter better.
So ‘t was better Betty Botter bought some better butter.
This next one is so funny and super difficult!!! - I’m a mother pheasant plucker, I pluck mother pheasants.
I’m the most pleasant mother pheasant plucker to ever pluck a mother pheasant.
I’m not the pheasant plucker I’m the pheasant plucker’s wife, I’ve been plucking Mother pheasants my whole pheasant plucking life.
I’m not the pheasant plucker I’m the pheasant plucker’s mate, I’m only plucking Pheasants ’cause the pheasant plucker’s late.
Word bank
Here are some words and phrases you might not know the meanings of!
Click on them to see their definitions on the Cambridge English Dictionary!
