English tongue twisters

I found most of these in books and on websites, but I made up some of them myself.


A box of biscuits, a box of mixed biscuits and a biscuit mixer.

Betty Botter had 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, that would make my batter better.'
So 't was Betty Botter bought a bit of better butter,
and she put it in her batter, and her batter was not bitter.

Bill Badger brought the bear a bit of boiled bacon in a brown bag.

Freddy Thrush flies through thick fog.

Heather was hoping to hop to Taihiti
To hack a hibiscus to hang on her hat.
Now Heather has hundreds of hats on her hat rack.
So how can a hop to Taihiti help that?

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck
if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
A woodchuck would chuck as much wood as a woodchuck could,
if a woodchuck could chuck wood.

I am not a pheasant plucker,
I'm the pheasant plucker's son
And I sit here plucking pheasants
Till the pheasant plucker comes.

I slit a sheet, a sheet I slit. Upon this slitted sheet I sit.

If two witches watch two watches, which witch will watch which watch?

Ken Dodd's Dad's dog is dead.

Peggy Babcock (repeated).

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,
How many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick?

Red lorry, yellow lorry (repeat quickly many times)

Red leather robots, yellow leather robots (repeat quickly many times)

Round the ragged rocks the ragged rascal ran.

Seventeen slimy slugs in shiny sombreros sat singing short sad songs.

She sells seashells by the seashore,
The shells she sells are seashells, I'm sure.
So if she sells seashells on the seashore,
Then I'm sure she sells seashore shells.

This tongue twister is based on a song written by Terry Sullivan about Mary Anning (1799-1847), a real seashell seller, who also collected fossils. It was popularised by Wilkie Bard, a vaudeville entertainer who used it in his how 'Dick Whittington and His Cat' in London in 1908.

Source: http://www.mamalisa.com/?t=es&p=3445

The sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick.

Six thick thistle sticks. Six thick thistles stick.

Do scientists see thieves seize skies? If scientists see thieves seize skies, then where are the skies, the scientists see the thieves seize?

That bloke’s back brake-block is broke.

Thirty three thin Finns throw forty three frogs into four Thracian theatres.

There was an old lady and she was a thistle sifter,
And she sifted three kinds of thistles:
Sifted thistles, semi-sifted thistles and unsifted thistles
And she was a thistle sifter.

The Leith police dismisseth us.

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,
Can thrust three thousand thistles through the thick of his thumb,
See thou, in sifting a sieve full of unsifted thistles,
Thrust not three thousand thistles through the thick of thy thumb.

Unique New York (repeat quickly many times)

Which witch winds white weasel wool well?

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If you would like to make any corrections or additions to this page, or if you can provide recordings, please contact me.

Information about English | Phrases | Numbers | Time | Family words | Tongue twisters | Tower of Babel | Articles | Books | Links

Links

Tongue twisters in English
http://www.uebersetzung.at/twister/en.htm
http://www.alphadictionary.com/fun/tongue-twisters/english_tongue_twisters.html
http://www.world-english.org/tonguetwisters.htm
http://thinks.com/words/tonguetwisters.htm
http://pun.me/pages/tongue-twisters.php

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