Most of you are already familiar with tongue twisters, but rarely lay your hands upon them to improve your speaking ability. To light you up, tongue twisters are not for testing your mental acumen; they are just a pack of hard-to-pronounce words. Practicing tongue twisters helps you in many ways such as stretching and strengthening the muscle of your mouth, clarifying the words that you have difficulty speaking and warming up your speaking ability, etc.
Tongue twisters are hard even for native speakers but if you want to improve your English be sure to check out English tutors from AmazingTalker. They also have Spanish tutors.
However, tongue twisters are really effective especially when one’s learning a foreign language. Practicing tongue twisters is often called a fun activity both for children and adults. Whenever there’s a party or special event, coming up with a series of tongue twisters is enough to double the fun.
Below are 20 of the hardest tongue twisters in English to level up your speaking ability to a new height.
1. Mad cow
“If you must cross a coarse, cross cow across a crowded cow crossing, cross the cross, coarse cow across the crowded cow crossing carefully.”
It is quite a funny tongue twister and advises you not to come between the coarse, cross cow.
2. Brave brigadiers
“Brisk brave brigadiers brandished broad bright blades, blunderbusses, and bludgeons—balancing them badly.”
It is a pretty long tongue twister. To utter it correctly, you need to learn to balance your tongue on your teeth.
3. Butter for betty
“Betty bought a bit of butter. But the butter Betty bought was bitter. So Betty bought better butter, and it was better than the butter Betty bought before.”
Isn’t it too difficult to utter? Maybe you can’t take a bite of butter later (just kidding!)
4. Clam in a can
“How can a clam cram in a clean cream can?”
Try to say it as many as ten times until you get fluent in it.
5. Imaginary menagerie
“Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager managing an imaginary menagerie.”
Hard? Try it, folks!
6. Unique New York
“I like New York, unique New York, I like unique New York.”
Have you ever come across a tongue twister that is based in New York City? New York is in confusion now.
7. Toast for saints
“Send toast to ten tense stout saints’ ten tall tents.”
Try to read it like a rhyme like if you’re in school.
8. Warriors at the brewery
“Rory the warrior and Roger the worrier were reared wrongly in a rural brewery.”
You are in doubt whether Rory and Roger could say this correctly.
9. Scissors and thistles
“Scissors sizzle, thistles sizzle.”
Too short but too hard to spell.
10. Sick Hicks
“Six sick hicks nick six slick bricks with picks and sticks.”
Get better on the “s” and “k” sounds. This silly tongue twister won’t let you easily.
11. Wish of wishes
“I wish to wish the wish you wish to wish, but if you wish the wish the witch wishes, I won’t wish the wish you wish to wish.”
When a lot of wishes are going on, you have vague chances to say them correctly.
12. Seashells by the seashore
“She sells seashells by the seashore.”
Classic tongue twister to sharpen your fluency.
13. Pulled cod
“Pad kid poured curd pulled cod.”
Can you read it ten times faster? We bet you can’t. In maximum cases, readers get stuck in the middle— though you must have a try.
14. Cinnamon synonym
“A synonym for cinnamon is a cinnamon synonym.”
Don’t find the synonym of cinnamon until you get it correctly spelled.
15. Thousands of feathers
“Thirty-three thousand feathers on a thrush’s throat.”
Focus on saying it correctly, not on the number of feathers.
16. Rough rock
“Round the rough and rugged rock, the ragged rascal rudely ran.”
Let’s try to memorize it just to impress your friends!
17. Loyal warrior
“A loyal warrior will rarely worry why we rule.”
Praise the thought or the manner of the tongue twister.
18. Sheena and Sheila
“Sheena leads, Sheila, needs.”
Give your child practice. Do not fancy Sheena and Sheila.
19. “The thirty-three thieves thought that they thrilled the throne throughout Thursday.”
Try to say it really fast like a pro.
20. “Thirty-three thirsty, thundering thoroughbreds thumped Mr. Thurber on Thursday.”
You’re a superhero if you pronounce it correctly!
Try a series of tongue twisters 2-3 times a month
Tongue twisters can be classified according to the difficulty level. Tongue twisters that seem ideal for adults may not be suitable for children though it vastly depends on the specific child. Sometimes speaking tongue twisters seems to be difficult. Whereas grasping the exact know-how can take you a long way. First, read the sentence slowly (emphasis on the first and last word). Secondly, try to speak to them faster. Make sure you spell each word as clearly as possible. Practice in front of the mirror. Repeat if you make a mistake. Last but not the least, you should practice tongue twisters quite often even if you are a native speaker.
