Are you ready for some advanced English pronunciation practice? Try these tongue twisters!
Tongue Twister #1 – Peter Piper
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
Did Peter Piper pick a peck of pickled peppers?
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
Where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?
Slow:
Fast:
- A peck is a unit of measurement equal to about 8 quarts (7.6 liters)
- Peppers are vegetables. Pickled peppers means the peppers are preserved in vinegar:
Tongue Twister #2 – The Bug & the Bear
A big bug bit a bold bald bear and the bold bald bear bled blood badly.
Slow:
Fast:
- Bug is another word for insect
- Bald means the bear has no hair
- Blood is the red fluid that comes out of your body when you are injured. The verb is bleed, and the past tense is bled.
Tongue Twister #3 – She Sells Sea-Shells
She sells sea-shells on the sea-shore.
The shells she sells are sea-shells, I’m sure.
For if she sells sea-shells on the sea-shore
Then I’m sure she sells sea-shore shells.
Slow:
Fast:
- On the sea-shore means “near the ocean.”
- Sea-shells are the colorful exoskeletons of marine animals, which you can find on the beach.
Tongue Twister #4 – The Swimming Swan
Swan swam over the pond,
Swim swan swim!
Swan swam back again –
Well swum swan!
Slow:
Fast:
- Swim is the main verb; the past tense is swam and the past participle is swum
- A pond is a small body of water
- This bird is called a swan:
Tongue Twister #5 – Betty Botter
Betty Botter bought a bit of butter.
The butter Betty Botter bought was a bit bitter
And made her batter bitter.
But a bit of better butter makes better batter.
So Betty Botter bought a bit of better butter
Making Betty Botter’s bitter batter better
Slow:
Fast:
- A bit is a very small amount
- The word bitter is the opposite of sweet
- The word batter means the liquid mixture of flour, milk, eggs, butter, etc. that is used to make cakes.
Tongue Twister #6 – The Sheikh’s Sheep
The sixth sick sheikh’s sixth sheep’s sick.
Slow:
Sorry – I can’t do this one fast and correctly!
- This is considered one of the hardest tongue twisters in the English language!
- A sheikh is the leader of an Arab family or village.
- This animal is a sheep:
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