Tongue twisters for learning English

1. [ai]
‘Good-bye’, said the fly, as
I passed by.
“I’m going to try to fly to
the sky”.
“You fly to the sky? You
silly old fly!
The sky is too high
For a fly”, said I.

2. [ei]
Rain, rain, go to Spain,
Don’t come here again.
Rain, rain, go away,
Come again another day.
Little Jane wants to play.

3. [l]
Tell me, tell me, dear little
Polly,
What have you called your
beautiful dolly?
My beautiful dolly is
Caroline Isabel Millicent
Molly.

4. [p]
Peter picked a peck of
pickled pepper.
A peck of pickled pepper
Peter piper picked.
If Peter piper picked a peck
of pickled pepper.
Where is the peck of pickled
pepper Peter piper picked?

5. [θ]
A thatcher of thatchwood
Went to thatch it a-
thatching.
Did the thatcher of
thatchwood.
Go to thatch it a-thatching?
If a thatcher of thatchwood
Went to thatch it a-
thatching,
Where is the thatching
The thatcher of thatchwood
has thatched?

6. [n]
As I was going alone, alone,
alone
Singing a comical song,
song, song
The lane that I went was so
long, long, long.
And so I went singing
along.

7. [d]
David tried to ride the
donkey
Up and down the ladder.
Which of us, the donkey
said,
Is mad, and which is the
madder?

8. [b]
Betty Botter bought some
butter.
“But”, she said, “this
butter’s bitter.
But a bit of better butter
Will make my butter
better”.
So she bought some better
butter
And it made her butter
better.

9. [w]
How much wood would a
wood-chuck
chuck
If a wood-chuck would
chuck wood?
We wonder whether the
weather
Will weather the weather,
Or whether the weather
The weather will kill.

10. [r]
Robert Roley rolled a round
roll round
A round roll Robert Roley
rolled round.
Where is the round roll
Robert Roley rolled round?

11. [s]
Simple Simon met a pieman
Going to the fair.
Says simple Simon to the
pieman
“Lets me taste your ware.”
Says the pieman to simple
Simon,
“Show me first your penny”
Says simple Simon to the
pieman,
“Indeed, I have not any”.

12. See simple Sam upon the ice,
So slippery and smooth and
nice.
He slips and slides and slides
and slips,
But Simple Sammy seldom
trips,
“the ice is smooth as smooth
can be,
That’s why I do not trip”,
says he.

13. There was a young student of
Bresser
Whose knowledge grew
lesser and lesser
At the end of the fall
He knew nothing at all
And now he’s a college
professor.

14. [Ә]
The more we study, the more
we know,
The more we know, the more
we forget.
The more we forget, the less
we know.
The less we know. The less
we forget.
The less we forget, the more
we know.
Why study?