Tongue twisters that will make you laugh out loud! Super funny
Tongue twisters used for play and articulation practice.
Whether you’re just having fun or trying to improve your diction, you might as well enjoy it! In this article, we’ll introduce tongue twisters that make wordplay fun and interesting.
We’ve gathered tongue twisters that let you feel the charm of language—some with delightful word sequences that make you want to say them out loud, and others that are amusing even if you don’t quite understand the meaning.
They can also be used for children’s play or oral exercises for older adults, so please use them as a reference!
- Challenging tongue twisters: Introducing high-difficulty phrases and sentences!
- [Recreation] Challenge! A roundup of tongue twisters recommended for elementary school students
- [Diction Training] A Collection of Tongue Twisters to Improve Articulation
- Witty quotes that make you chuckle without thinking
- “Chau chau, anta” — a Kansai-dialect tongue twister. A phrase only Kansai folks can say.
- Can you say them? A collection of Nagoya-dialect tongue twisters
- Can you say them? A collection of Hakata-dialect tongue twisters
- [For Seniors] Boost Oral Function with Tongue Twisters! Recommended Picks to Try
- The magical power of words that make people laugh! A collection of quotes that lighten the heart
- Challenge together! A roundup of word games for adults
- [Trick Quiz] Quiz Questions That Excite Everyone from Kids to Adults
- [Rec] Interesting! A roundup of wordplay games
- A collection of long tongue twisters. Also recommended for practicing announcements and narration.
A collection of tongue twisters (21–30) with fun wordplay
Sink your teeth into moldy kalbi
It’s a tongue twister that seems to describe a not-so-good situation: someone notices mold starting to grow on their kalbi (grilled short ribs) and hurriedly tries to finish eating it.
While meat can spoil, you don’t often see it getting moldy, so you’re probably curious about what kind of environment led to that.
If mold is starting to grow, most people would give up on eating it, so the idea of biting into it feels strange.
The words kabiru (to grow mold), karubi (kalbi), and kaburi (to bite into) sound similar, so knowing how they’re pronounced differently here is the key to saying the tongue twister more easily.
Japanese tongue twisters that are hard to read and difficult to understand (1–10)
From a playful, giggly vibe to Kyary Pamyu Pamyu
Even just saying her name is hard with Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, and this sentence makes it even tougher by adding words with similar sounds.
When it was just the name, the focus was on how tricky “Pamyu Pamyu” is to pronounce, but the added words in the first half seem to raise the difficulty of the “Kyary” part as well.
The transition between “kya” and the following syllable is a spot where people tend to get tongue-tied, so try to focus on tongue movement rather than lip movement when pronouncing it.
And even if you get through the first half, don’t let your guard down—there’s a different kind of difficulty waiting in the second half with “Pamyu Pamyu.”
Parent is Kahee, child is Kahee; parent Kahee, child Kahee; child Kahee, parent Kahee.
Even just looking at the line from the street vendor’s sales patter—“Parent Kabe-e, child Kabe-e; parent Kabe-e, child Kabe-e, child Kabe-e, parent Kabe-e”—you get the feeling it looks difficult.
The street vendor’s patter is said to be a Kabuki script created by the second Ichikawa Danjuro during the Kyoho era in Edo about 300 years ago.
It seems easy to stumble over the sequences with repeated sounds like ‘ka,’ ‘he,’ and ‘ko.’ This tongue twister is considered one of the longer ones.
Because it’s a long tongue twister, once you can say it, your articulation should improve quite a bit.
The melon seller came to sell melons, left some unsold, and went home selling, the voice of the melon seller.
The classic, richly flavored tongue twister “The melon seller comes to sell melons, leaves some unsold, and goes home selling, the voice of the melon seller” is a masterpiece whose chain of sounds becomes addictive.
The similarly sounding phrase “melon seller” appears repeatedly, and the key challenge is to say it quickly while keeping the rhythm in mind.
Because the repetition and the subtle differences in breaks make your tongue easily get tangled, the more you practice, the more fun it becomes.
It’s perfect for games with friends or for vocal warm-ups, and while enjoying the charm of a traditional tongue twister, it also helps improve articulation.
Minced meat that’s hard to pull out is warm meat that’s hard to pull out.
It’s a tongue-twister that tries to depict how hard it is to pull out ground meat, and the situational image is quite tricky.
The key point is that “hikinuki” (pulling out) and “hikiniku” (ground meat) sound similar, and layering “niku” (meat), “nikui” (difficult), and “nurui” (lukewarm) makes it even harder to say.
The structure is simple—both “hikiniku” and “nurui niku” are each modified by “hikinikinikui” (hard to pull out)—so it’s important to pay attention to how the words connect.
It’s hard to picture a situation where you’re pulling meat out, but the sound is fun, isn’t it?
The director of the Tokyo Patent Approval Bureau suddenly rejected the approval today.
Speaking of tongue twisters, “Tokyo Patent Approval Bureau” (Tokyo Tokkyo Kyoka-kyoku) is a famously tricky phrase.
Here’s an extended version of that tongue twister: add “Kyokuchō kyō kyūkyo kyoka kyakka” (“The bureau chief suddenly rejected the approval today”).
With the repeated ‘kyo’ and ‘kya’ sounds, you really have to move your mouth smoothly or it’s hard to say.
It might get easier if you first understand the meaning—that the bureau chief suddenly rejected the approval today.
By the way, the “Tokyo Patent Approval Bureau” is not a real government office.
To obtain industrial property rights, you submit application documents to the Japan Patent Office located in Kasumigaseki, Tokyo.
School suddenly closed; self-study at home; super focused; Riki Choshu.
When school is closed, self-study is necessary; unless you boost your concentration and tackle it, you won’t learn the way you do at school.
This is a tongue twister that lightly depicts taking on self-study during such closures.
Up to “ultra concentration,” you can kind of picture what’s happening, but the punchline with “Riki Choshu” unexpectedly breaks the world-building, which is the fun part.
Was it actually Riki Choshu doing the self-study, or is someone tackling self-study with Riki Choshu–level fighting spirit? That last twist leaves room for imagination.