Challenging tongue twisters: Introducing high-difficulty phrases and sentences!
Tongue twisters exist in every country.
I think everyone in Japan has been familiar with them since childhood.
This time, I’ve picked out only the especially difficult tongue twisters.
You’ll find not only long, complicated ones, but also very short tongue twisters that are surprisingly hard to say.
Although tongue twisters might seem like they’re just for kids, adults can enjoy them too at parties or drinking gatherings.
If you practice in advance, you might even become the center of attention in those situations.
Now then, please sit back and enjoy!
- Tongue twisters that will make you laugh out loud! Super funny
- [Diction Training] A Collection of Tongue Twisters to Improve Articulation
- A collection of long tongue twisters. Also recommended for practicing announcements and narration.
- Nagoya dialect tongue twisters are exquisite! A fun collection where your tongue gets tied in knots with regional dialects
- Can you say them? A collection of Hakata-dialect tongue twisters
- Challenge together! A roundup of word games for adults
- “Chau chau, anta” — a Kansai-dialect tongue twister. A phrase only Kansai folks can say.
- [Recreation] Challenge! A roundup of tongue twisters recommended for elementary school students
- [Challenging and Fun!] Quizzes & Riddles for Adults
- Chinese tongue twisters: A collection of rao kou ling helpful for learning Chinese
- Perfect for pronunciation practice! A collection of English tongue twisters.
- [Trick Quiz] Quiz Questions That Excite Everyone from Kids to Adults
- Get Caught? Or Not!? Simple Ways to Kill Time During Class
Challenging Tongue Twisters: Introducing High-Difficulty Phrases and Sentences! (11–20)
Newcomer chanson singer New Year Chanson Show
This tongue-twister repeatedly uses sounds that start with S, so it’s said to strengthen the orbicularis oris muscle around the lips.
It’s one of those classic, well-known tongue-twisters, isn’t it? You feel like you can take a brief breather during the “singer” part, but then the latter half comes rushing in and gets even harder.
As you keep saying “chanson” over and over, there’s even a risk of a kind of gestalt collapse.
Try practicing the difficult sections in parts before reading the whole thing—it makes it easier to get through.
Parent is Kahee, child is Kahee; parent Kahee, child Kahee; child Kahee, parent Kahee.
While many commonly known tongue twisters combine two characters—such as ‘pyo’ and ‘ko’—there are numerous more challenging ones that combine three or more.
Among them, one I especially recommend is: “Oya mo Kahee, ko mo Kahee; oya Kahee ko Kahee; ko Kahee oya Kahee.” It’s a tongue twister where the sounds ‘ka,’ ‘ko,’ ‘he,’ and ‘mo’ get jumbled, leading to mistakes like saying ‘komo komo komo.’ Give it a try!
I leaned bamboo against this bamboo fence because I wanted to lean bamboo against it—so I leaned bamboo.
Among tongue twisters, a fairly popular one is: ‘Kono takegaki ni take tatekaketa no wa, take tatekaketakatta kara take tatekaketa.’ This tongue twister is tricky because ‘takegaki’ (bamboo fence) and ‘take tate’ (to set up bamboo) sound similar and easily get tangled up.
Also, even if you understand it in your head, saying the parts ‘take tatekaketa no wa,’ ‘take tatekaketakatta kara,’ and ‘take tatekaketa’ without stumbling is tough.
Especially the last ‘take tatekaketa’ tends to get swapped around into something like ‘tate take kaketa!’
Got beans from Mama Mamame, got covered in beans, and Mama Mamame struggled and writhed
Isn’t this quite difficult? Tongue twisters with the ma- consonant are relatively few, but there are also exercises where you simply keep saying “mame, mame…” for vocal practice, so “mame” can be very challenging.
You need to release your lips for each sound, and the vowel changes as well.
First, try practicing just the “mame” part repeatedly.
Tongue-twister practice can be game-like, but it also helps you get used to sounds you find hard to pronounce.
I recommend objectively observing which sounds you personally struggle to pronounce.
A small pimple on the right earNEW!
There’s a fun, tongue-tangling charm in repeating words.
As you say “Migi mimi ni mini nikibi, migi mimi ni mini nikibi” over and over, you naturally pick up a sense of rhythm, and it also exercises your tongue and mouth.
Kids can take it on as a playful challenge, and adults can enjoy it as a tongue workout—that’s the appeal.
Plus, the images of ears and pimples pop into your head, giving it a humor that makes you smile just by reading it.
Because the rhythm and timing shift with each repetition, you make new discoveries every time you read it and can savor the joy of speaking out loud.
Both the Japanese serow and deer are indeed deer, but a sea lion is certainly not a deer.
This tongue twister also became a hot topic thanks to a video where voice actor Hiroshi Kamiya delivers it fluently.
It’s tricky, but if you add a rap-like rhythm, you can get through it quite well.
Rather than reading it as kanji, I recommend treating it like a rhythm and singing it.
People tend to stumble when entering the latter half of the sentence, so it’s good to practice the transitions in particular.
Since the best approach varies depending on the type of tongue twister, try out different methods and see what works for you.
Today’s kyōgen performer came today from the capital, performs kyōgen today, and today returns to his hometown in the capital.NEW!
This is a tongue twister rich with rhythm, where the words “today,” “Kyō” (Kyoto), and “kyōgen” are repeated over and over.
When you try to read it, your mouth gets tangled, and you can’t help but laugh.
Children can enjoy challenging it aloud as a playful activity, and adults can use it for tongue and mouth exercises or pronunciation training.
It blends the everyday word “today” with story elements like “kyōgenshi” (kyōgen performer) and “the old hometown in Kyoto,” letting you imagine a little story just by reading it—that’s part of the charm.
Each repetition shifts the rhythm and timing, letting you enjoy both the fun of speaking it out loud and the laughter it brings.
It’s a tongue twister that’s truly worth the challenge.
A noble enemy’s shoulder-tapping machine, devoted to a vertically written letter dashed off with its mane bristling; to drawing shadows that locked a key on a half-scorched bamboo fence of a horsehair crab set out with a detective to a cliff and a surgeon; and to writing a radical opera, chipped a bamboo stand propped up halfway.NEW!
A tongue twister packed with continuous sounds that tangle your tongue—perfect for a real challenge.
In this long phrase, similar sounds like “ka,” “ke,” “ta,” and “ki” appear over and over, so when you speak it aloud your mouth quickly can’t keep up.
Kids can tackle it playfully while imagining a story, and adults can enjoy it as an exercise for the tongue and mouth or for pronunciation practice.
Each reading changes the rhythm and pacing, letting you savor both the joy of voicing it and a good laugh at the same time.
By repeating complex sounds, it offers both a sense of challenge and accomplishment—an ultra-advanced tongue twister!
Art room, technology room, operating room, art preparation room, technology preparation room, operating preparation roomNEW!
Because the words for “room” and “preparation room” keep popping up, the moment you read it aloud your mouth can’t keep up and you can’t help but laugh.
Both kids and adults can enjoy it playfully while picturing familiar school classrooms and hospital rooms.
Each time you read it, the rhythm and the timing of your pauses shifts a little, so the more you repeat it, the more fun it becomes to use your voice.
If you read while conjuring different images for “art,” “technology,” and “surgery,” it feels like more than mere diction practice—you can savor a sense of story, too.
Once you read it, it’s addictive, so definitely give it a try.
On the large plate, a big mugwort rice cake; on the small plate, a small mugwort rice cake.
At first glance it looks easy, yet somehow it’s hard… Everyone’s had that experience, I think.
Tongue twisters can evoke that same feeling.
A prime example is: “On the large plate, a large mugwort rice cake; on the small plate, a small mugwort rice cake.” Unlike phrases that are blatantly designed to make you stumble, like “The riddle of the banana’s riddle is riddling, but the banana’s riddle is still a riddle,” this one somehow becomes unpronounceable when you actually try to say it.
Give it a try!