Take on the world’s hardest tongue twisters! A roundup of ultra-tough prompts that’ll tie your tongue
Have you ever tried the “world’s hardest tongue twister”? Even well-known ones like “Tōkyō Tokkyo Kyoka-kyoku” and “Kaeru pyoko-pyoko” are tough enough, but there’s always something harder.
From fiendish Japanese challenges that cleverly use palatalized and geminate sounds to English tongue twisters recognized by Guinness, there are plenty of ultra-difficult lines guaranteed to tie your tongue.
In this article, we introduce the world’s hardest tongue twisters that you’ll want to try again and again.
Give them a go with your family and friends!
- Challenging tongue twisters: Introducing high-difficulty phrases and sentences!
- Perfect for pronunciation practice! A collection of English tongue twisters.
- Get hyped! Tongue twisters that sound cool if you can say them—wordplay that makes you want to take on the challenge
- [Diction Training] A Collection of Tongue Twisters to Improve Articulation
- [Recreation] Challenge! A roundup of tongue twisters recommended for elementary school students
- A collection of long tongue twisters. Also recommended for practicing announcements and narration.
- Tongue Twisters So Fun and Cute You’ll Want to Say Them Out Loud!
- Tongue twisters that will make you laugh out loud! Super funny
- Kenta Otani’s original tongue twisters: a collection that’ll have you tripping over words and bursting into laughter
- Chinese tongue twisters: A collection of rao kou ling helpful for learning Chinese
- Irresistibly tempting to try! Have fun practicing pronunciation with Korean tongue twisters
- Can you say them? A collection of Hakata-dialect tongue twisters
- Nagoya dialect tongue twisters are exquisite! A fun collection where your tongue gets tied in knots with regional dialects
Challenge the world's hardest tongue twisters! A roundup of insanely tough prompts that’ll tie your tongue (11–20)
Director of the Tokyo Patent Approval Bureau suddenly had his leave request denied today.
This is a more difficult version of the classic tongue twister “Tokyo Patent Approval Office.” Even just the commonly played first half is quite challenging, but after that, many words using kya, kyu, and kyo appear, making it harder and harder to keep your tongue moving.
To avoid getting tripped up by these palatalized sounds, try emphasizing the words that don’t contain them.
It’s also recommended to practice by breaking the passage into a few parts.
Once you can pronounce each word cleanly, try saying the whole thing quickly.
The Sixth Sick Sheik’s Sixth Sick Sheep
This one is even recognized by Guinness as the world’s most difficult tongue twister.
It means that the sixth elder, who has fallen ill, owns a sixth sheep that is also sick—a rather unfortunate situation.
It might seem easy if you read it in a katakana-like way, but it becomes very challenging when you try to pronounce it properly in English.
That’s because words like “sixth” and “sick” can end up sounding alike, as can “sheik’s” and “sheep,” and the sentence alternates between these similar-sounding words.
Give it a try while paying close attention to your pronunciation so it comes across clearly to native speakers!
As a result of consultations among the instructors for each subject this semester in the Mechanical Department of the Naval Engineering School, the following have been finalized: science, geometry, mechanics, national language, foreign languages, drawing, civics.
With so many K-sound words, your speech might start to get choppy.
Even the first half is filled with words that could break your spirit, and the second half offers no mercy with its difficulty either.
Since it’s hard to tell where one word ends and the next begins when they’re just strung together, I recommend first separating and writing them out word by word.
Because there are so many words using the K consonant, once you can say them clearly, your overall K-sound pronunciation should improve as well.
The difficulty is high, but it’s a perfect prompt for articulation practice, so be sure to make use of it!
Frogs hop-hoppity, three hop-hoppity; together hop-hoppity, six hop-hoppity.
It’s a fun tongue twister that uses words to depict lively frogs hopping and leaping about.
It feels great when you can say it in rhythm, but try repeating it and your tongue might start to get all tangled up! Even if you mess up, laugh and enjoy it—and if you manage to say it, give each other a round of applause! It’s like a word game that helps you get better at rhythm and pronunciation while you play.
From kids to adults, try it with family and friends to see who can say it the best!
In the wide corridor of a Roman prison, a sixty-six-year-old man wanders nervously, holding a candle.
Just imagining this situation gives me the chills! On top of that, the heavy use of “ro” and the way the sentence keeps chaining words together with repeated “no” also feels a bit unsettling.
It’s a little scary, but one key to saying this tongue twister clearly is to visualize the scene.
For “ro,” you place your tongue against the back of your upper teeth before pronouncing it, but when it connects to other sounds, that can be tricky.
So at first, try breaking it into words or phrases and say them one by one while organizing the situation in your mind.