How to Create a Tongue Twister

Playing With Repetition

Aim for alliteration. Alliteration is a literary device by which you string together a group of words that begin with the same consonant sound. The words appear in quick succession, and they emphasize each other. Tongues trip over the tricky tips of a thick alliterative twist. This will make your tongue twister much more difficult to say. Alliteration can be as simple as two paired words that start with the same sound: "tongue twist," "loose lips," or "Peter Piper." Make the alliterative string even harder to say by adding more words: "tricky tongue twist," "last loose lips," or "Peter Piper picked." Make sure that the alliterative words make sense together! A good tongue twister is more than just a string of random words and syllables. Seek to set down a sensible sentence.

Be conscious of consonance. Consonance describes the effect of consonants repeating within a word or a phrase. Think "pitter patter." The more complex the consonant string, the more difficult your tongue twister will be to say. Try to put the consonant sounds together in quick succession. Consider the tongue twister "Shelley sells seashells by the seashore." The repetition of the "ell" sound in "Shelley," "sells," and "seashells" is a prime example of consonance, and it is part of why the phrase is so hard to say. If possible, put the consonant sounds right next to each other. The closer together the syllables, the more difficult the tongue twister. For instance, "s" sounds can be hard to pronounce in rapid succession.

Dance with assonance. Assonance is when a string of words repeats the same vowel sound, even if the words begin with different consonant sounds. Assonance is often used to lend a musical effect to poetry and prose, and it can help give your tongue twister a driving rhythm. Consider the tongue twister "Men sell the wedding bells." The short "-e-" sound repeats throughout the phrase: Men sell the wedding bells."

Creating a Difficult Tongue Twister

Confuse with consonance. Trip up tongues by stringing together sounds that are very similar, but not identical. Find letter combinations that are almost alliterative, but not quite: like "c," "ch," and "cl." Try to say "Irish wristwatch." This tongue twister is hard because "rish" is consonant with "wris," and the addition of the "sh" sound confuses the two "ris" sounds.

Reverse the positions of similar syllable sounds. Consider the tongue twister "She sells seashells by the seashore." "She sells" is a reverse of "sea shells" in that the "s" and "sh" syllables are flipped between the phrases.

Use consonants that are easy to mix up. For instance, "s," "f," and "th" sound similar enough that they can trip someone up. Similarly, "ck," "x," and "th" can blend together when strung together in quick succession. Try to say "Theophilus Thistle, the thistle sifter, sifted a sieve of unsifted thistles." Try to say "The sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick."

Writing a Tongue Twister

Play with words. Notice words that are hard to say together. Then, find words that are hard to say with the initial words, and link them all together in a chain. Try making a list of all the similar-sounding words that you can think of. When in doubt, run a web search for words that are consonant, assonant, and alliterative.

Tell a story. Your tongue twister doesn't need to be the most insightful sentence in the world, and it doesn't have to be funny – but the words should at least make sense together. A nonsensical group of words might be hard to say, but it won't be as impressive as a cogent sentence.

Try starting with a name. A lot of tongue twisters begin with a name: "Shelly sells seashells by the seashore," or "Peter Piper picked a pack of pickled peppers." This can give some structure to your phrase. Start with a person's name, and then come up with a sentence that tells a short story about them. Answer these questions: Where did this person go? What did this person do? When did this person do this thing or go to this place? Why did this person do this thing?

Test your tongue twister. Try to say the phrase five times fast, and notice where you trip up. Ask your friends to say it, and gauge how much trouble they have. Rework your tongue twister if it isn't hard enough. Look for words and sounds that you can switch out with harder-to-say syllables. Bear in mind that some people have more trouble pronouncing certain syllables than others. A hard tongue twister for one person might be easy for another. Always be respectful of speech impediments!