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Tongue twisters for R and L

Tongue twisters for the R and L sounds, as in “red” and “light”, for clear diction. These two sounds are easy to blur or swap, and any sloppiness is easy to hear. Start with the short ones, slowly and syllable by syllable, and speed up only when every sound is clean.

If a sound doesn't come out at all, start with a speech therapist: tongue twisters polish a sound you already have, they don't build it from scratch.

Short tongue twisters for R and L

  1. Eleven benevolent elephants.
  2. Truly rural, truly rural, truly rural.
  3. Roll the long rope around the railing.
  4. Lily ladles little Letty's lentil soup.
  5. Aluminum, linoleum, aluminum, linoleum.
  6. Grilled lamb, rice and a large green salad.
  7. Lucy's parrot repeats every word really loudly.
  8. Rolling river rafts rarely reach the lower lake.
  9. Clara rolled the rear wheel along the rural road.
  10. Lesser leather never weathered wetter weather better.
  11. Ripe white wheat reapers reap ripe white wheat right.

Medium tongue twisters for R and L

  1. Red leather, yellow leather, red leather, yellow leather.
  2. Larry rarely lets his loyal readers rely on rumors alone.
  3. Round the rough and rugged rock the ragged rascal rudely ran.
  4. The world's largest library rarely lends rare literary records.
  5. The lawyer reread the long report and underlined every unclear rule.
  6. Rory the warrior and Roger the worrier were reared wrongly in a rural brewery.
  7. Lorraine relaxed in the garden, listening to the rain and the rustling leaves.
  8. Lena left the gallery early, rode home in the rain and read three long letters.

Hard tongue twisters for R and L

  1. Riley wrote a long, rambling reply, reread it, then rewrote it as three clear lines that really mattered.
  2. Our regular train rarely runs late, but the rural line runs late so regularly that riders rarely rely on it.
  3. Leo's relentless rival loved to rewrite the rules, so Leo rarely relaxed, rarely rested and really rarely lost a round.
  4. Laura literally learned the long, lyrical lines of her role by reading them aloud, really slowly, on her long ride to work.
  5. Early every morning, Rachel reads the latest world reports, rewrites the rough parts and releases a clear, reliable summary.
  6. In early April, the orchard fills with pear and apple blossoms, the air smells like rain and birds call from the long rows of trees.
  7. The orchestra rehearsed the slow, lyrical prelude three or four times, until every player could really relax and let the melody roll.

How to practice tongue twisters

  1. Slowly, syllable by syllable, with exaggerated precision: every ending, every consonant.
  2. Normal pace. Say it two or three times, perfectly clean. If a sound blurs, go back one step.
  3. Louder, as if someone is listening from across the room. Same pace, same clarity.
  4. Faster, but only up to the speed where it stays clean. Three times in a row without a stumble.
  5. Delivery: full voice, with emotion, as if on stage. Then take the next tongue twister.

Speed is a by-product of clarity. Move up a step only when you sound perfect on the current one.

More tongue twisters

More in the article: How to stop mumbling when you talk: a daily practice plan

Practice with a timer

In DramaLab, the speed ladder is an exercise: it gives you tongue twisters one by one, walks you up the five steps and keeps time. No sign-up needed.

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