A aranha arranha a rã. A rã arranha a aranha.

Meaning: Contrasts the soft single r of aranha against the hard rolled rr of arranha — one letter apart, two different sounds.

Language: Portuguese

Literally: The spider scratches the frog. The frog scratches the spider.

Category: Tricky

Origin: A well-known Portuguese pairing that drills the language's two distinct r sounds.

More tongue twisters — Tricky

네가 그린 기린 그림은 못 그린 기린 그림이고 내가 그린 기린 그림은 잘 그린 기린 그림이다. (Nega geurin girin geurimeun mot geurin girin geurimigo, naega geurin girin geurimeun jal geurin girin geurimida.) — geurin, girin and geurim rotate through nearly the same syllables with only the vowel mov…
Król Karol kupił królowej Karolinie korale koloru koralowego. — Every word starts with k, and król/Karol/korale/koloru keep re-ordering the same handful…
Far, får får får? Nej, får får inte får, får får lamm. — får means both 'sheep' and 'gets' — seven identical-looking words carrying two different…
Flyg, fula fluga, flyg! Och den fula flugan flög. — An 'fl' cluster repeated through three different vowels — y, u and ö, all of them front r…
De koetsier poetst de postkoets met postkoetspoets. — Turns on the gap between the Dutch 'oe' and 'o', with a run of 'ts' and 'p' stops layered…
Liesje leerde Lotje lopen langs de lange Lindelaan. — Eight consecutive l-words, with the vowel behind the l changing every time.

O rato roeu a roupa do rei de Roma; a rainha com raiva roeu o resto. — An unstoppable 'r' trill drill — every key word begins or ends with the Portuguese r.
Um tigre, dois tigres, três tigres tristes triscam trigo num trigal. — A 'tr' cluster drill that adds a sad adjective to make the alliteration worse.
O papa papava o papo do pipo; o pipo papava o papo do papa. — A perfectly palindromic 'p' construction that reverses meaning when you swap the nouns.
O peito do pé de Pedro é preto. — Five 'p' words in a row, with the vowels shifting underneath each one.

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