A noisy noise annoys an oyster.
The OI sound is a diphthong: your mouth starts on one vowel and glides to another. In this sentence, four words use it. Noisy and noise are related words, and they sit right next to each other, which makes the sentence hard to say at speed.
👅 Sounds to Practise
- OI /ɔɪ/, as in noisy, noise, annoys and oyster. Start with your mouth round, as if you were saying aw, then glide towards ee.
- Z /z/, as in noise and annoys. The buzz is in your throat.
- S /s/, as in noisy and oyster. Your tongue is at the ridge behind your top teeth, and the air hisses through.
Quick test: say oy as in boy, then noise as in noise. The vowel is the same, but the end of each word is different.
🐢 Start Slow
Say each chunk slowly.
A noisy noise
annoys an
oyster.
🚶 Normal Speed
Say it at a natural pace, with the stressed syllables in capitals:
A NOISy NOISE an-NOYS an OYSter.
🚀 Tongue-Twister Mode
Say it three times in a row, as fast as you can:
A noisy noise annoys an oyster.
If the OI starts to sound like a plain aw or a plain ee, slow down and make the glide from one to the other.
🤯 Why Is This So Difficult?
Look at the words:
noisy / noise / annoys / oyster
- All four words share the OI sound, but it is spelled OI in noisy and noise, and OY in annoys and oyster. Your eyes see two spellings, and your mouth has to make one sound.
- Noisy and noise are almost the same word, and they sit next to each other. Your mouth has to switch from the adjective ending -Y to the noun with no ending.
- Annoys is stressed on the second part, so its rhythm is different from noisy.
👀 Words to Notice
These pairs change meaning when the OI sound is swapped for another vowel:
- boy / buy
- toy / tie
- joy / jaw
Try each pair slowly, then quickly: boy, buy, boy, buy.
🏆 OddLingo Challenge
- Round 1: say it slowly, one chunk at a time, with no mistakes.
- Round 2: say the whole sentence once at normal speed.
- Round 3: say it three times fast without stopping.
Bonus round: if you survived all three, try this one:
Floyd enjoys his loyal boy's royal toy coin.
🧐 Did You Know?
English spells the OI sound in two ways, OI and OY. As a rough guide, OI tends to appear in the middle of a word, as in noise and coin, and OY at the end, as in boy and toy. There are exceptions with OY in the middle, such as oyster and royal.
🔗 Related Practice
- Eleven Elephants: one vowel sound with several spellings.
- The Great Grey Geese: the long A sound, again with several spellings.
- Quick Quiet Quacks: another sound-and-spelling twister.