Choosy Chimps: A CH and SH Tongue Twister

Choosy chimps chomp cheese; shy shrimp share shiny shells.

This tongue twister trains CH and SH. Swap them, and a chip sails away as a ship.

👅 Sounds to Practise

• CH /tʃ/, as in choosy, chimps, chomp, cheese. It starts with a tiny T, where your tongue touches the roof of your mouth, then releases into a sh sound.
• SH /ʃ/, as in shy, shrimp, shells. Round your lips a little and push air out in a long, smooth stream. There is no touch at the start.

The difference is one tiny stop. CH has it. SH does not.

Two words in the twister are worth a closer look:

• choosy /ˈtʃuːzi/: say "CHOO-zee". The Z sound is voiced, so your throat buzzes.
• chomp /tʃɒmp/: say "chomp", with a short O. It rhymes with stomp. Finish with lips closed for M, then pop the P.

Quick test: say chip, then ship. Feel the tongue touch at the start of chip. For ship, the air just keeps flowing.

🐢 Start Slow

Say each chunk slowly. Add the tiny stop for CH, and let SH flow.

Choosy chimps
chomp cheese;
shy shrimp
share shiny shells.

🚶 Normal Speed

Say the whole sentence at a natural pace, with the stressed syllables in capitals:

CHOOsy CHIMPS CHOMP CHEESE; SHY SHRIMP SHARE SHIny SHELLS.

🚀 Tongue-Twister Mode

Say it three times in a row, as fast as you can:

Choosy chimps chomp cheese; shy shrimp share shiny shells.

If CH starts to lose its stop and turn into SH, slow down and put the tiny T back.

🤯 Why Is This So Difficult?

CH is really two things in one: a stop, then a long sound. SH is only the long sound.

cheese
shells

• The tongue ends up in almost the same place for both, so the shape of the mouth gives little clue.
• The only difference is a very short touch, and at speed that touch gets skipped.
• The twister switches between CH and SH in the middle of one breath, so the stop has to appear and disappear on time.

That is why chair so often comes out as share.

👀 Words to Notice

These pairs change meaning with nothing but that one sound:

• chip / ship
• cheap / sheep
• chair / share
• chop / shop
• watch / wash

Say each pair slowly, then quickly: chip, ship, chip, ship.

🏆 OddLingo Challenge

1. Round 1: say it slowly, one chunk at a time, with no mistakes.
2. Round 2: say the whole sentence once at normal speed.
3. Round 3: say it three times fast without stopping.

Bonus round: if you survived all three, try this one:

Charlie chose cheap cheese chips; Sheila shopped for fresh fish.

Three times, fast, no mercy.

🧐 Did You Know?

The letters CH can make three different sounds in English:

• chair: the tiny stop plus a long sound, /tʃ/.
• chef: just the long SH sound, because the word came from French.
• school: a K sound, because the word came from Greek.

Same two letters, three different sounds.

🔗 Related Practice

• Six Shy Sheep: practice with SH, set against S instead of CH.
• The Sheep and the Ship: another tongue twister built on pairs of words that sound almost alike.