If a dog chews shoes, whose shoes does he choose?
This twister is a puzzle about a hungry dog. And a puzzle about English: four of its words end in the very same sound, and each one spells it differently.
👅 Sounds to Practise
- CH /tʃ/, as in chews and choose. A tiny stop with your tongue against the roof of your mouth, then a sh sound.
- SH /ʃ/, as in shoes. Round your lips a little and push out a smooth stream of air.
- H /h/, as in whose. A soft puff of breath, with no tongue involved.
- OOZ /uːz/, as in chews, shoes, choose and whose. A long oo, then a buzzing Z.
Two words are worth a closer look:
- chews and choose: they are said exactly the same, /tʃuːz/.
- whose: it sounds the same as who's (short for who is), /huːz/.
Quick test: say chews, shoes, whose. Only the beginnings change.
🐢 Start Slow
Say each chunk slowly. Keep the ooz ending the same each time.
If a dog chews shoes,
whose shoes
does he choose?
🚶 Normal Speed
Say it at a natural pace, with the stressed syllables in capitals:
If a DOG CHEWS SHOES, WHOSE SHOES does he CHOOSE?
🚀 Tongue-Twister Mode
Say it three times in a row, as fast as you can:
If a dog chews shoes, whose shoes does he choose?
If chews turns into shoes, slow down. Put the tiny stop into CH, and leave it out of SH.
🤯 Why Is This So Difficult?
The ending never changes, so your mouth gets into a rhythm. Then the beginning has to switch.
chews
shoes
whose
choose
- CH and SH are made in nearly the same place, and only a tiny stop tells them apart.
- Whose starts with a puff of air, then jumps to SH in the next word.
- Chews and choose are the same word-sound twice. When two words sound identical, it is easy to lose count of which one comes next.
Say it fast and chews and shoes swap.
👀 Words to Notice
- chews / choose (the same sound)
- whose / who's (the same sound)
- shoes / shoos (the same sound)
- news / use / lose
Say each set slowly, then quickly: chews, choose, chews, choose.
🏆 OddLingo Challenge
- Round 1: say it slowly, one chunk at a time, with no mistakes.
- Round 2: say the whole twister once at normal speed.
- Round 3: say it three times fast without stopping.
Bonus round: if you survived all three, try this one:
Charlie's cheeky puppy chews Sheila's old shoes, and nobody knows whose shoes it will choose next.
Three times, fast, and keep the buzz at the end of each word.
🧐 Did You Know?
The ending /uːz/ is spelled four different ways in this twister:
chews: -ews
shoes: -oes
choose: -oose
whose: -ose
Four spellings, one sound. English does this a lot. See more in though, through, tough and thought.
🔗 Related Practice
- Choosy Chimps: practise CH against SH in a longer twister.
- She Sees Cheese: S, SH and CH with three short words.