'Wait, What Did You Say?' 125 Tongue-Twisting Telephone Game Phrases
Two friends playing the Telephone Game outside
If there was ever a game to test your listening skills, your attention to detail and your ability around a tongue-twister or two, it’s the Telephone Game. Enjoyed by people of all ages, it involves people passing around a message for amusement.
While the game has evolved with slightly different variations, one thing remains the same—the test of repetition. The Telephone Game can create quite a bit of confusion, which leads to a whole lot of fun. It’s a simple game that is free to play and can improve communication skills.
We'll explain exactly how to play the Telephone Game and provide some interesting word combinations that you can use. Here's a look at 125 of the funniest, most clever Telephone Game phrases to put into action when you play. They are tricky, but remember: only whisper it once!
How To Play the Telephone Game
The purpose of the game is to make sure that the starting message given by the first person at the beginning of the game is the same message received by the last person.
Players begin by either standing side by side or sitting in a circle. Each person should be able to whisper to the person next to them, but not loud enough for anyone else to hear.
The first player whispers the chosen phrase to the person next to them. It continues down the line or around the circle, until the last person receives the message. At that point, the last player repeats the message they were given. Everyone hears how successful their telephone line was—or wasn’t—depending on how much the message changed. It is often a hilarious conclusion, where the ending message is actually completely different from the original.
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125 Best Telephone Game Phrases
1. A dog chooses shoes to chew.
2. A guppy in a shark tank
3. Alice anxiously ate eight apples.
4. Bacon and eggs
5. Bountiful bread and butter
6. Can you say what I see and see what I say?
7. Cooked cupcakes cool quickly
8. Criss cross applesauce
9. Darling dads do dozens of dishes.
10. Dogs dig holes for big bones.
11. Dozens of diving dolphins
12. Famous Amos delicious cookies captivate kids.
13. Fish and chips
14. Five fine fresh fried fish for you
15. Happy hornets hop on hippos.
16. Hugs and kisses
17. Humpty Dumpty
18. Jungle gym
19. King and queen
20. Koala bears are cute and cuddly.
21. Many maids mop motels.
22. Mom’s making meatballs to munch.
23. Most moms have millions of magazines.
24. Naughty kids knit mittens.
25. Pass me the pink potatoes.
26. Pretty pink petunias
27. Red roses with thorny stems
28. Shoes and socks
29. The funny bunny hid the colored candy in the colored can.
30. Thick thieves threw thread.
31. Two tutors toot the flute at two.
32. Which witch is which?
33. Winter wonderland is white.
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Funny Phrases To Use in Whisper Games
1. A short, sharp seal sat in silence.
2. Balding boys bounce babies
3. Blue bubbles in the bathtub
4. Calico cats creep quietly
5. Can you can an uncanned can of tuna?
6. Candy crunching coconut lovers
7. Cheeky monkeys
8. Chimichangas change chapters
9. Do you eat moss off a dirt log?
10. Elephants have six toes.
11. Fried French fries are frivolous.
12. Giggling girls gulp guavas
13. I wash my hands wearing my wristwatch.
14. I wish I may I wish I might wish the wish I wish tonight.
15. Is there a synonym for cinnamon?
16. It’s raining, it’s pouring, the old man is snoring.
17. Mushy macaroni and cheese
18. My fancy favorite food is fried frogs.
19. Noise annoys
20. Peanut butter and jelly crackers
21. Preshrunk t-shirts still shrink.
22. Really rainy rivers are wet.
23. Rubber baby buggy bumpers
24. Sending a silly message
25. Surreptitious superstitions
26. Topsy turvy
27. Two tiny toads ate fat flying flies
28. Unique New York
29. Wednesday you wish upon a star
30. Willie’s weary of wondering and worry.
Hard Sentences and Tongue-Twisters for Broken Telephone
1. Betty Bottle bought some bitter bits of butter.
2. Black bats back bricks
3. Corn cobs cost copious amounts.
4. Doorknobs and door jambs with clasps and hinges
5. Four funny flapping fish
6. Green grapes, green grapes, green grapes
7. How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
8. Nine nurses nursed at nine at night.
9. Peter Piper picked a pack of pickled peppers.
10. Red lorry yellow lorry
11. Rory and Roger are warriors who worry wordlessly.
12. Rough rugged raging rocks are ragged.
13. She sells seashells by the seashore.
14. Sheep should sleep in a silver shed.
15. She says cheese is chic.
16. She threw three free throws.
17. Silly sisters sing several songs.
18. Sunny and Suzie work shining shoes in a shop.
19. Ted fed bread to Fred.
20. Ten tense tenants toasted toast at ten.
21. The queen sat on her throne and ate thorny kumquats.
22. The swatch watch says six o’clock.
23. Three balls went through the thoroughfare.
24. Truly rural
25. Wonderful wizards wield power.
26. Zig zagging xylophones and zebras
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Nonsense Phrases To Repeat
1. A bright bunch of blueberries sat on a big boat.
2. A clam crams cream in a cramped can.
3. A quiet ostrich quacks quietly.
4. Big brother beats beef.
5. Cell phones sell phones.
6. Fairy godmother flies galoshes
7. Gnarly nuts and bolts know better
8. Gobbledygook
9. Hogwarts hogwash
10. Ice mice are not nice.
11. I’m wearing green gumdrops.
12. Jumping giraffes joke gibberish
13. Kittens eat chicken in the kitchen.
14. Kooky crocodiles can count
15. Marbles have barbells
16. My pet tiger Pepper loves to peter out.
17. Nice namby-pamby nickels
18. Scissors sizzle flying saucers
19. Seven silly seals are sailing sailboats
20. Shaking the silly salt and pepper
21. Shimmering silk satin soaps
22. Sick sticks are slick.
23. Simon said while skipping
24. Six sticky skeletons, six sticky skeletons
25. Slimy syrup saturates
26. Spiny spiders splash special spaces
27. Summertime swimming in swarming spaghetti
28. The bad kid put curd on fried cod.
29. The blue banana is blinking badly.
30. The shark has shiny shoes.
31. Thirty-three thistles were thirsty.
32. Twelve tumbling purple twins tweaked turnips.
33. Violets veer left with vats of water.
34. Wishy washy worms wash water
35. Yellow ducks yell to duck.
36. Zippady do da
More Ideas for the Telephone Game
Looking for some slightly different variations on a tried-and-true original? Instead of one group passing the phrase, create two groups. Each team passes their own phrase through their group. The group closest to their starting phrase at the end, wins.
You can also play a game called Rumor or Gossip. It’s a twist on the Telephone Game, where a person purposely changes a word or two while passing the phrase. It can be fun to see what you end up with at the end.
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