English tongue twister

Windmills and the Millwheel

To the windmills said the millwheel: “As the wind wills do you still wheel?” “Yes, we still wheel when the wind wills!” To the millwheel said the windmills.

Notice the sounds

/w//l//ɪ//iː/

Wind here means moving air and rhymes with pinned. Contrast the vowel in will with the longer vowel in wheel, keeping the final /l/ in both.

Words in this expression

Source

Delight and Power in Speech, Leonard G. Nattkemper and George Wharton James (1919), articulation exercises

Public domain in the United States; the pinned source includes the Project Gutenberg license.

Pronunciation notes and explanations are editorial.