What Is Alliteration?

What You'll Learn

• Alliteration is when several words in a row start with the same sound
• Alliteration makes sentences fun, bouncy, and easy to remember
• It is often used in tongue twisters, poems, story titles, and brand names
• Alliteration is about SOUND, not spelling — "cell phone" starts with the same letter but different sounds

Words to Know

Alliteration

When nearby words start with the same sound

"Silly Sally sells seashells."

Tongue twister

A sentence that's hard to say fast because sounds repeat

"Peter Piper picked peppers."

Sound

What you hear when a word is spoken

"'Cat' starts with the 'kuh' sound."

Spelling

The letters used to write a word

"C and K can make the same sound."

Check What You Learned

Fun Facts

• Alliteration is the repetition of the same initial consonant sound in neighboring words

  Source: Merriam-Webster

• It is commonly used in poetry, prose, tongue twisters, advertising, and character/brand names

  Source: LiteraryDevices.net

• Alliteration is based on phonetic sound, not orthographic spelling

  Source: Purdue Online Writing Lab

• Examples include "Peter Piper," "Mickey Mouse," "Coca-Cola," and "Wonder Woman"

  Source: Oxford English Dictionary / marketing examples

• Alliteration enhances memorability and creates rhythm in language

  Source: Journal of Memory and Language

• Tongue twisters are a form of dense alliteration used for speech practice and play

  Source: Linguistics textbooks