---
title: "Text to Speech Examples: Test Passages to Audition Voices"
description: "Copy ready-made text to speech test passages, including the Rainbow Passage, Harvard sentences, numbers, and homographs, then score any voice."
canonical: "https://www.murmurtts.com/blog/text-to-speech-examples-test-passages"
---
[Murmur](https://www.murmurtts.com/)/[Blog](https://www.murmurtts.com/blog)/Guide

Guide

# Text to Speech Examples: Test Passages to Audition Voices

Copy ready-made text to speech test passages, including the Rainbow Passage, Harvard sentences, numbers, and homographs, then score any voice.

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On this page

Why you need fixed text to speech examplesThe established passages to keep on handShort diagnostic passages you can write yourselfWhich passage to use for which testHow to run the audition and score itFrom test passage to test projectFrequently asked questions

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**Short answer:** A text to speech example is a fixed passage you read through the same engine every time so that voices are compared on identical lines rather than on whatever the demo happened to include. To audition any TTS voice in a few minutes, keep one small pack of test passages that stress connected speech, individual phonemes, numbers, and tone, then score every candidate against that same pack. This guide is that pack, plus a table for choosing the right passage and a scorecard for recording what you hear.

The passages below fall into two groups. Three are established, widely reused texts: the Rainbow Passage, the Harvard sentences, and the fable The North Wind and the Sun. The rest are short diagnostic lines you can write yourself in an afternoon. Copy them into a single project, keep the wording frozen, and change only the voice between runs. If you are building a larger set, the [pronunciation test suite](https://www.murmurtts.com/blog/pronunciation-test-suite-local-tts) shows how to organize individual lines into a repeatable checklist.

## Why you need fixed text to speech examples

Most voice demos are chosen to flatter the model. They are short, they avoid hard words, and they were probably generated on a good day. If you pick a different demo line for each voice, you learn nothing comparable. A frozen pack removes that bias: the same words, the same punctuation, the same machine, and only the voice changes. When one voice mangles a word that the others handle, that is a real signal rather than a coincidence.

A good pack is small enough to run in one sitting and broad enough to catch the usual failures. It should pressure the parts of synthesis that break first: the rhythm of a long sentence, the final consonant that goes missing, the year that gets read as two separate numbers, and the word whose pronunciation depends on meaning. If a passage is easy, it is not earning its place in the pack.

- Connected speech and prosody across a full paragraph.
- Phoneme coverage in short, easy to repeat lines.
- Digits, currency, dates, times, phone numbers, and acronyms.
- Homographs and heteronyms whose sound depends on context.
- Proper nouns, initials, and letter by letter acronyms.
- Emotional range and emphasis, not only neutral narration.
- Two speaker dialogue, if the voice has to hold a conversation.

## The established passages to keep on hand

### The Rainbow Passage: connected speech and prosody

The Rainbow Passage is a public domain text that speech and language researchers have used for decades to sample a person reading a continuous paragraph. It is long enough to expose a voice that starts strong and then drifts, and it contains a mix of clause lengths that a flat model cannot hide. Read the opening below through each candidate and listen for sentence rhythm rather than individual words.

> When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it.
>
> The Rainbow Passage, attributed to Grant Fairbanks, Voice and Articulation Drillbook

### Harvard sentences: phoneme coverage in short lines

The Harvard sentences are a set of 720 phonetically balanced sentences, arranged in lists of ten. They were collected for the IEEE Recommended Practice for Speech Quality Measurements in 1969 and they use speech sounds at roughly the frequency they appear in English. Because each line is short, you can hear a single failure and note the exact word. The first list below is a practical starting point.

> The birch canoe slid on the smooth planks. Glue the sheet to the dark blue background. It's easy to tell the depth of a well. These days a chicken leg is a rare dish. Rice is often served in round bowls. The juice of lemons makes fine punch. The box was thrown beside the parked truck. The hogs were fed chopped corn and garbage. Four hours of steady work faced us. A large size in stockings is hard to sell.
>
> Harvard sentences, List 1, IEEE Recommended Practice for Speech Quality Measurements (1969)

Run two or three lists rather than one. A voice that handles List 1 cleanly may still drop the final s in a denser line, and the repetition across lists is what makes that visible. Because the sentences are phonetically balanced, they are also a fair way to compare English accents and voices without favoring one over another.

### Comma Gets a Cure: one passage, many sounds

Comma Gets a Cure is an elicitation passage built from the standard lexical set words that accent researchers use, so a single read covers a wide range of English vowels and consonants. It was written by Jill McCullough and Barbara Somerville and edited by Douglas N. Honorof, and it is widely used by the International Dialects of English Archive. It is longer and more narrative than the Harvard lines, so it is a good middle test between phoneme checking and full paragraph flow. The opening sets the scene:

> Well, here's a story for you: Sarah Perry was a veterinary nurse who had been working daily at an old zoo in a deserted district of the territory, so she was very happy to start a new job at a superb private practice in North Square near the Duke Street Tower. That area was much nearer for her and more to her liking. Even so, on her first morning, she felt stressed.
>
> Comma Gets a Cure, copyright 2000 Douglas N. Honorof, Jill McCullough, and Barbara Somerville

### The North Wind and the Sun: a standard across languages

If you are comparing voices in more than one language, The North Wind and the Sun is the passage to reach for. The International Phonetic Association uses translations of this fable as the standard illustration of spoken language in the Handbook of the IPA, and the same short story exists in many languages. That makes it the closest thing to a cross-language text to speech example you can reuse.

> The North Wind and the Sun were disputing which was the stronger, when a traveler came along wrapped in a warm cloak. They agreed that the one who first succeeded in making the traveler take his cloak off should be considered stronger than the other. Then the North Wind blew as hard as he could, but the more he blew the more closely did the traveler fold his cloak around him; and at last the North Wind gave up the attempt.
>
> The North Wind and the Sun, IPA Handbook sample text (orthographic version)

## Short diagnostic passages you can write yourself

The four published passages cover flow and phonemes, but they do not stress the things that annoy real users: money, dates, and a word like read that changes sound depending on tense. Write one short line block for each of the following and keep them in the same pack. These examples are original and free to copy.

> On January 9, 2026, invoice 4,080 came to $12,540.75, due in 30 days at 3.5 percent. Call 1-800-555-0142, extension 7, or email billing at example dot com. The train leaves at 6:45 a.m. and arrives at 8:05 p.m. The fare is 19 euros and 50 cents, or about 17 pounds.
>
> Original numbers, dates, and currency test passage

> The dove dove behind the shed. A strong wind will wind through the valley. I read the book that you read last week. They will lead the tour to the old lead mine. Please record the record before noon. The invalid had an invalid ticket. She will tear the paper near the tear in her coat.
>
> Original homograph and heteronym test passage

> Dr. Nguyen met CEO Priya Raman at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. The Kessler-Moore report cites ISO 9001 and FBI records. Order model XR-7 from Acme Corp before the third quarter. Ask for Mr. Johnson at the front desk.
>
> Original proper noun, acronym, and identifier test passage

> You promised you would call. I waited by the window until the streetlights came on, and then I stopped believing you. Fine. Keep the ring. Keep the whole summer, too. I only wanted the truth, and you could not even give me that.
>
> Original emotional and emphasis test passage

> NARRATOR: The workshop opened at seven. SPECIALIST: Bring the piece in before the first frost. NARRATOR: She set the kettle down and asked the only question that mattered. CUSTOMER: Can you save it, or should I start over?
>
> Original two speaker dialogue test passage

Keep the speaker labels out of the spoken copy. They tell a multi-speaker tool who is talking; they are not read aloud. If you are preparing a longer read, the [product demo script template](https://www.murmurtts.com/blog/product-demo-script-template) shows how to keep narration, notes, and speaker turns apart so nothing extra ends up in the audio.

## Which passage to use for which test

You do not need every passage for every decision. Match the passage to the question you are actually asking, then run only that subset so the audition stays short enough to finish.

| What you need to test | Passage to use | Why it fits |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Overall naturalness and flow | The Rainbow Passage | A long connected paragraph exposes drift and odd pauses |
| Phoneme coverage in a hurry | Harvard sentences | Phonetically balanced short lines are easy to score |
| One passage, many sounds | Comma Gets a Cure | Built from standard lexical set words |
| Consistency across languages | The North Wind and the Sun | The IPA standard sample text exists in many languages |
| Numbers and normalization | Your numbers, dates, and currency lines | Digits, times, and symbols rarely appear in the published passages |
| Context sensitive words | Your homograph lines | The same spelling needs different sounds |
| Emotion and pacing | Your scene and dialogue lines | Pitch and timing must change to read them well |

## How to run the audition and score it

Change one variable at a time. If you also change speed, sample rate, or the machine between voices, you cannot tell whether a difference comes from the voice or from the settings. Freeze everything except the voice, then work through the pack in the same order each time.

1. Freeze one pack of passages and do not edit the wording during a comparison.
2. Set the same speed, sample rate, and output format for every candidate.
3. Generate every voice on the same computer and in the same project.
4. Listen once without notes, then listen again with the scorecard open.
5. Write down the exact word or line that failed rather than a vague overall impression.
6. Re-test the finalists on a page of your real script before you commit.

| Test | What to listen for | Common failure |
| --- | --- | --- |
| The Rainbow Passage | Sentence rhythm and breath pauses across a long span | Flat, even delivery with pauses in the middle of clauses |
| Harvard sentences | Individual sounds, clusters, and final consonants | Dropped final consonants and soft sibilants |
| Numbers and dates | How digits, currency, and times are spoken aloud | Splits a year or reads a sum as separate digits |
| Homographs | Choosing the right sound from the surrounding words | Reads both dove as the bird and both read as present tense |
| Proper nouns and acronyms | Names, initials, and letter by letter acronyms | Spells an acronym as a word or splits a surname |
| Emotional lines | Pitch range and believable emphasis | The same flat tone for anger and for apology |
| Two speaker dialogue | Turn taking and distinct, consistent voices | One indistinguishable voice for both speakers |

Numbers are the single most common failure, because a model has to decide how to say a value rather than just pronounce a word. That decision is called text normalization, and it affects dates, times, currency, and units. If your candidates stumble on the numbers block, the [text normalization guide](https://www.murmurtts.com/blog/text-normalization-local-tts-guide) explains how to write the digits so a model reads them the way you intend.

## From test passage to test project

Once you know which passages expose a weakness, you need a way to run them without a subscription meter counting every character. Murmur is a local voice studio for Apple Silicon Macs running macOS 15 or later. It includes the Kokoro model, which has a set of built-in voices and several languages, and it can also drive cloning and voice design models and assemble multi-speaker projects. Because generation happens on your Mac, your test passages and any unpublished script you paste in stay on the machine rather than being uploaded to a cloud service.

Keep the audition pack as its own project so it never mixes with real work, and export each candidate at the same setting so the files compare cleanly. If you are narrowing a shortlist by ear, the [blind benchmark script completion](https://www.murmurtts.com/blog/local-tts-blind-benchmark-script-completion) method hides the voice name until after you have scored it, which removes the temptation to favor a familiar engine. When you are ready to rank narration voices specifically, the [best TTS voices for narration](https://www.murmurtts.com/blog/best-tts-voices-for-narration-2026) roundup and the [Kokoro voice audition scorecard](https://www.murmurtts.com/blog/kokoro-voice-audition-scorecard) reuse the same line of thinking.

A word of caution about scope. No passage pack can tell you how a voice performs live or in a language you did not test, and a clean read of the Rainbow Passage does not prove a voice will hold up across a two hour book. Treat the pack as a fast filter, not a verdict. Run the finalists on real, full length material before you decide, and be honest with yourself about the material you actually need to produce.

## Frequently asked questions

## Sources

- [Columbia University: Harvard sentences, IEEE Recommended Practice for Speech Quality Measurements](https://www.cs.columbia.edu/~hgs/audio/harvard.html)Accessed 2026-10-14
- [Wikipedia: Harvard sentences (720 phonetically balanced sentences)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_sentences)Accessed 2026-10-14
- [IDEA: Comma Gets a Cure (elicitation passage)](https://www.dialectsarchive.com/comma-gets-a-cure)Accessed 2026-10-14
- [IDEA: The Rainbow Passage (public domain text)](https://www.dialectsarchive.com/the-rainbow-passage)Accessed 2026-10-14
- [Wikipedia: The North Wind and the Sun (IPA Handbook sample text)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_North_Wind_and_the_Sun)Accessed 2026-10-14

## Audition voices on your own test pack in Murmur

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