---
title: "How to pronounce chameleon | Murmur"
description: "Check chameleon pronunciation with CMUdict sound tokens and stress, then practise two original sentences and download a voiceover audition worksheet."
canonical: "https://www.murmurtts.com/pronunciation/chameleon"
---
[Murmur](https://www.murmurtts.com/)/[Pronunciation](https://www.murmurtts.com/pronunciation)/chameleon

PRONUNCIATION / Science and learning

# How to pronounce chameleon

Check chameleon pronunciation with CMUdict sound tokens and stress, then practise two original sentences and download a voiceover audition worksheet.

## The dictionary sound sequence

CMUdict lists this North American English pronunciation for **chameleon**. Read each sequence from left to right. The numbers mark vowel stress: **1** primary, **2** secondary, **0** unstressed.

Dictionary variant 1

`K AH0 M IY1 L IY0 AH0 N`

**Syllable estimate**

4 vowel nuclei

**Primary stress**

2nd vowel position

[Check chameleon in Merriam-Webster and listen to available dictionary audio](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chameleon).

Syllable counts come from vowel tokens; CMUdict does not supply syllable boundaries here. Variant order follows the dictionary and does not rank correctness. This lexicon does not represent every accent or context.

## Use chameleon in context

Chameleon names a reptile and also describes someone who adapts their appearance or behavior to different situations. Wildlife narration should use concrete observations, while a figurative character description needs an example of the change. Clear context prevents the metaphor from competing with the literal subject.

1. The chameleon moved slowly along the branch.
2. As a performer, she was a chameleon who could inhabit sharply different roles.

### A practice cue

Test chameleon with the animal description or character comparison your script actually uses. Listen for smooth delivery through the whole word and keep the defining observation close enough that the listener can understand the literal subject or metaphor immediately.

## Read the sound tokens

Each example word below is a cue for the named sound, rather than a respelling of chameleon. Unstressed vowels may sound reduced. These cues follow the [CMU phoneme-set key (Appendix A)](https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~aria/Papers/MastersThesis.pdf#page=115).

`K`sound in **key**consonant`AH`sound in **hut**vowel`M`sound in **me**consonant`IY`sound in **eat**vowel`L`sound in **lee**consonant`N`sound in **knee**consonant

TAKE IT TO YOUR NEXT RECORDING

## Make an audition worksheet

Select a dictionary variant for your checklist. The two original sentences retain their normal spelling; this worksheet helps you review a recording rather than forcing a speech engine to use phonemes.

Copying and downloading happen in your browser. No script upload or audio generation is needed.

## Dictionary source

The phonemes on this page come from [CMU Pronouncing Dictionary](https://github.com/cmusphinx/cmudict/blob/74790861f652b15e4ac49015a90074ad62a27690/cmudict.dict). The dictionary maintainers acknowledge that errors and omissions can remain; check another source or a speaker when the pronunciation matters.

[CMUdict README](https://github.com/cmusphinx/cmudict/blob/74790861f652b15e4ac49015a90074ad62a27690/README) · [Included dictionary license](https://www.murmurtts.com/downloads/cmudict-license.txt)

Source version and checksum

Commit: `74790861f652b15e4ac49015a90074ad62a27690`

Dictionary SHA-256: `81917843c7f44ce2b094ac63873c2c7a4cf802040792c455ba3ca406891c3d22`

## Keep practising

[How to pronounce chrysanthemum](https://www.murmurtts.com/pronunciation/chrysanthemum)[How to pronounce criterion](https://www.murmurtts.com/pronunciation/criterion)[How to pronounce asterisk](https://www.murmurtts.com/pronunciation/asterisk)[How to pronounce bourgeois](https://www.murmurtts.com/pronunciation/bourgeois)

[Build a pronunciation test suite for local TTS](https://www.murmurtts.com/blog/pronunciation-test-suite-local-tts) · [Browse all word references](https://www.murmurtts.com/pronunciation)

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## Check the word in a real voiceover.

Murmur generates speech locally on Apple Silicon Macs. Try your audition sentences with your chosen model and voice, listen for pronunciation, and review the result before exporting. A dictionary sequence does not guarantee a model’s output.

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