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

PRONUNCIATION / Science and learning

# How to pronounce criterion

Check criterion 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 **criterion**. Read each sequence from left to right. The numbers mark vowel stress: **1** primary, **2** secondary, **0** unstressed.

Dictionary variant 1

`K R AY0 T IH1 R IY0 AH0 N`

**Syllable estimate**

4 vowel nuclei

**Primary stress**

2nd vowel position

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

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 criterion in context

Criterion names a standard used to judge or select something. Academic, hiring, and product-evaluation narration should identify the standard and explain how it applies. Since evaluations often compare several requirements, listeners benefit from clear grammatical and numerical distinctions between a single criterion and a larger set.

1. Durability was the main criterion for choosing the material.
2. The committee added one criterion concerning accessibility.

### A practice cue

Test criterion beside the standard being named and any numbered requirements. Listen for the singular form remaining clear in your sentence, and audition the whole comparison if the passage also uses the plural form for multiple standards.

## Read the sound tokens

Each example word below is a cue for the named sound, rather than a respelling of criterion. 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`R`sound in **read**consonant`AY`sound in **hide**vowel`T`sound in **tea**consonant`IH`sound in **it**vowel`IY`sound in **eat**vowel`AH`sound in **hut**vowel`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

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[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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