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

PRONUNCIATION / Creative work

# How to pronounce hyperbole

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

Dictionary variant 1

`HH AY0 P ER1 B AH0 L IY2`

**Syllable estimate**

4 vowel nuclei

**Primary stress**

2nd vowel position

**Secondary stress**

4th vowel position

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

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 hyperbole in context

Hyperbole is deliberate exaggeration used for effect, rather than a statement intended as a literal measurement. It appears in literary analysis, comedy discussion, and commentary about persuasive language. Narration should distinguish the exaggeration from the explanation without making every example sound like a joke.

1. Calling the queue endless was a piece of harmless hyperbole.
2. The essay uses hyperbole to reveal the speaker's impatience.

### A practice cue

Audition hyperbole in an explanation followed by your quoted example. Compare neutral and playful delivery, listening for whether the audience can tell when you are discussing the device and when you are performing the exaggeration.

## Read the sound tokens

Each example word below is a cue for the named sound, rather than a respelling of hyperbole. 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).

`HH`sound in **he**consonant`AY`sound in **hide**vowel`P`sound in **pee**consonant`ER`sound in **hurt**vowel`B`sound in **be**consonant`AH`sound in **hut**vowel`L`sound in **lee**consonant`IY`sound in **eat**vowel

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 harbinger](https://www.murmurtts.com/pronunciation/harbinger)[How to pronounce awry](https://www.murmurtts.com/pronunciation/awry)[How to pronounce banal](https://www.murmurtts.com/pronunciation/banal)[How to pronounce cacophony](https://www.murmurtts.com/pronunciation/cacophony)

[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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