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

PRONUNCIATION / Science and learning

# How to pronounce isthmus

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

Dictionary variant 1

`IH1 S M AH0 S`

**Syllable estimate**

2 vowel nuclei

**Primary stress**

1st vowel position

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

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 isthmus in context

Isthmus names a narrow strip of land connecting larger land areas. Geography narration should establish the connected regions and nearby water, particularly when the listener lacks a map. Clear place names and spatial relationships do more explanatory work than an isolated definition of the landform.

1. The railway crosses the isthmus near the old port.
2. A map of the isthmus shows bays on both sides.

### A practice cue

Test isthmus alongside the relevant place names and spatial description. Listen for an intact word before the next phrase begins, then audition the whole map explanation slowly enough that listeners can reconstruct the connection between land and water.

## Read the sound tokens

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

`IH`sound in **it**vowel`S`sound in **sea**consonant`M`sound in **me**consonant`AH`sound in **hut**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 asterisk](https://www.murmurtts.com/pronunciation/asterisk)[How to pronounce bourgeois](https://www.murmurtts.com/pronunciation/bourgeois)[How to pronounce chameleon](https://www.murmurtts.com/pronunciation/chameleon)[How to pronounce chrysanthemum](https://www.murmurtts.com/pronunciation/chrysanthemum)

[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)

MURMUR FOR MAC

## 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.

[Explore Murmur](https://www.murmurtts.com/#product)