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

PRONUNCIATION / Science and learning

# How to pronounce nuclear

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

Dictionary variant 1

`N UW1 K L IY0 ER0`

**Syllable estimate**

3 vowel nuclei

**Primary stress**

1st vowel position

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

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 nuclear in context

Nuclear appears in explanations of atomic processes, energy, weapons, and some other specialized contexts. Narration should define the particular subject instead of letting the adjective imply a single topic. Technical terms, quantities, and institutional names nearby deserve review so the whole explanation remains understandable to the intended audience.

1. The documentary compares several approaches to nuclear energy.
2. The lesson introduces nuclear structure before discussing chemical bonds.

### A practice cue

Audition nuclear with the technical noun it modifies, then compare it directly with your chosen reference. Listen for an unintended rearrangement of sounds and review the complete explanatory sentence, including any numbers or abbreviations that may need separate formatting.

## Read the sound tokens

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

`N`sound in **knee**consonant`UW`sound in **two**vowel`K`sound in **key**consonant`L`sound in **lee**consonant`IY`sound in **eat**vowel`ER`sound in **hurt**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.

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