Pronunciation · Work and business

How to pronounce valet

Valet is val-AY in CMUdict (V AE0 L EY1), with a silent t and the stress on the second syllable; VAL-it is not listed.

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The dictionary sound sequence

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

Dictionary variant 1

V AE0 L EY1

Syllable estimate: 2 vowel nuclei
Primary stress: 2nd vowel position

Check valet in Merriam-Webster and listen to available dictionary audio.

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 valet in context

Valet shows up in hotel and restaurant parking, event planning and period dramas. In the US, valet parking is usually val-AY. VAL-it is common in British English. Only the first is in CMUdict.

Leave the keys with the valet at the entrance.
The restaurant offers free valet parking.

Read the sound tokens

Each example word below is a cue for the named sound, rather than a respelling of valet. Unstressed vowels may sound reduced. These cues follow the CMU phoneme-set key (Appendix A).

Vsound in veeconsonant

AEsound in atvowel

Lsound in leeconsonant

EYsound in atevowel

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.

Worksheet pronunciation variant

Your plain-text audition worksheet

How to pronounce valet

Word: valet
Dictionary variant: 1 of 1
CMUdict ARPABET: V AE0 L EY1
Vowel nuclei / estimated syllables: 2
Primary stress: 2nd vowel position

ORIGINAL AUDITION SCRIPT
Leave the keys with the valet at the entrance.
The restaurant offers free valet parking.

REVIEW CHECKLIST
[ ] Read both sentences naturally; keep the source wording.
[ ] Compare the intended pronunciation with the selected dictionary variant.
[ ] Listen for vowel sounds, consonants, and word stress in context.
[ ] Check with a speaker or another dictionary when accent or meaning matters.
[ ] Generate and listen to a short Murmur sample before exporting the full script.

Practice note: End on an open "ay" and leave the t silent.

CMUdict is a North American English lexicon, not a recording or a complete accent guide.
Variant order is dictionary order; it is not a ranking of correctness.
Source: https://github.com/cmusphinx/cmudict/blob/74790861f652b15e4ac49015a90074ad62a27690/cmudict.dict
Source commit: 74790861f652b15e4ac49015a90074ad62a27690
License: https://www.murmurtts.com/downloads/cmudict-license.txt
Reference: https://www.murmurtts.com/pronunciation/valet

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Dictionary source

The phonemes on this page come from CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. The dictionary maintainers acknowledge that errors and omissions can remain; check another source or a speaker when the pronunciation matters.

CMUdict README · Included dictionary license

Source version and checksum

Commit: 74790861f652b15e4ac49015a90074ad62a27690

Dictionary SHA-256: 81917843c7f44ce2b094ac63873c2c7a4cf802040792c455ba3ca406891c3d22

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