diff --git a/egs/aspire/s5/local/fisher_prepare_dict.sh b/egs/aspire/s5/local/fisher_prepare_dict.sh
index f643d924b26..577e2869c0b 100755
--- a/egs/aspire/s5/local/fisher_prepare_dict.sh
+++ b/egs/aspire/s5/local/fisher_prepare_dict.sh
@@ -122,10 +122,7 @@ srcdict=$srcdir/swb_ms98_transcriptions/sw-ms98-dict.text
 
 #(2a) Dictionary preparation:
 # Pre-processing (Upper-case, remove comments)
-awk 'BEGIN{getline}($0 !~ /^#/) {$0=toupper($0); print}' \
-  $srcdict | sort | awk '($0 !~ /^[:space:]*$/) {print}' \
-   > $dir/lexicon1.txt || exit 1;
-
+grep -v '^#' $srcdict | tr '[a-z]' '[A-Z]' | awk 'NF>0' | sort > $dir/lexicon1.txt || exit 1;
 
 cat $dir/lexicon1.txt | awk '{ for(n=2;n<=NF;n++){ phones[$n] = 1; }} END{for (p in phones) print p;}' | \
   grep -v SIL > $dir/nonsilence_phones.txt  || exit 1;
diff --git a/egs/fisher_english/s5/local/fisher_prepare_dict.sh b/egs/fisher_english/s5/local/fisher_prepare_dict.sh
index bcf672cf057..c19cf5eeb7e 100755
--- a/egs/fisher_english/s5/local/fisher_prepare_dict.sh
+++ b/egs/fisher_english/s5/local/fisher_prepare_dict.sh
@@ -122,10 +122,7 @@ srcdict=$srcdir/swb_ms98_transcriptions/sw-ms98-dict.text
 
 #(2a) Dictionary preparation:
 # Pre-processing (Upper-case, remove comments)
-awk 'BEGIN{getline}($0 !~ /^#/) {$0=toupper($0); print}' \
-  $srcdict | sort | awk '($0 !~ /^[:space:]*$/) {print}' \
-   > $dir/lexicon1.txt || exit 1;
-
+grep -v '^#' $srcdict | tr '[a-z]' '[A-Z]' | awk 'NF>0' | sort > $dir/lexicon1.txt || exit 1;
 
 cat $dir/lexicon1.txt | awk '{ for(n=2;n<=NF;n++){ phones[$n] = 1; }} END{for (p in phones) print p;}' | \
   grep -v SIL > $dir/nonsilence_phones.txt  || exit 1;
diff --git a/egs/fisher_swbd/s5/local/fisher_prepare_dict.sh b/egs/fisher_swbd/s5/local/fisher_prepare_dict.sh
index 8023c5c29f2..98b1e84cdde 100755
--- a/egs/fisher_swbd/s5/local/fisher_prepare_dict.sh
+++ b/egs/fisher_swbd/s5/local/fisher_prepare_dict.sh
@@ -116,11 +116,8 @@ cp $srcdict $dir/lexicon0.txt || exit 1;
 patch <local/dict.patch $dir/lexicon0.txt || exit 1;
 
 #(2a) Dictionary preparation:
-# Pre-processing (Upper-case, remove comments)
-awk 'BEGIN{getline}($0 !~ /^#/) {print}' \
-  $dir/lexicon0.txt | sort | awk '($0 !~ /^[[:space:]]*$/) {print}' \
-   > $dir/lexicon1_swbd.txt || exit 1;
-
+# Pre-processing (remove comments)
+grep -v '^#' $dir/lexicon0.txt | awk 'NF>0' | sort > $dir/lexicon1_swbd.txt || exit 1;
 
 cat $dir/lexicon1_swbd.txt | awk '{ for(n=2;n<=NF;n++){ phones[$n] = 1; }} END{for (p in phones) print p;}' | \
   grep -v SIL > $dir/nonsilence_phones_msu.txt  || exit 1;
diff --git a/egs/fisher_swbd/s5/local/fisher_swbd_prepare_dict.sh b/egs/fisher_swbd/s5/local/fisher_swbd_prepare_dict.sh
index 2ca5dc31e9d..338e4f28a13 100755
--- a/egs/fisher_swbd/s5/local/fisher_swbd_prepare_dict.sh
+++ b/egs/fisher_swbd/s5/local/fisher_swbd_prepare_dict.sh
@@ -116,11 +116,8 @@ cp $srcdict $dir/lexicon0.txt || exit 1;
 patch <local/dict.patch $dir/lexicon0.txt || exit 1;
 
 #(2a) Dictionary preparation:
-# Pre-processing (Upper-case, remove comments)
-awk 'BEGIN{getline}($0 !~ /^#/) {print}' \
-  $dir/lexicon0.txt | sort | awk '($0 !~ /^[[:space:]]*$/) {print}' \
-   > $dir/lexicon1_swbd.txt || exit 1;
-
+# Pre-processing (remove comments)
+grep -v '^#' $dir/lexicon0.txt | awk 'NF>0' | sort > $dir/lexicon1_swbd.txt || exit 1;
 
 cat $dir/lexicon1_swbd.txt | awk '{ for(n=2;n<=NF;n++){ phones[$n] = 1; }} END{for (p in phones) print p;}' | \
   grep -v SIL > $dir/nonsilence_phones_msu.txt  || exit 1;
diff --git a/egs/fisher_swbd/s5/local/swbd1_prepare_dict.sh b/egs/fisher_swbd/s5/local/swbd1_prepare_dict.sh
index 5ec0f35a10b..bedee1486a8 100755
--- a/egs/fisher_swbd/s5/local/swbd1_prepare_dict.sh
+++ b/egs/fisher_swbd/s5/local/swbd1_prepare_dict.sh
@@ -19,11 +19,8 @@ srcdict=$srcdir/swb_ms98_transcriptions/sw-ms98-dict.text
 [ ! -f "$srcdict" ] && echo "No such file $srcdict" && exit 1;
 
 #(2a) Dictionary preparation:
-# Pre-processing (Upper-case, remove comments)
-awk 'BEGIN{getline}($0 !~ /^#/) {$0=tolower($0); print}' \
-  $srcdict | sort | awk '($0 !~ /^[:space:]*$/) {print}' \
-   > $dir/lexicon1.txt || exit 1;
-
+# Pre-processing (Lower-case, remove comments)
+grep -v '^#' $srcdict | tr '[A-Z]' '[a-z]' | awk 'NF>0' | sort > $dir/lexicon1.txt || exit 1; 
 
 cat $dir/lexicon1.txt | awk '{ for(n=2;n<=NF;n++){ phones[$n] = 1; }} END{for (p in phones) print p;}' | \
   grep -v sil > $dir/nonsilence_phones.txt  || exit 1;
diff --git a/egs/sre10/v1/local/dnn/fisher_prepare_dict.sh b/egs/sre10/v1/local/dnn/fisher_prepare_dict.sh
index e1d726ef19c..bd41cc9724a 100755
--- a/egs/sre10/v1/local/dnn/fisher_prepare_dict.sh
+++ b/egs/sre10/v1/local/dnn/fisher_prepare_dict.sh
@@ -122,10 +122,7 @@ srcdict=$srcdir/swb_ms98_transcriptions/sw-ms98-dict.text
 
 #(2a) Dictionary preparation:
 # Pre-processing (Upper-case, remove comments)
-awk 'BEGIN{getline}($0 !~ /^#/) {$0=toupper($0); print}' \
-  $srcdict | sort | awk '($0 !~ /^[:space:]*$/) {print}' \
-   > $dir/lexicon1.txt || exit 1;
-
+grep -v '^#' $srcdict | tr '[a-z]' '[A-Z]' | awk 'NF>0' | sort > $dir/lexicon1.txt || exit 1;
 
 cat $dir/lexicon1.txt | awk '{ for(n=2;n<=NF;n++){ phones[$n] = 1; }} END{for (p in phones) print p;}' | \
   grep -v SIL > $dir/nonsilence_phones.txt  || exit 1;
diff --git a/egs/swbd/s5/local/swbd1_prepare_dict.sh b/egs/swbd/s5/local/swbd1_prepare_dict.sh
index a91b555342f..3d147ff9224 100755
--- a/egs/swbd/s5/local/swbd1_prepare_dict.sh
+++ b/egs/swbd/s5/local/swbd1_prepare_dict.sh
@@ -19,11 +19,8 @@ srcdict=$srcdir/swb_ms98_transcriptions/sw-ms98-dict.text
 [ ! -f "$srcdict" ] && echo "No such file $srcdict" && exit 1;
 
 #(2a) Dictionary preparation:
-# Pre-processing (Upper-case, remove comments)
-awk 'BEGIN{getline}($0 !~ /^#/) {$0=tolower($0); print}' \
-  $srcdict | sort | awk '($0 !~ /^[[:space:]]*$/) {print}' \
-   > $dir/lexicon1.txt || exit 1;
-
+# Pre-processing (Lower-case, remove comments)
+grep -v '^#' $srcdict | tr '[A-Z]' '[a-z]' | awk 'NF>0' | sort > $dir/lexicon1.txt || exit 1;
 
 cat $dir/lexicon1.txt | awk '{ for(n=2;n<=NF;n++){ phones[$n] = 1; }} END{for (p in phones) print p;}' | \
   grep -v sil > $dir/nonsilence_phones.txt  || exit 1;
diff --git a/egs/swbd/s5/local/swbd_p1_prepare_dict.sh b/egs/swbd/s5/local/swbd_p1_prepare_dict.sh
index fc19f1355d6..3e633d7b734 100755
--- a/egs/swbd/s5/local/swbd_p1_prepare_dict.sh
+++ b/egs/swbd/s5/local/swbd_p1_prepare_dict.sh
@@ -25,10 +25,7 @@ srcdict=$srcdir/swb_ms98_transcriptions/sw-ms98-dict.text
 
 #(2a) Dictionary preparation:
 # Pre-processing (Upper-case, remove comments)
-awk 'BEGIN{getline}($0 !~ /^#/) {$0=toupper($0); print}' \
-  $srcdict | sort | awk '($0 !~ /^[:space:]*$/) {print}' \
-   > $dir/lexicon1.txt || exit 1;
-
+grep -v '^#' $srcdict | tr '[a-z]' '[A-Z]' | awk 'NF>0' | sort > $dir/lexicon1.txt || exit 1;
 
 cat $dir/lexicon1.txt | awk '{ for(n=2;n<=NF;n++){ phones[$n] = 1; }} END{for (p in phones) print p;}' | \
   grep -v SIL > $dir/nonsilence_phones.txt  || exit 1;
diff --git a/egs/swbd/s5b/local/swbd1_prepare_dict.sh b/egs/swbd/s5b/local/swbd1_prepare_dict.sh
index d860e5e0c2c..2fc7e08d7de 100755
--- a/egs/swbd/s5b/local/swbd1_prepare_dict.sh
+++ b/egs/swbd/s5b/local/swbd1_prepare_dict.sh
@@ -23,9 +23,7 @@ patch <local/dict.patch $dir/lexicon0.txt || exit 1;
 
 #(2a) Dictionary preparation:
 # Pre-processing (lower-case, remove comments)
-awk 'BEGIN{getline}($0 !~ /^#/) {$0=tolower($0); print}' \
-  $srcdict | sort | awk '($0 !~ /^[[:space:]]*$/) {print}' \
-   > $dir/lexicon1.txt || exit 1;
+grep -v '^#' $srcdict | tr '[A-Z]' '[a-z]' | awk 'NF>0' | sort > $dir/lexicon1.txt || exit 1;
 
 
 cat $dir/lexicon1.txt | awk '{ for(n=2;n<=NF;n++){ phones[$n] = 1; }} END{for (p in phones) print p;}' | \
diff --git a/egs/swbd/s5c/local/swbd1_prepare_dict.sh b/egs/swbd/s5c/local/swbd1_prepare_dict.sh
index 5bd9abc6a77..673513806dc 100755
--- a/egs/swbd/s5c/local/swbd1_prepare_dict.sh
+++ b/egs/swbd/s5c/local/swbd1_prepare_dict.sh
@@ -22,10 +22,9 @@ cp $srcdict $dir/lexicon0.txt || exit 1;
 patch <local/dict.patch $dir/lexicon0.txt || exit 1;
 
 #(2a) Dictionary preparation:
-# Pre-processing (remove comments, remove empty lines)
+# Pre-processing (remove comments)
 grep -v '^#' $dir/lexicon0.txt | awk 'NF>0' | sort > $dir/lexicon1.txt || exit 1;
 
-
 cat $dir/lexicon1.txt | awk '{ for(n=2;n<=NF;n++){ phones[$n] = 1; }} END{for (p in phones) print p;}' | \
   grep -v sil > $dir/nonsilence_phones.txt  || exit 1;