Aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques for design of synchronization signals for narrowband operation, which can be used for stand-alone/in-band/guard-band deployment. An example method is provided for operations which may be performed by a base station (BS). The example method generally includes generating a primary synchronization signal (PSS) utilizing a first code sequence and a cover code applied to the first code sequence over a first number of symbols within one or more subframes, generating a secondary synchronization signal (SSS) based on a second code sequence over a second number of symbols within one or more subframes, and transmitting the PSS and the SSS in the first and second subframes to a first type of a user equipment (UE) that communicates on one or more narrowband regions of wider system bandwidth.