"Rhyming words" is searched by parents of five-year-olds learning to read (rhyme is the first phonics skill), by children writing their first poems, by teachers making word-family lists, and by anyone with a half-written song or a birthday card. This page is the list those searches want: forty word families with six to eight words each, rhymes for the twenty words people get stuck on most, and then the ideas behind it: what a rhyme actually is, the types, the schemes, and the words with no rhyme at all. The printable has the list on one page and the types and schemes on the other.
Download the rhyming words list (PDF) (40 word families, rhymes for 20 common words, the types of rhyme with examples, the rhyme schemes, and a page of practice; two pages, free).
What makes two words rhyme
Two words rhyme when their last stressed vowel sound and everything after it are identical. In cat and hat the stressed vowel is "a" and what follows is "t": they rhyme. In delight and tonight the stressed syllable is the last one, "light" and "night": they rhyme. In ocean and motion the stress is on the first syllable, so the matching part is "otion", two syllables long.
The rule is about sound, not spelling: through, blue, shoe, two and flew all rhyme though no two are spelled alike; cough, bough, dough and tough share four letters and none of them rhyme. The first consonant does not matter (cat and hat) and in fact must differ for a true rhyme: cat and cat is repetition, not rhyme.
The rhyming words list by word family
Short vowels (the first families children meet in phonics):
| Family | Words |
|---|---|
| -at | cat, hat, bat, rat, mat, sat, flat, chat, that |
| -an | can, man, pan, ran, fan, van, plan, than |
| -ap | cap, map, tap, nap, lap, gap, clap, snap, trap |
| -ag | bag, tag, rag, wag, flag, drag, snag |
| -ad | bad, dad, had, mad, sad, glad, pad |
| -am | ham, jam, ram, yam, clam, slam, swam |
| -et | pet, net, wet, jet, get, let, met, set, yet |
| -en | hen, pen, ten, men, den, then, when |
| -ed | bed, red, fed, led, shed, sled, bread, head |
| -ig | big, dig, pig, wig, fig, jig, twig |
| -in | pin, win, tin, fin, bin, chin, grin, skin, thin |
| -ip | hip, lip, dip, rip, sip, tip, zip, chip, ship, trip |
| -it | sit, hit, bit, fit, kit, lit, pit, quit, split |
| -ill | hill, fill, will, bill, still, chill, spill, drill |
| -og | dog, log, fog, hog, jog, frog, clog |
| -op | hop, top, mop, pop, stop, shop, drop, chop |
| -ot | hot, pot, dot, got, lot, not, spot, knot |
| -ug | bug, hug, mug, rug, jug, tug, plug, snug |
| -un | sun, fun, run, bun, gun, spun, begun |
| -ut | cut, hut, nut, shut, strut |
Long vowels and others:
| Family | Words |
|---|---|
| -ake | cake, lake, make, take, bake, wake, shake, snake, mistake |
| -ame | name, game, same, came, flame, frame, blame, shame |
| -ate | gate, late, date, hate, plate, skate, state, create |
| -ay | day, say, play, way, stay, may, away, today, gray |
| -ail | mail, tail, nail, sail, rail, snail, trail, fail |
| -ain | rain, train, pain, main, brain, chain, plain, again |
| -eat | eat, seat, heat, meat, neat, beat, treat, wheat |
| -eep | sleep, deep, keep, sheep, sweep, creep, steep, weep |
| -ight | light, night, right, bright, fight, sight, tight, flight, delight |
| -ide | ride, hide, side, wide, slide, bride, pride, inside |
| -ine | line, fine, mine, nine, shine, pine, vine, define |
| -oat | boat, coat, goat, float, note, vote, wrote, throat |
| -ow (long o) | snow, grow, slow, show, know, blow, flow, below |
| -old | cold, gold, hold, bold, fold, sold, told |
| -ook | book, look, cook, took, hook, shook, brook |
| -oon | moon, soon, noon, spoon, balloon, cartoon, June |
| -all | ball, call, fall, tall, wall, small, hall |
| -ing | sing, ring, king, wing, bring, thing, spring, swing |
| -ack | back, pack, sack, black, crack, snack, track, attack |
| -ick | kick, pick, sick, stick, trick, quick, brick |
| -ock | rock, sock, lock, clock, block, knock, flock |
| -unk | junk, bunk, trunk, skunk, chunk, dunk |
Rhymes for the twenty words people ask about
| Word | Rhymes |
|---|---|
| love | above, dove, glove, of, shove; (slant) enough, move |
| time | climb, rhyme, chime, crime, prime, sublime, I'm, lime |
| day | away, say, play, stay, way, today, okay, display, delay |
| night | light, bright, right, sight, flight, white, tonight, delight, write |
| heart | start, part, art, smart, apart, chart, cart, depart |
| friend | end, send, bend, spend, pretend, mend, depend, descend |
| dream | seem, team, stream, beam, gleam, scream, extreme, redeem |
| sun | fun, run, done, one, none, begun, everyone, won |
| star | far, are, car, guitar, bar, jar, afar |
| home | roam, foam, dome, comb, chrome, poem (near) |
| you | true, blue, new, through, do, too, view, few, knew |
| me | be, see, free, tree, three, agree, key, sea, we |
| life | knife, wife, strife, rife |
| world | curled, hurled, swirled, twirled, unfurled |
| rain | again, pain, train, plain, remain, explain, brain |
| eyes | skies, rise, surprise, lies, wise, realise, prize |
| fire | higher, desire, tire, wire, inspire, choir, entire |
| go | know, show, slow, grow, below, although, ago |
| fly | sky, high, by, why, goodbye, reply, cry, eye |
| true | you, blue, new, through, do, knew, few, pursue |
The types of rhyme
| Type | Means | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Perfect (full, true) rhyme | the sounds match exactly from the stressed vowel on | moon, June; delight, tonight |
| Slant (near, half, imperfect) rhyme | the sounds almost match: same consonants, different vowel, or similar vowels | moon, bone; shape, keep; love, move. Emily Dickinson's favourite |
| Eye rhyme | the spelling matches but the sound does not | love, move; cough, bough; said, maid |
| Identical rhyme | the same word or syllable repeated | night, night; or "light" and "delight" where the whole syllable repeats |
| Rich rhyme | different words that sound exactly alike | pair, pear; write, right |
| End rhyme | at the ends of lines | the normal kind in songs and poems |
| Internal rhyme | inside a line, or a word inside and one at the end | "Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary" (Poe) |
| Masculine rhyme | a single stressed final syllable | cat, hat; delight, tonight |
| Feminine rhyme | a stressed syllable then an unstressed one (or two) | ocean, motion; forever, together; tenderly, slenderly |
Perfect rhyme is what young children and most songs use; slant rhyme is what most serious modern poetry uses, because perfect rhymes in English are limited and the famous ones are worn out (love and dove, moon and June, heart and apart).
Rhyme schemes
Letters label the end rhymes: lines that rhyme share a letter.
| Scheme | Pattern | Where it is used |
|---|---|---|
| AABB | couplets | nursery rhymes, children's books, Dr Seuss, rap |
| ABAB | alternating | ballads, hymns, most song verses, Shakespeare's quatrains |
| ABBA | enclosed | Tennyson's In Memoriam, the Petrarchan sonnet's octave (ABBAABBA) |
| ABCB | only lines 2 and 4 rhyme | most ballads and nursery rhymes ("Mary had a little lamb") |
| AABBA | the limerick | five lines, with lines 3 and 4 shorter |
| ABAB CDCD EFEF GG | the Shakespearean sonnet | three quatrains and a closing couplet |
| AAA, or none | monorhyme, free verse | free verse has no rhyme scheme at all |
To find a poem's scheme, write A next to the first line, A next to every later line that rhymes with it, B next to the first line that does not, and so on.
The words with no rhyme
Orange, silver, purple and month are the famous four; add angel, chimney, circus, dangerous, penguin, wolf and ninth. Poets handle them three ways: a slant rhyme (orange and door hinge, purple and hurtle), moving the word away from the end of the line, or using a two-word rhyme ("a month" and "the front"). Most rhyming dictionaries list "sporange", a spore case, for orange; nobody outside botany has used it.
Where it sits in school
Rhyme is the first phonological-awareness skill: children in US kindergarten and grade 1 (RF.K.2a: "recognise and produce rhyming words"), England's Reception and Year 1 (phonics phase 1 and the word families), Australian Foundation and Year 1, and CBSE Class 1 and 2 learn to hear and make rhymes before they can read them, and the word families above are the standard first reading lists. Rhyme schemes and the types of rhyme come in grade 4 to 6, Key Stage 2, and the poetry units of Class 6 to 8; slant rhyme and feminine rhyme are GCSE, A level and AP Literature terms.
Practice
- Which of these rhyme with "light": bite, white, sit, kite, late?
- Write four words that rhyme with "cake".
- Do "love" and "move" rhyme? What kind of rhyme are they?
- Mark the rhyme scheme: "Twinkle, twinkle, little star, / How I wonder what you are. / Up above the world so high, / Like a diamond in the sky."
- Is "ocean / motion" a masculine or a feminine rhyme?
- Find the internal rhyme: "I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers."
- Write a rhyming couplet (AABB's first two lines) about rain.
- Which word has no perfect rhyme: apple, orange, banana?
Answers: 1) bite, white, kite (sit and late do not). 2) lake, make, take, snake (any four). 3) Only as an eye rhyme: they look alike but sound different; also counted as slant. 4) AABB. 5) Feminine. 6) showers / flowers. 7) Any pair with matching end sounds, for example "The rain came down on the garden gate / And made the puppy's dinner late." 8) Orange.
Download the rhyming words list (PDF)
Where to get help
A 1-on-1 online English class for children from 5 to 12, in the US, UK, Australian and CBSE curricula: phonics and word families on the shared screen for the youngest, rhyme schemes and the types of rhyme with real poems for the older ones, and their own poems written and read aloud. The recording and notes after every class, the same tutor every week, US$10 to $13 an hour. The creative writing page has the courses; the free 30-minute first class is a real lesson, usually on the homework the child brings.
Questions parents ask
1What are rhyming words?
2What are 10 examples of rhyming words?
3What are the types of rhyme?
4What rhymes with orange?
5What is a rhyme scheme?
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