Syllable of Your Source Word
Proper rhyme in English consists of three things:
matching stress (which you determined in Step 1),
matching vowel (which you determined in Step 2),
and matching terminal sounds, which we will look
at now. This requires understanding how consonant
sounds are organized in each major section of this
book.
The letters and combinations of letters in bold
caps in the list below, just as the vowels noted
above, represent the sounds of words. This is not
always the same as their spelling. Familiarize
yourself with how these letters represent English
sounds.
The Spelling of Consonant Sounds in
Words to Rhyme With
Sound
symbol
Consonant(s)
it can
represent
Sounded as in
B
b
boy, ambivalent
BL
bl
black
BR
br
brand, ambrosia
CH
ch
chart, enchant
D
d
day, adore
F
f, ph
family, aphasis
The Spelling of Consonant Sounds in
Words to Rhyme With
Sound
symbol
Consonant(s)
it can
represent
Sounded as in
G
g
good, ago
GL
gl
glorious, agley
GR
gr
great, digress
H
h
happy, abhor
HW
wh
white, awhile
J
g, j
ingest, jest
K
c, ch, k
cat, alchemy, kitten
KL
chl, cl, kl
chlorine, clatter, klieg
KR
chr, cr, kr
Christian, crest,
kraken
KW
qu
quit, requite
L
l
lengthy, allow
M
m
mayhem, admissible
N
gn, kn, mn, n
gnostic, knowledge,
mnemonics, nothing
NGG
ng
anger, jingle, congo
NGK
nc, nk, nx
bonkers, hankie, zinc*
P
p
passage, repel
PL
pl
implacable, pleasant
PR
pr
prominent,
improvident
R
r
raffish, meteorology
S
c, ps, s
receipt, psychology,
song
The Spelling of Consonant Sounds in
Words to Rhyme With
Sound
symbol
Consonant(s)
it can
represent
Sounded as in
SH
ch, s, sh
parachute, insure,
shame
SK
sc, sk
scout, skirt
SKR
scr
scribe, subscription
SKW
squ
squiggle
SM
sm
smattering
SN
sn
sneer
SP
sp
spacious, inspissate
ST
st
still
STR
str
strong
T
pht, pt, t
phthisic, ptarmigan,
toil
TH (as
in thin)
th
thin, athirst
TH (as
in then)
th
then, these
THR
thr
threaten
THW
thw
thwack
TR
tr
treasure, entreat
TW
tw
twaddle, between
V
v
various, invest
W
w
won, one
Y
y
young, unyielding
Z
z, s, ss, x
zeal, resolve, dissolve,
exert
ZH
g
ingenue
Now, “sound out” the rest of the letters, if any, that
follow the stressed vowel in your source word. To
return to our example word, fodder, we find that the
vowel, O, is followed by the consonant sounds der,
which in this case are represented just as they are
spelled: DER. In the double rhymes section then,
look for the group of words under the combination
of sounds ODER; you see that there is a section
for them, beginning on page 314. Just as the vowel
sounds are ordered as they are listed in the vowel
table, the consonant sounds are ordered as they are
given in the consonant table.
A heading such as ODER in this book constitutes
what we call a mother rhyme. Mother rhymes are the
chief means used for organizing groups of words that
rhyme with each other. Each mother rhyme broods
over a clutch of children, if you will: the children
consist of the possible initial consonant combinations
(see the consonant table) combined with the mother
rhyme that correspond to English words.
If the mother rhyme happens to be a word itself,
(in our example, the sound pattern ODER without
any initial consonants, which represents the English
word odder) it is relisted as the first of the subcat-
egories, this way:
ODER
ODER
odder
DODDER
doddr
FODDER
fodder, cannon fodder
KODER
Cape Codder, codder
and so on, down to PODER, PRODER, and
SODER.
After the initial rhyme—the one that begins with
only a vowel sound if there is one—the other rhymes
are listed in alphabetic order of the initial sounds, as
above. All of the words under a mother rhyme rhyme
with each other; you can look for your target rhyme
under the mother rhyme that you have identified
through this three-step process.
Finer Points
The method just outlined should enable you to
find a rhyme for any word you know in this book—
if there is such a rhyme in English. Following are
some of the finer points concerning the rhyming lists:
these points will come to your aid if you don’t find
a target rhyme, or if you are reasonably sure that one
exists and you don’t find it in the place you expect.
Italic
Most words in the list that are italicized appear that
way for this reason: the normal stress has been either
advanced or put back by one or two syllables to
force a match with others in the category. The word
snowdrift, for instance, is correctly accented on the
penult (that is, the second to the last syllable), and
so is a double rhyme. But it can be “forced” into a
single rhyme by pushing the accent forward:
On winter evenings, don’t get squiffed: You may wind up in a snowdrift.
Thus, snowdrift is listed, in italic, under the
mother rhyme IFT in the single rhymes section,
even though properly it requires a double rhyme
under a category ŌDRIFT (which doesn’t appear,
since there are no perfect rhymes for snowdrift in
English).
Italic is also used in two other cases, both of
which also indicate that the word is not a perfect
fit for the rhyme category where it is listed: (1) An
italicized word may be included in a category of
rhymes because its common pronunciation, though
not strictly proper, makes it a candidate for rhyme:
thus, hors d’oeuvre is listed under the URV category
(even though the French sneer at this pronuncia-
tion). (2) An italicized word may appear under a
vowel that is similar to its opening vowel, especially
if, treated strictly, the word would have no rhymes.
For example, fourth appears under the mother
rhyme ÔRTH because, strictly speaking, it should
occur under the category ŌRTH (which has no
English rhymes, and so isn’t in the book). Do not
get caught up in analyzing whether forth and fourth
(for example) really have different vowel sounds!
This will not help you find a rhyme. See the note
about pronunciation, below.
Long Entries
Where a group of rhymes runs over ten or so
entries, initial letters facilitate the location of rhym-
ing words in the subcategory. Here is an example of
how the system works.
FĀST A angel-faced, apple-faced, B baby-faced, baldfaced, barefaced, bold-faced, BR brazen-faced, D defaced,
dirty-faced, dish-faced, doughfaced, E effaced.
F faced, furrow-faced, FR freckle-faced, H hard-faced,
hatchet-faced, horse-faced, HW whey-faced,
J Janus-faced, KL clean-faced, L lean-faced, lily-faced, M mottle-faced, P pale-faced, paper-faced, pie-faced,
pickle-faced, pimple-faced, pippin-faced, pudding- faced, pug-faced, PL platter-faced, plump-faced,
R refaced, SH shamefaced, SM smooth-faced, smug-faced, T tallow-faced, two-faced, TR triple-face U undefaced, unshamefaced, V vinegar-faced, W weasel-faced, wizen-faced
Note that the words are listed in sound order, not
alphabetical order: they appear in the same order as
the rhyme categories in the lists (which follow the
tables you have already looked at, above). Thus,
words beginning with a hard “c” (like clean-faced )
are listed under K, not C; those beginning with the
“hw” sound (like whey-faced ), are listed at HW, not
W—even though many American speakers today
do not distinguish between words beginning with
w and wh-.
Inflections
Listing all the regular and predictable inflections
of English words among the rhymes in this book
would bring about more damage to forests than
inspiration to poets. Therefore, words formed by
the addition of suffixes -ed, -er, -ful, -fully, -ing,
-ish, -less, -let, -ment, or -ous to other words are
not separately categorized. An entry directs the
reader to the appropriate rhyme category to do
his or her own suffixing. The rhyming list seldom
has categories confined to plurals formed by the
addition of -s or -es, though such plurals appear
as rhymes for other words. There are no separate
listings of verbs with the archaic suffices -est and
-eth (runnest, runneth)
Locating Polysyllabic Words
The rhyming element of a word establishes its
mother rhyme and subcategory, and its opening
sound dictates its general position within the sub-
category. But where a subcategory is a long one
with long words, several of them may have the same
opening sound. In that case, the specific position
of a word depends on the overall sound of its non-
rhyming part. Take, for example, these DĀSHUN
words beginning with I:
I infeudation, ingravidation, incommodation, intimidation, inundation, invalidation
All six words begin with in- and end with -dation.
Their sequence within the list is determined by
the opening sounds of the syllables in between:
inFeudation, inGRavitation, InKommodation,
inTimidation, inUndation, inValidation.
Unstressed Vowels
Most unaccented syllables in English words are
so lightly stressed that their vowel sound is not
readily distinguishable. The pronunciation of
mammary, for instance, does not reveal whether
the second vowel is an a, e, i, o, or u. Dictionaries
indicate this vague sound by a schwa, represented
by the symbol ∂. In this book, which attempts to
be more spelling-friendly, a single handy vowel
(more often than not, E) is used in each phonetic
head or subhead of the rhyming list to represent
schwa, even though it may be represented by dif-
ferent vowels in some of the words themselves.
Suppose, for instance, that your source word is
hobbit, and you turn to OBIT. You will find
OBIT
(See OBET)
and under OBET there will be the subcategories
GOBET
gobbet
HOBET
hobbit
Similarly, if you look for bodice under ODIS, you
will find
ODIS
(See ODES)
and, under ODES,
BODES
bodice
GODES
demigoddess, goddess
If a word ends in a schwa followed by -l, the
vowel is usually dropped from the phonetic listing
altogether:
ODL
MODL
model
TODL
toddle
In general, the vowel chosen to represent schwa
for any particular rhyme is the one with which most
words in that category spell the sound. Take, for
example, the mother rhyme
OLIS
FOLIS
follis
KOLIS
torticollis
POLIS
polis
SOLIS
solace
WOLIS
Cornwallis
ZOLIS
Gonzalez
These rhymes are listed under OLIS (rather than
OLAS or OLES) because the majority of words in
the category use ‘i’ to spell the unstressed vowel
(which in all cases is pronounced as a schwa). The
moral is: do not despair if you don’t find a mother
rhyme where you expect your target rhyme will
be. Check the other vowels that might spell the
unstressed vowel.
A vowel that is unstressed but distinctly pro-
nounced (that is, not a schwa) goes into the
phonetic heading unchanged:
BRŌŌTISH brutish
DEDHED
deadhead
When an unstressed vowel has a pronunciation
not usually associated with it, the spelling of the
heading changes accordingly:
ŪSIJ
usage
Near-perfect Rhymes
The classification of vowels in this book is fairly
strict from the point of view of many American
speakers, and you may consider some of the words
listed in different categories to be perfect rhymes.
If you do not find a target among the rhymes
where you would expect one, chances are that the
other mother rhyme contains words that will suit
your purpose. To help you find these, there are
cross-references at the end of entries to direct you
to other lists of rhymes.
The NG Sound
Though you may not note it distinctly yourself,
linguists and phoneticians distinguish a sound in
English that they denote with a special symbol, .
This is the sound that nearly always represents the
consonants “ng” in English (as in words with an -
ing ending), and also in words with an “nk” sound
(as in words like uncle, jinx, and bunker). You may
be able to notice the difference this sound makes
by pronouncing thinking (where it is present) and
thin king (where it is not). This sound is always
distinguished in this book by the combination
NG; so if you are looking for a rhyme for donkey
(for example) and can’t figure out why there is no
mother rhyme ONKĒ, this is the reason: the cat-
egory you need is ONGKĒ.
Pronunciation and Regional Dialects
Dictionaries often give several pronunciations for
the same word, all of which are considered stan-
dard. In order to answer to the needs of as many
different speakers as possible, some words therefore
appear in more than one place in the rhyming lists.
Unless italicized, all the rhyme sounds listed in this
book are accepted by some standard dictionary, but
of course may not be found in all of them—and
may not conform to your pronunciation. Many
variants of pronunciation, especially in informal
speech, are found in the United States. Some speak-
ers, for example, give identical pronunciation to
Mary, merry, and marry. To accommodate all such
localisms in this book would, again, be somewhat
disastrous for forests, and so some standardization
has been necessary. Here, Mary rhymes with airy,
marry with tarry, and merry with very. There is no
reason not to use a local pronunciation as a rhyme:
fine poets have always done so. And there is need
to despair if, under the category that you expect to
find multiple rhymes for your source word, you find
nothing but a cross-reference to another category: it
will lead you to words that, in your pronunciation,
do in fact rhyme with your source word.
Syllabification
Single rhyme entries are all of one syllable. In the
double rhymes, the emphasis is always on the first
syllable, and so for rhyming purposes, the question
of whether the second syllable happens to begin
with a consonant or a vowel is irrelevant; thus no
syllable break is shown here. In the triple rhyme
list syllabification is used to prevent confusion,
as might arise with, say, JELUSLĒ (jealously) or
THROPIKAL (philanthropical). Here the rhyming
emphasis is indicated by a prime mark (') following
the accented syllable, and the other syllables are
separated by a period (.): JEL'US.LĒ, THROP'I.
KAL. The words within categories are not syllabi-
fied or phoneticized since the basis for rhyme has
already been established.
Proper Names and Trademarks
Words in the list with an initial cap may be any of
the following: biographical or geographical names,
proper nouns or adjectives, or trademarks: no
distinction is made among them for the purposes
of rhyme. Every effort has been made to designate
trademark status by capitalization—or in a few
cases, by following the idiosyncratic capitalization
of the trademark owner—but words that have
both trademark and common noun status are
treated as common nouns. Proper names do not
appear in abundance as rhymes but are included
wherever they supply a rhyme for another English
word that would otherwise have none: thus, Steven,
the only rhyme for even, is listed, as is Edna,
the only rhyme for Sedna, a recently discovered
heavenly body.
(Words of one syllable, or words accented on the final syllable.
Also called iambic, or masculine, rhymes.)
Ā
Ā A, aye, DNA, dossier, habitué, Coué, couturier, PDA, plié, roturier, roué, TSA
BĀ bay, bey, Bombay, bombé, dapple bay, disobey, flambé, obey
BLĀ criblé, seinsemblers
BRĀ brae, bray
DĀ A alackaday, Ascension Day, B bidet, birthday, D D-day, day, démodé, dooms- day, E everyday, F firstday, FR, Friday, G
good-day, H half-day, heyday, high-day, holiday, I intraday, J Judgment Day,
KR Christmas Day, KW quarter day, L Labor Day, lackaday, Lord’s day, M
Market day, Mayday, midday, N noonday,
P payday, PL playday, S settling-day,
seventh-day, someday, sundae, Sunday,
T today, Tuesday, TH Thursday, TR
trysting-day, W wedding day, weekday, welladay, Wednesday, workaday, workday, working day, Y yesterday
DRĀ dray
DYĀ boulevardier
FĀ buffet, café, fay, fey, coryphée, ofay, au fait, auto-da-fé, parfait, pousse-café, rechauffé, Santa Fe
FLĀ flay, soufflé
FRĀ affray, defray, frae, fray
GĀ assagai, distingué, gay, margay, nosegay, toujours gai
GLĀ agley, gley
GRĀ dapple-gray, emigré, gray, hodden- gray, iron-gray, lean-gray, silver-gray
GWĀ ngwee
HĀ hae, hay, hey, hey-hey
HWĀ whey
JĀ deejay, jay, popinjay
KĀ B Biscay, bouquet, bokeh, D decay, E embusqué, K cay, communiqué, KR
croquet, M manqué, O okay, P parquet, piquet, R risqué, roquet, S sobriquet, T tokay, tourniquet
KLĀ bouclé, bouclée, clay, fire clay, pipe clay, roman à clef
KYĀ perruquier
LĀ A allay, B belay, Beaujolais, Bordelais D
delay, F forelay, forlay, H haole, I inlay, interlay, K cabriolet, kantele, coulée, L lai, lay, M Malay, Mandalay, melee, mis- lay, O olé, outlay, overlay, P parlay, Pelée, pis-aller, pourparler, R Rabelais, relay, reveillé, rissolé, rokelay, roundelay, SH
Chevrolet, U underlay, unlay, unplay, V virelay W waylay
MĀ dismay, entremets, gamay, gourmet, consommé, lamé, macramé, may, May, resumé, Salomé
NĀ acharné, déraciné, estaminet, Hogmanay, cloisonné, matinée, nae, nay, née, neigh, Dubonnet, massinet, raisonné
PĀ dead pay, épeée, épopée, Gaspé, coupé, mortpay, overpay, pay, prepay, repay, strathspey, Taipei, toupée, toupet, underpay
PLĀ B byplay, D display, endplay, F fair
play, foreplay, photoplay, foul play, fun play, H horse play, I interplay, M mis- play, O overlay, P Passion play, PL play,
R replay, S satyr play, SKR screenplay, ST
stage play, U underplay, W wordplay
PRĀ bepray, pray, prey, repray, unpray
PYĀ croupier, passepied
RĀ A array, B beray, beret, bewray, D
disarray, F foray, G green beret, H hip- hip-hooray, hooray, hurray, M Monterey, moray, MW moiré, P purée, R ray, re, S soirée, ST sting ray, X x-ray
SĀ A assay, D déclassé, divorcé, divorcée, E
essay, F fiancé, fiancée, foresay, G gainsay,
GL glacé, H hearsay, PL plissé, L lycée, M matelassé, missay, N naysay, P passé,
per se, PL plissé, PR presay, R retroussé, S say, soothsay, U undersay, unsay
SHĀ attaché, brochet, cachet, cliché, cou- chée, crochet, papier-maché, recherché, ricochet, sachet, sashay, shay, touché
SKRĀ scray
SLĀ bob sleigh, slay, sleigh, sley
SPĀ spay, strathspey
SPLĀ splay
SPRĀ auto-spray, bespray, featherspray, respray, spray
STĀ astay, backstay, bobstay, forestay, jack-
stay, mainstay, outstay, overstay, stay, upstay
STRĀ astray, distrait, estray, stray, windles- trae
SWĀ sway, swing and sway
TĀ tay, paté, volupté, velouté
THĀ Cathay, they
TRĀ ashtray, betray, distrait, distray, entrée,
estray, outré, portray, tray, trey
TYĀ métier
VĀ inveigh, convey, corvée, névé, oy vay, pavé, purvey, resurvey, survey, chevet
WĀ A airway, archway, aweigh, B belt- way, byway, BR breakway, bridleway, Broadway, D doorway, DR, driveway, E expressway, entryway, F fairway, foot- way, FR freeway, G Galloway, Galway, gangway, gateway, getaway, guideway, H halfway, hatchway, headway, highway, K cableway, causeway, cogway, cutaway, KL clearway, KR crossway, cruiseway, L leeway, M midway, Midway, Milky Way,
motorway, N Norway, O overweigh, out-
way, outweigh, P passageway, pathway, R railway, roadway, runaway, runway, S seaway, cycle way, someway, subway, SK skidway, SL, slipway, SP speedway, spill- way, ST stairway, steerageway, sternway,
stowaway, STR straightaway, straightway,
T takeaway, tideway, towaway, TH
that-a-way, thereaway, THR throughway,
TR tramway, U underway, under way,
underweigh, W walkway, waterway, way, weigh, wellaway, wey
YĀ atelier, Cartier, couturier, employé, employeée, espalier, grandgoussier, Grand Marnier, métayer, Montgolfier, Olivier, ennuyé, Parmentier, plumassier, Récamier, roturier, soigné, sommelier, chevalier, yea
ZĀ blasé, exposé, espasé, San José
ZHĀ Fabergé, negligee, protegé
Ä
Ä a, aa, ahBÄ aba, baa, baah, bah, bas, Casbah,
Poobah, sis-boom-bah
BLÄ blah
BRÄ algebra, bra, chapeaubras, vertebra
CHÄ cha-cha, cha-cha-cha
DÄ andromeda, da, dada, houdah, howdah, la-di-da, purdah
DRÄ clepsydra
FÄ apocrypha, do re mi fa, fa
FRWÄ sangfroid
FWÄ paté de foie
GÄ aga, budgereegah, Dégas, ga, nougat
GLÄ verglas
GRÄ paté de foie gras
HÄ aha, ha, ha-ha, taiaha
HWÄ Taniwha
KÄ abaca, basilica, Jataka, majolica, ka, replica, sciatica, silica
KWÄ qua, quaa
LÄ A alala, F formula, H holla, K cabala,