Rhyme finder

Perfect and near rhymes

A perfect rhyme repeats every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end of the word: night and delight, summer and drummer. The finder takes those sounds from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, so it matches how words sound, not how they are spelt: night rhymes with bite and height as well as light.

A near rhyme (also called slant or half rhyme) comes close: the stressed vowel is the same and the consonants are of the same kind (night and like), the vowels are close (seen and been), or one word adds a final consonant (eye and night). They are listed closest first. Poets from Emily Dickinson on have used them freely.

Each group shows its stress pattern with scansion marks: ´ for a stressed syllable, ˘ for an unstressed one, and a lighter stroke for secondary stress. Two-syllable rhymes for night split into words stressed on the second syllable, like delight (˘´), and words like daylight, stressed on the first. Choose one whose pattern fits your line.

Sounds are written in ARPAbet, the dictionary’s own spelling: AY T is the end of night, and a 1 after a vowel marks the main stress. Words with two pronunciations, like read or record, show a button for each. Everyday words come first; names, abbreviations and very rare words are hidden unless you ask for them. A word that is not in the dictionary is matched by its spelling instead, which is only a rough guide.