Tools · the whole CMU Pronouncing Dictionary · General American

Does It Rhyme?

Type one word to see everything in English that rhymes with it, sorted into four kinds by a rule you can check by hand. Type two words to have the pair judged. Every verdict shows the phonemes it was made from, and when a word has no rhyme at all, this proves it by enumeration instead of handing you an empty list.

This judges sound, in General American, as the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary records it. A pair called slant here can be perfect in another accent (non-rhotic idea and dear) or in another century (proved and loved, before the sound moved). Where the dictionary contradicts itself, this says so on the row rather than picking a side quietly.
the question

Try

starting up

The four kinds, and the rule for each

A rhyme is anchored on the last stressed syllable of a word and runs to the end. That stretch is the rime. Confess is K AH0 N F EH1 S, so its rime is EH S and the onset of that syllable is F. Everything below is a statement about those two pieces, and nothing below is a similarity score.

  • Perfect rhyme. The rimes are identical and the onsets differ. cat and hat.
  • Identical (rime riche). The rimes are identical and so are the onsets, so the ear hears the same sound rather than a rhyme. silver and quicksilver.
  • Assonance. The stressed vowels agree and the endings differ. lake and fate. Ordered by how many consonants of the two endings also agree, counted outward from the vowel.
  • Consonance, or pararhyme. The endings agree and the stressed vowels differ. Owen rhymed escaped with scooped this way through the whole of Strange Meeting. Ordered by how many consonants the shared ending holds.

Both slant kinds also require the two words to have the same rhythmic shape at the rhyme: both ending on the stressed syllable, or both carrying identical unstressed tails after it. A poet does not rhyme a masculine ending against a feminine one, so neither does this.

The number after each word is its agreement: how many phonemes the rule found in common. It is printed rather than folded into a ranking, so you can disagree with the order without having to trust it.