Rhymes are about sounds, not letters
The CMU Pronouncing Dictionary writes words as sounds with stress marked. NIGHT is N AY1 T; the 1 marks the stressed vowel. A rhyme is found by cutting the pronunciation at the last stressed vowel:
| Word | Sounds | Rhyming part |
|---|---|---|
| NIGHT | N AY1 T | AY T |
| BITE | B AY1 T | AY T |
| NATION | N EY1 SH AH0 N | EY SH AH N |
| STATION | S T EY1 SH AH0 N | EY SH AH N |
| WEIGHT | W EY1 T | EY T – no rhyme with NIGHT |
Types of rhyme
- Perfect rhyme: identical from the stressed vowel on (CAT / HAT, LAUGHTER / AFTER).
- Near or slant rhyme: some of those sounds match (SHAPE / KEEP share the final P sound; ORANGE / DOOR HINGE share most).
- Eye rhyme: looks like a rhyme but is not one (LOVE / MOVE, COUGH / BOUGH).
- Identical rhyme: the same sounds including the start (NIGHT / KNIGHT).
The rhyming words tool lists perfect rhymes. For long words it also uses the last syllable with secondary stress, so PANTOMIME rhymes with TIME, as it does in songs. Homophones and identical rhymes (KNIGHT, NITE and TONIGHT for NIGHT) are shown in a separate list, and words with two pronunciations, like LEAD, get one list per pronunciation.
Why some words have no rhyme
A word lacks perfect rhymes when no other word ends in the same stressed vowel and consonants. ORANGE (AO1 R AH0 N JH) and PURPLE (P ER1 P AH0 L) are the famous cases, and our data confirms them for every word in ENABLE and SCOWL up to size 70. MONTH has none either. SILVER and WOLF only rhyme with their own compounds, QUICKSILVER and WEREWOLF.