Home » Dictionary Articles »

A rhyming dictionary refers to a specific type of dictionary that lists words with rhyming patterns. Rhyming dictionaries provide poets with quick and easy ways to find just the right word when crafting verse. Print rhyming dictionaries are available as well as online and downloadable resources. Simply select the word you wish to rhyme, look it up, and read the suggestions.

If you’re a poet, however, don’t bother looking up the word orange. Orange is one of the few words in the English language that has no rhyming word! Four other words do not have rhymes. Can you name them? Although poets have found clever ways to get around it, four words are thought to have no rhymes in English, in addition to orange. These words are: month, silver, iron, and pint.

Types of Rhymes

Rhymes may be broken into many different types. Some of the most common are alliterative verse, which matches initial consonants. Assonance means that the vowels match, while consonance means that the consonants match. A half rhyme matches the final consonants. Professor Alberto Rios provides a rich, instructive Web site for his students that is open to the public. It includes these definitions and much more to help you understand the world of rhymes and poetry.

Rhyming Resources

Your Dictionary compiled the following list of rhyming dictionaries and rhyme resources for teachers, poets, and writers:

• Rhyme Zone includes a rhyming dictionary with online lookup, thesaurus, and an online compendium of famous quotation, literary resources, and a special section on Shakespeare.
• The Online Rhyming Dictionary for Poets and Songwriters helps all artists create unique rhymes.
• For young poets, Just4Kids includes a children’s rhyming dictionary.
• Looking for software instead of Internet resources? Poet Bryant H. McGill created shareware rhyming software that may be downloaded free of charge.

Teaching Poetry and Rhymes

Most children and adults play with rhymes throughout their lives, making up silly songs, new words to old commercial jingles, and writing love letters. Rhymes help children learn to read by demonstrating repetitive sounds as in cat, mat, hat, etc.

The following resources provide useful ideas and content for English language arts teachers of all grade levels:

• You’ve grown up listening to nursery rhymes, but have you ever wondered where they came from? Over 100 nursery rhymes, including their origin, may be found at Rhymes.org.
• Succeed to Read includes many fun games incorporating rhymes for young children learning to read.
• For adults learning the English language, teaching short vowel sounds becomes fun when incorporating Dr. Seuss rhymes. Read. Write. Think. includes lesson plans for teachers on this topic.
• Songs for Teaching is devoted to educational songs for rhyming lessons.
• For older students, introduce them to other historical rhyming patterns such as the English cockney rhymes on the Cockney Rhyming Slang Web site.
• The Teachers Corner provides many lesson plans for teaching both rhymed and unrhymed poetry to high school students.