This page contains a list of closed pairs of English rhyming words. Each pair includes two words that rhyme with each other and no other words.
Monosyllabic pairs
- bairn (a child), cairn (a pile of stones)
- boosts (to help something grow), roosts (where birds sit)
- coaxed (persuaded gently), hoaxed (tricked someone)
- dwarfed (made something look very small), morphed (changed shape)
- how've (short for "how have"), Lauv (a name)
- lounge (to relax), scrounge (to search for something)
- lymph (a liquid in the body), nymph (a stage in an insect's life)
- palped (touched with fingers), scalped (cut hair from the head)
- salve (a healing ointment), valve (a part that controls flow)
- smooth (even and flat), soothe (to calm or comfort)
Disyllabic pairs
In a trochaic pair, each word has a stressed first syllable and an unstressed second syllable.
In a trochaic-or-iambic pair, each word can be a trochee (stressed first syllable) or an iamb (stressed second syllable).
- contract, entr'acte
- discount, miscount
- hereby, nearby
- sunlit, unlit
- thereby, whereby
- therein, wherein
- thereof, whereof
- therewith, wherewith
In an iambic pair, each word has an unstressed first syllable and a stressed second syllable.
- barrage, garage
- chorale, morale
- eclipsed, ellipsed
- gyrate, irate
- henceforth, thenceforth
- Koran, Oran
- purvey, survey
Trisyllabic pairs
In a dactylic pair, each word is a dactyl, meaning the first syllable is stressed, and the second and third syllables are unstressed.
- agitate, sagittate
- analyst, panellist
- article, particle
- bandmaster, grandmaster
- banister, canister
- bingeworthy, cringeworthy
- bonytail, ponytail
- brotherhood, motherhood
- charlatan, tarlatan
- collier, jollier
- copulate, populate
- creepier, sleepier
- cuneiform, uniform
- devious, previous (Some people say "mischievous" differently, but it rhymes with these words.)
- Everest, cleverest
- fealty, realty
- fortify, mortify
- gradient, radiant
- javelin, ravelin
- jawbreaker, lawbreaker
- jitterbug, litterbug
- Kodiak, zodiac
- lexicon, Mexican
- loyalty, royalty
- manhandle, panhandle
- medium, tedium
- mellophone, telephone
- minister, sinister
- modulate, nodulate
- mutiny, scrutiny
- president, resident
- serpentine, turpentine (in RP and some British English dialects)
In an amphibrachic pair, each word is an amphibrach, meaning the second syllable is stressed, and the first and third syllables are unstressed.
- attainder, remainder
- autumnal, columnal
- concoction, decoction (In GA, these rhyme with "auction"; some people use "obnoxion" on YouTube to mean something annoying.)
- distinguish, extinguish
- pneumatic, rheumatic
In an anapestic pair, each word is an anapest, meaning the first and second syllables are unstressed, and the third syllable is stressed.
At this time, no anapestic pairs have been found. The pair "uneclipsed, unellipsed" is not valid because "uneclipsed" rhymes with "ellipsed," and "unellipsed" rhymes with "eclipsed."
Tetrasyllabic pairs
- beautifully (related to appearance) / dutifully (related to responsibility)
- copulated (mated) / populated (had people living in an area)
- culminated (reached a peak) / fulminated (protested loudly)
- deifying (worshiping as a god) / reifying (making an abstract idea real)
- delegated (assigned a task) / relegated (moved to a lower position)
- generated (created) / venerated (respected highly)
- lacerated (torn) / macerated (softened by moisture)
- lecherously (lustfully) / treacherously (deceitfully)
Asymmetric pairs
In an unequal pair, the words have different numbers of syllables. Each pair is grouped in sections based on the number of syllables in each word when the words are listed in alphabetical order.
- cerement, endearment
- crucial, fiducial
- digest (noun), obligest
- combustion, fustian
- diminished, finished
- eleventh, seventh
- bestial, celestial
- bigotry, obligatory
- brilliant, resilient
- cordial, primordial
- fricative, indicative
- alluvial, pluvial
- behaviour, saviour
- commodity, oddity (In GA, these rhyme with Alaudidae)
- emergency, urgency
- habitual, ritual
- sarrusophone, sousaphone
- annihilated, violated
- illuminated, ruminated