| Summary: A rhyming dictionary or rhyme dictionary s full of words, just like any other dictionary. The difference is that in a rhyming dictionary, words are arranged not alphabetically, but according to their end sound. |
A rhyming dictionary or rhyme dictionary is full of words, just like any other dictionary. The difference is that in a rhyming dictionary, words are arranged not alphabetically, but according to their end sound. This allows poets, songwriters, puzzle solvers and any one else with an interest in rhyme to find rhyming words quickly and easily. Rhyming dictionaries come in print format and also electronic versions - either on computer disc or to download. It is also possible to find a rhyming dictionary online.
There are a range of hard copy rhyming dictionaries available. Their use is simple. If you are searching for a rhyme, start by searching by the end sound of the word you already have. If, for example, you have written the line:
It was a lovely morn in May
You are wanting something to rhyme with May. The end sound is ‘ay’, so this is what you look up. You might find choices such as “hay”, “say” and “day” and could complete your rhyme with something like this:
It was a lovely morn in May
And my fat cow was munching hay.
Not a very lyrical effort, but you get the picture.
Rhyming words are also sorted by the number of syllables. For each sound, one syllable words appear first, followed by two and three syllable words, and so on. So, for our ‘ay’ sound, other rhymes would include “display”, “Saturday”, etc.. Rhymes are sorted by sound rather than spelling, so the end rhyme may not be spelled the same. For example, the word “true” rhymes with “shoe” and “new” as well as “blue”, even though only the end sound of the latter is spelled in the same way.
Electronic rhyming dictionaries, found either online or as computer programs, work slightly differently. For these, the word you have is entered in much the same way as for a search engine, and a list of results is generated, again sorted by the number of syllables.
As well as exact rhymes, some rhyming dictionaries, both electronic and hard copy, provide near rhymes (such as “orange” and “porridge”, which have a similar sound but don’t quite rhyme) and also double and triple rhymes, where two or three syllables of a word match (”rabbit” and “habit”; “lightening” and “tightening”).
Whilst some poets argue that using a rhyming dictionary is ‘cheating’, most admit that a rhyming dictionary can be a handy tool for locating possible rhyming partners, thus overcoming frustrating episodes of writer’s block.
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