List of closed pairs of English rhyming words
# List of closed pairs of English rhyming words

This page has a list of closed pairs of English rhyming words—in each pair, both words rhyme with each other and only with each other.

## Monosyllabic pairs

* bairn, cairn
* boosts, roosts
* coaxed, hoaxed
* dwarfed, morphed
* how've, Lauv
* lounge, scrounge
* lymph, nymph
* palped, scalped
* salve, valve
* smooth, soothe

## Disyllabic pairs

### Trochaic pairs

In a trochaic pair, each word is a trochee, with the first syllable stressed and the second syllable unstressed.

### Trochaic-or-iambic pairs

In an trochaic-or-iambic pair, each word can be either a trochee (stressed on the first syllable) or an iamb (stressed on the second syllable).

* contract, entr'acte
* discount, miscount
* hereby, nearby
* sunlit, unlit
* thereby, whereby
* therein, wherein
* thereof, whereof
* therewith, wherewith

### Iambic pairs

In an iambic pair, each word is an iamb and has the first syllable unstressed and the second syllable stressed.

* barrage, garage
* chorale, morale
* eclipsed, ellipsed
* gyrate, irate
* henceforth, thenceforth
* Koran, Oran
* purvey, survey

## Trisyllabic pairs

### Dactylic pairs

In a dactylic pair, each word is a dactyl and has the first syllable stressed and the second and third syllables 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
* 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)

### Amphibrachic pairs

In an amphibrachic pair, each word is an amphibrach and has the second syllable stressed and the first and third syllables unstressed.

* attainder, remainder
* autumnal, columnal
* concoction, decoction (In GA, these rhyme with auction; there is also the YouTube slang word obnoxion, meaning something that is obnoxious.)
* distinguish, extinguish
* pneumatic, rheumatic

### Anapestic pairs

In an anapestic pair, each word is an anapest and has the first and second syllables unstressed and the third syllable stressed.

At this time, no anapestic pairs have been found. The pair "uneclipsed, unellipsed" is disqualified because uneclipsed also rhymes with ellipsed, and because unellipsed also rhymes with eclipsed.

## Tetrasyllabic pairs

* beautifully, dutifully
* copulated, populated
* culminated, fulminated
* deifying, reifying
* delegated, relegated
* generated, venerated
* lacerated, macerated
* lecherously, treacherously

## Pentasyllabic pairs

* constabulary, vocabulary

## Asymmetric pairs

In an asymmetric pair, the words differ in number of syllables. Each pair is in a subsection according to the respective numbers of syllables in the words when they are in alphabetical order.

### Disyllabic-and-trisyllabic pairs

* cerement, endearment
* crucial, fiducial
* digest (noun), obligest

### Disyllabic-and-tetrasyllabic pairs

* thinnest, violinist (although Bentley's Miscellany does contain the line "The Dublin Stout out-Guinnessed Guinness")

### Trisyllabic-and-disyllabic pairs

* combustion, fustian
* diminished, finished
* eleventh, seventh

### Trisyllabic-and-tetrasyllabic pairs

* bestial, celestial
* bigotry, obligatory
* brilliant, resilient
* cordial, primordial
* fricative, indicative

### Tetrasyllabic-and-trisyllabic pairs

* alluvial, pluvial
* behaviour, saviour
* commodity, oddity (In GA, these rhyme with Alaudidae)
* emergency, urgency
* habitual, ritual
* sarrusophone, sousaphone

### Pentasyllabic-and-tetrasyllabic pairs

* annihilated, violated
* illuminated, ruminated
