How To Rhyme Like a Boss

Rhymes can help give a song its ability to create a believable experience. We are going to talk about five different types of rhymes: perfect rhymes, family rhymes, additive/subtractive rhymes, assonance rhymes and consonance rhymes.

When writing, sometimes we get lucky, and the perfect rhyme conveys exactly the meaning we intend. Other times, we are guilty of choosing a word for its ability to rhyme rather than its content. What results is a feeling of contrivance. The audience may not be able to put into words why they emotionally check out, but it is often because they are suddenly paying less attention to what we’re saying and more attention to “how” we’re saying it. Choosing a word based solely on its ability to rhyme rarely pays off. 

Allowing yourself to access the full range of different rhymes in your songwriting can allow you to focus more on the message you wish to convey and less on trying to find the “perfect rhyme”.  With that being said, let’s dive deep into the different kinds of rhymes.

1. Perfect Rhyme

The strongest degree of closure is perfect rhyme. Perfect rhyme means that both the ending consonants (if any) and stressed vowel sounds of two words match exactly. 

Examples of perfect rhyme are: well, sell; chase, face; saw, flaw; form, dorm.

2. Family Rhyme

The second strongest degree of closure is family rhyme. Family rhyme occurs when the stressed vowel sounds match exactly, and the ending consonant sound is closely linked. Family rhymes are like cousins of perfect rhymes.

Some examples of family rhyme are: wet, deck; dame, grain; float, yoke; math, pass.

3. Additive/Subtractive

The third strongest degree of closure is additive/subtractive rhyme. Like its name, additive rhyme means that a consonant ending has been added to the matching vowel sounds, and subtractive rhyme means that a consonant ending has been deleted from the matching vowel sounds.

Examples of additive rhyme are: stow, hope; year, feared; down, found.

Examples of subtractive rhyme are: bake, stay; shout, now; roll, know.

4. Assonance Rhyme

The fourth strongest degree of closure is assonance rhyme. Assonance rhyme requires that the stressed vowel sounds match, but that the ending consonant sounds be different. Keep in mind that assonance can easily become family rhyme if the ending consonant sounds are related.

Examples of assonance rhyme are: rope, known; straight, fame; still, grip

5. Consonance Rhyme

The weakest degree of closure is consonance rhyme. Consonance means that the vowel sounds do not match, but the ending consonants are the same. You can think of it like as the opposite of assonance rhyme.

Examples of consonance rhyme are: bag, log; ground, bond; stood, wade; sock, back.

Sometimes the pair won’t strictly adhere to any of these descriptions, such as “nervously” and “murmuring.” That’s when you’ve got to use your most valuable tool: your ears.

Allow yourself the opportunity this week to take the time to hone in on the message of your song, but utilizing the full range of different types of rhyme, you give yourself your freedom to express without limitation.  The effectiveness of these alternative rhymes might just surprise you!

Once you master rhyming like a boss, take a look at some more techniques to incorporate in your songwriting.

Stay creative,