Quantcast
Words that rhyme with dirty — 195 rhymes by quality | Rhyme Land
RhymeLand

the rhymes and the songs that used them

Words that rhyme withdirty

feminine
Masculine

Ends on a stressed syllable — a one-syllable rhyme, or a multisyllable word whose primary stress lands last. The rhyme hits the final beat, the way most rhymes in songs do.

Examples

love · dove · today · believe · forgot

Feminine this word

Ends with an unstressed syllable trailing the stressed one — always at least two syllables. The rhyme lands a beat earlier and trails off softly.

Examples

river · mother · follow · breaking · mountain

Masculine and feminine endings rarely sing together (the rhyme lands on a different beat), so they're kept apart here.

 vowel ER coda T
14
What it is
  1. The syllables' vowel sounds are identical.
  2. The sounds after the vowels come from the same phonetic family (e.g. T↔D, P↔B, M↔N).
  3. The syllables begin differently.
How it feels
  1. Perfect
  2. Family
  3. Additive / Subtractive
  4. Assonance
  5. Consonance
resolvedunresolved
Example

cat / pad — AE vowel; T and D are both stops

Family chart
PlosivesFricativesNasals
VoicedbdgvTHzzhjmnng
Unvoicedptkfthsshch

Each column is a family pair — same place + manner, only the voicing differs.

Source
Berklee College of Music's songwriting method (Pat Pattison)
2 syllables
thirty3sturdy2birdieCiardiwordyturkey2chirpyjerkymurkyperkyquirkyderby1kirby1virgie1
14
What it is
  1. The syllables' vowel sounds are identical.
  2. The sounds after the vowels are identical, with one extra consonant on one side.
  3. The syllables begin differently.
How it feels
  1. Perfect
  2. Family
  3. Additive / Subtractive
  4. Assonance
  5. Consonance
resolvedunresolved
Example

love / loved — extra D on one side

Source
Berklee College of Music's songwriting method (Pat Pattison)
2 syllables
thirsty3Berkeley1curtsy1curtlyfirstlythirdlyturnkeyworldly
3 syllables
absurdlyalertlybloodthirstycovertlyovertly
4 syllables
otherworldly
mosaic rhyme
hurt me9alert me1
12
What it is
  1. The syllables' vowel sounds are identical.
  2. The sounds after the vowels are identical, but one side stops one consonant earlier.
  3. The syllables begin differently.
How it feels
  1. Perfect
  2. Family
  3. Additive / Subtractive
  4. Assonance
  5. Consonance
resolvedunresolved
Example

cried / cry — one side missing the final D

Source
Berklee College of Music's songwriting method (Pat Pattison)
2 syllables
worry11hurry10Murrayblurry2flurry1burryfurryscurryslurrysurreyUrey
3 syllables
ovary
155
What it is
  1. The syllables' vowel sounds are the same.
  2. The consonants after the vowel are not phonetically related.
  3. The syllables begin differently.
How it feels
  1. Perfect
  2. Family
  3. Additive / Subtractive
  4. Assonance
  5. Consonance
resolvedunresolved
Example

love / dot — both AH, but V and T have nothing in common

Assonance rhymes always have consonants after the vowels, but the consonants cannot be phonetically related.

Source
Berklee College of Music's songwriting method (Pat Pattison)
2 syllables
early1mercy1journey3jersey1worthy1murphy1shirley1ernieberniecurly1surly1burlyclergycurvyCzernyearthlyearthyfermifirmlyGuernseygurneyHersheynervypearlyPercysternlyterselytourneycertain6hurting5curtain7turtle2Curtis1
3 syllables
attorney2adverselyairworthyGalsworthyinverselynewsworthynoteworthyperverselypraiseworthytrustworthyunearthlyunworthycertainlycertainty1courtesydeserted1uncertain1Alberta1alerted1alerting1diverted1inserted1inverted1alberto
4 syllables
controversy1creditworthydiathermytaxidermytopsy-turvyuntrustworthyuncertainty1advertisementassertivelyassertivenessconvertibleconvertiblesdisconcerteddisconcertingextroverted1impertinent
5 syllables
6 syllables
incontrovertible1
4
What it is
  1. The syllables' vowel sounds are identical.
  2. The sounds after the vowels (if any) are identical.
  3. The syllables begin the same — repetition, not a rhyme.
How it feels

Off the rhyme scale — identity is repetition, not resolution. Shown so you can spot it, not reach for it.

Example

fuse / confuse — both stressed syllables are 'fuse'

Source
Berklee College of Music's songwriting method (Pat Pattison)
1 syllable
dirt23
2 syllables
dirtieddirties4
3 syllables
dirtying4

“dirty” at line end — from real songs

And the nasty ones like when I talk to 'em dirtyFrom Miami to Cali, from Vegas to Jersey
— Aretha Franklin, “Let’s Get Away” · rhymes dirty / jersey
In a world so hard and dirtySearching for a little bit of God's mercy
— Bruce Springsteen, “Living Proof” · rhymes dirty / mercy
To walk to school, she's got to get up earlyHer clothes are old, but never are they dirty
— Stevie Wonder, “Living for the City” · rhymes dirty / early

How to read the 195 results

Tiers follow Pat Pattison's stability scale — pick the resolution your line needs, not just the closest sound. Bold words are common in lyrics; a struck-through word with a cliché flag is an overworked pair; a vermilion dot counts how often the pair appears at line end in our corpus of real songs.

Family rhyme 14
The consonants after the vowel are swapped for phonetic siblings — T↔D, M↔N, S↔Z. Nearly as stable as perfect rhyme, with far more word choices.
Additive 14
Same vowel, but one word carries an extra consonant after the shared ending. The added sound softens the landing slightly.
Subtractive 12
Same vowel, but one word stops a consonant early. A slightly clipped, softer resolution than perfect rhyme.
Assonance 155
Only the stressed vowel matches; the consonants after it are unrelated. Loose and open — useful when a section should stay unresolved.
Identity 4
The whole stressed syllable repeats, beginning included. That's repetition, not rhyme — the line echoes instead of resolving.