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Words that rhyme with early — 122 rhymes by quality | Rhyme Land
RhymeLand

the rhymes and the songs that used them

Words that rhyme withearly

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 L
5
What it is
  1. The syllables' vowel sounds are identical.
  2. The sounds after the vowels (if any) are identical.
  3. The syllables begin differently.
How it feels
  1. Perfect
  2. Family
  3. Additive / Subtractive
  4. Assonance
  5. Consonance
resolvedunresolved
Example

cat / hat — same AE vowel, same T ending

Source
Berklee College of Music's songwriting method (Pat Pattison)
2 syllables
shirley1curly1surly1burlypearly
18
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
Berkeley1curtlyearthlyfirmlyfirstlysternlyterselythirdlyworldly
3 syllables
absurdlyadverselyalertlycovertlyinverselyovertlyperverselyunearthly
4 syllables
otherworldly
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
worry1hurry10Murrayblurry2flurry1burryfurryscurryslurrysurreyUrey
3 syllables
ovary
87
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
mercy5journey3dirty4jersey4turkey2thirty3worthy1thirsty3murphy1ernieberniesturdy1curtsy1derby1kirby1virgie1birdiechirpyCiardiclergycurvy
3 syllables
attorney1airworthybloodthirstyGalsworthynewsworthynoteworthypraiseworthytrustworthyunworthyWurlitzer1BerliozBurlingtonflavorlessfurloughinggirlishly
4 syllables
controversy1creditworthydiathermytaxidermytopsy-turvyuntrustworthysuperlativesuperlatives
5
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
earl2earle1
2 syllables
Ehrlich
3 syllables
earlier1earliest1

“early” at line end — from real songs

City girls just seem to find out earlyA rich old man and she won't have to worry
— Don Henley, “Lyin’ Eyes” · rhymes early / worry
You come home late and you come home earlyYou come home straight and you come home curly
— John Prine, “Speed of the Sound of Loneliness” · rhymes early / curly
Man, it's too earlyWhy the hell are you worried?
— Lauryn Hill, “Believe What I Say” · rhymes early / worried

How to read the 122 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.

Perfect rhyme 5
Same stressed vowel, same sounds after it, different beginning. Full resolution — the strongest closure a rhyme can give a line.
Additive 18
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 87
Only the stressed vowel matches; the consonants after it are unrelated. Loose and open — useful when a section should stay unresolved.
Identity 5
The whole stressed syllable repeats, beginning included. That's repetition, not rhyme — the line echoes instead of resolving.