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Words that rhyme with expensive — 179 rhymes by quality | Rhyme Land
RhymeLand

the rhymes and the songs that used them

Words that rhyme withexpensive

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 EH coda N·S
9
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)
3 syllables
offensive1defensive1extensiveintensive
4 syllables
apprehensivecomprehensivehypertensiveinoffensive
5 syllables
counteroffensive
14
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)
3 syllables
impressive1aggressive2oppressive1possessive1depressiveexcessiveexpressiveobsessiveprogressiverecessiveregressiverepressivesuccessive
4 syllables
unimpressive
156
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
festive2Brezhnevendiverestivesenses5pencil2fences3bensonpencils2tenses1sensorscensercenserscensorcensoredcensorscensuscensusedensignensignsfencingHensonJensenlensing2
3 syllables
detectiveeffectiveperspective2objectiveincentive1protectiveaffectiveattentivecollectivecongestiveconnectivecorrectivedeceptivedefectivedigestivedirectiveelectiveinfectiveinvective
4 syllables
contraceptivedisincentiveinattentiveineffectiveintrospectiveirrespectiveretrospectiveunreceptiveconsequences2intensity1insensitive1
5 syllables
overprotective
6 syllables
incomprehensible1
22
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)
2 syllables
Spencer1pensivespencers1Spenserspensersexpense2suspense2dispense
3 syllables
expenses1dispenserdispensersdispensesdispensingexpensingsuspenses
4 syllables
dispensabledispensariesdispensaryexpensively
5 syllables
indispensable

“expensive” at line end — from real songs

I remember sexBut that was so expensive
— Loudon Wainwright III, “I Remember Sex” · rhymes expensive / sex

How to read the 179 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 9
Same stressed vowel, same sounds after it, different beginning. Full resolution — the strongest closure a rhyme can give a line.
Subtractive 14
Same vowel, but one word stops a consonant early. A slightly clipped, softer resolution than perfect rhyme.
Assonance 156
Only the stressed vowel matches; the consonants after it are unrelated. Loose and open — useful when a section should stay unresolved.
Identity 22
The whole stressed syllable repeats, beginning included. That's repetition, not rhyme — the line echoes instead of resolving.