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Words that rhyme with handsome — 140 rhymes by quality | Rhyme Land
RhymeLand

the rhymes and the songs that used them

Words that rhyme withhandsome

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 AE coda N·S
2
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
ransom1transom1
mosaic rhyme
romance themadvance them
1
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
anthem1
1
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
angstrom
mosaic rhyme
romance himadvance him
10
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
fathom1annumchasmspasm
3 syllables
sarcasm1phantasm
4 syllables
cytoplasmneoplasm
5 syllables
enthusiasmiconoclasm
126
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
Adam1madamalbum2madame1random3malcolm1phantom4platinum2tantrum1magnum1maxim1sanctum1tandem1alumatombantamdatumNahumpablumSalimstratumtalcumanswer14dancing8answers13cancer8chances6fancy3dancer6answered2Nancy2cancelfrancis1cancelled1canceleddancers3dances2fancies1cancers1dancings1danser1
3 syllables
amalgammacadamMuharramanswering3chancellor2romancing1advances1advancing1financing1unanswered1advanceradvancersancestriesancestrycancelingcancellingcancerouschancellors2chancerieschanceryexpansesexpansivefancierfanciersfancifulfancying3fianceefianceesfinances2financings1freelancerfreelancers
4 syllables
memorandumcircumstances2answerableanticancerhappenstancesintransigenceintransigentnecromancernecromancersnecromanciesnecromancyprecancerousrefinancesrefinancing
5 syllables
allegiances1intransigencesunanswerable
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 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
Hansardhansomhansomsenhance
3 syllables
enhancerenhancersenhancesenhancinghandsomely

“handsome” at line end — from real songs

He was a hard-headed man, he was brutally handsomeShe held him up and he held her for ransom
— Don Henley, “Life in the Fast Lane” · rhymes handsome / ransom
"Hello, my name is Kendrick," she said, "No, you're handsome"Ass came with a hump, from thе jump she was a camel
— Kendrick Lamar, “Sherane” · rhymes handsome / camel
I'm your national anthemGod, you're so handsome
— Lana Del Rey, “National Anthem” · rhymes handsome / anthem

How to read the 140 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 2
Same stressed vowel, same sounds after it, different beginning. Full resolution — the strongest closure a rhyme can give a line.
Family rhyme 1
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 1
Same vowel, but one word carries an extra consonant after the shared ending. The added sound softens the landing slightly.
Subtractive 10
Same vowel, but one word stops a consonant early. A slightly clipped, softer resolution than perfect rhyme.
Assonance 126
Only the stressed vowel matches; the consonants after it are unrelated. Loose and open — useful when a section should stay unresolved.
Identity 9
The whole stressed syllable repeats, beginning included. That's repetition, not rhyme — the line echoes instead of resolving.