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Words that rhyme with happening — 137 rhymes by quality | Rhyme Land
RhymeLand

the rhymes and the songs that used them

Words that rhyme withhappening

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 P
9
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)
3 syllables
cabining2batteningblackeningfatteningflatteningslackeninggladdeningmaddeningsaddening
10
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)
3 syllables
actioning10cantoning1captaining3captioningclaxoningdampeningfalconingfractioning1sanctioning
4 syllables
abandoning1
118
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
apple1apples1rapper7rappers7chapel1clapping2flapping2dapper1rapping1sapien1slapping1snappy1tappin1trapper1trapping1wrapping1yapping1Capekcappingchapels1chappingclapperclapperscrappie
3 syllables
cannoning4fashioning7fastening1rationingcapital1kidnappingapathy1capitol2rapidlykidnapper1tapestry1apathies1apertureaperturesapicalapogeeAppletonappling
4 syllables
imagining2companioning6examiningAnnapoliscapitalistcapitalistshandicapperhandicappershandicapping
5 syllables
reexaminingMinneapolis1
6 syllables
Indianapolis1
16
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
hap
2 syllables
happy15happened16happen9happens4happingmishap
3 syllables
happiness2unhappy2happily2happier1happiesthappenings7slaphappy
4 syllables
unhappiness2unhappily

“happening” at line end — from real songs

Learn about the past but the present is what’s happeningKilling off my people and the media is laughing
— Elliott Smith, “The Worlds Ending” · rhymes happening / laughing
Cacklin', helpin' the shacklin' of your brethren happeningAnd you cowardly lions never defyin' the jackals of Babel
— Erykah Badu, “Liberation” · rhymes happening / babel
Trying to tackle what happeningThe fires crackling, my mouth is babbling
— Jason Isbell, “Clips” · rhymes happening / babbling

How to read the 137 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 9
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 10
Same vowel, but one word carries an extra consonant after the shared ending. The added sound softens the landing slightly.
Assonance 118
Only the stressed vowel matches; the consonants after it are unrelated. Loose and open — useful when a section should stay unresolved.
Identity 16
The whole stressed syllable repeats, beginning included. That's repetition, not rhyme — the line echoes instead of resolving.