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Words that rhyme with holding — 322 rhymes by quality | Rhyme Land
RhymeLand

the rhymes and the songs that used them

Words that rhyme withholding

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 OW coda L·D
11
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
folding1bolding6golding76molding4mouldingscolding1
3 syllables
unfolding1enfolding1blindfolding1remolding
4 syllables
manifolding
5
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
molting1bolting1jolting
3 syllables
revolting1unbolting
157
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
going29growing10knowing8smoking8rolling4hoping2showing7blowing6joking5throwing1growling1floating1glowing8flowing8bowling4choking1votingtolling1crowing1owing1poking1rowing1sowing1strolling1bloatingboating23
3 syllables
controlling1exploding1ongoing1unknowing1backstrokingbankrollingbestowing1cajolingcarloadingcharcoalingchurchgoingconnotingconsolingconvokingcorrodingdadoing1decodingdemotingdenotingdevoting
4 syllables
overflowing2buffaloing2buttonholingcreosotingdecontrollingeasygoingmotorboatingoceangoingovercoating2overloading2overthrowingpigeonholingradioing35
5 syllables
kaleidoscoping1
149
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
closing2groaning1moaning1clothing6roaming2boasting1coasting1combing1domingue1droning1foaming1gloaming1hosing1hosting1phoning1posing1stoning1stowing1toasting1boning1broachingchromingcloningcoaching1coaxingconing2dosingdozingghosting35grossing3
3 syllables
approaching1Wyoming2imposing1atoningbemoaningbulldozingcomposingcomposting1condoningdeposingdethroningdisclosingdisowningdisposingenclosingencroachingengrossingennoblingexposingforeclosingintoningjawboningopposing
4 syllables
chaperoningcobblestoningdecomposingdiagnosinghoneycombing1interposingjuxtaposingmicrophoningoverdosingovergrowingpolychromingpredisposingpresupposingreimposing
5 syllables
overexposing
54
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
hold40holed
2 syllables
holder1holders1holdenholdings3behold5household1chokehold1uphold1
3 syllables
beholding1beholderbeholdersbondholderbondholderscardholder
4 syllables
officeholderofficeholders
5 syllables
policyholderpolicyholders

“holding” at line end — from real songs

Dreams where the umbrella is foldedAnd the cards are no good that you're holding
— Bob Dylan, “Series of Dreams (Studio Outtake - 1989)” · rhymes holding / folded
Oh, I am loving, always holdingWhile she sleeps, her song enfolding
— Bonnie Prince Billy, “Cursed Sleep” · rhymes holding / enfolding
I've had enough having and holdingI'd rather be lonely
— Loudon Wainwright III, “I’d Rather Be Lonely” · rhymes holding / lonely

How to read the 322 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 11
Same stressed vowel, same sounds after it, different beginning. Full resolution — the strongest closure a rhyme can give a line.
Family rhyme 5
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.
Subtractive 157
Same vowel, but one word stops a consonant early. A slightly clipped, softer resolution than perfect rhyme.
Assonance 149
Only the stressed vowel matches; the consonants after it are unrelated. Loose and open — useful when a section should stay unresolved.
Identity 54
The whole stressed syllable repeats, beginning included. That's repetition, not rhyme — the line echoes instead of resolving.