Quantcast
Words that rhyme with returning — 254 rhymes by quality | Rhyme Land
RhymeLand

the rhymes and the songs that used them

Words that rhyme withreturning

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 N
13
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
burning2learning3yearning2churning2berningearning1kerningspurning1
3 syllables
concerning1adjourningdiscerningheartburningsunburning
8
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
squirming1firmingterming1worming1
3 syllables
affirmingconfirming1
4 syllables
reaffirmingreconfirming
29
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
whirringstirring2blurring1birringburringfurringhering38purring1shirringslurringspurring
3 syllables
referringoccurring1chauffeuringconcurringconferringdeferringdemurringdeterring
5 syllables
administering
204
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
working4searching4hurting5chirping1servingflirting1cursing1nursing1burbling1bursting1hurling1lurking1swirling1thirsting1whirling1berthingbirching1birding26birlingbirthing15blurtingburglingburkingburlingburpingchurching9clerking3curbing4curling4curvingearthing55
3 syllables
disturbing1alerting1rehearsing1unswerving1assertingavertingcoercingconservingconvergingconversingconvertingdeservingdisbursingdispersingdivergingdivertingemergingevertingexertinghardworkingimmersinginsertinginvertingnetworking1
4 syllables
disconcertinginterspersingintrovertingmetalworkingoverworkingreassertingreimbursingundeservingafterburnerafterburnerscopernicanCopernicusdiscernibleexternallyHiberniamodernitiesmodernity
5 syllables
42
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
turn35
2 syllables
turning1turner1tourneytourneyedturners1turnipturnipsreturn15downturn
3 syllables
attorney2eternal2internalattorneys2fraternalinternistinternists
4 syllables
eternity1alternative1eternally5alternatives1
5 syllables
alternatively

“returning” at line end — from real songs

We see the blood returningIt's you I'm learning
— Adrianne Lenker, “All Night All Day” · rhymes returning / learning
So keep your candles burningThat she'll keep returning
— Nick Cave, “Into My Arms” · rhymes returning / burning
A priest runs through the chapel, all the calendars are turningA Jesus freak on the street says, "He is returning"
— Nick Cave, “Waiting for You” · rhymes returning / turning

How to read the 254 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 13
Same stressed vowel, same sounds after it, different beginning. Full resolution — the strongest closure a rhyme can give a line.
Family rhyme 8
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 29
Same vowel, but one word stops a consonant early. A slightly clipped, softer resolution than perfect rhyme.
Assonance 204
Only the stressed vowel matches; the consonants after it are unrelated. Loose and open — useful when a section should stay unresolved.
Identity 42
The whole stressed syllable repeats, beginning included. That's repetition, not rhyme — the line echoes instead of resolving.