-eer- (as in beer, revere, fiercely, endearment)
-ee- (as in breed, complete, teacher, meaningless)
-i- (as in sit, evict, whistle, revision)
-ire- (as in tire, require, admirer, violently)
-ie- (as in try, untie, glider, reliable)
-o- (as in toss, forgot, copper, historical)
-or- (as in ford, implore, daughter, victorious)
-oor- (as in cure, endure, purely, maturity)
-ow- (as in cow, endow, louder, boundary)
-ower- (as in hour, empower, towering, floury)
-oy- (as in toy, enjoy, noisy, avoidable)
-oe- (as in boat, ago, grocer, totally)
-u- (as in run, instruct, double, gluttony)
-uu- (as in put, withstood, booking, womanly)
-oo- (as in too, rebuke, cruiser, beautiful)
Within each section, the words are arranged in numbered groups according to the sound that follows this vowel (e.g. at/bat/cat, adder/ladder/madder). Many of these groups contain words that are close but not perfect rhymes (e.g. hammer/banner), to give you a fuller range of possibilities.
Within each numbered group, the rhymes are divided by asterisks into sets of words with the same number of syllables (e.g. hack, jack, pack * aback, attack, repack) or with the same rhythm (e.g. aback, attack, repack * hatchback, knapsack, tailback).
How to find a particular rhyme
If you are looking for a rhyme for a particular word, the easiest way is to use the index at the back of the book, which will guide you to the numbered group in which your word appears. For example, batter is in group 2.10. Once you have found this group, cast your eye over all the words – you may find a close rhyme some distance away (e.g. regatta and antimatter). Some of the longer sets of rhymes, e.g. the -ation words, have been divided into several smaller groups, so it is always a good idea to look at the groups above and below the one containing the word you are trying to rhyme.
Words that have more than one sound appear in more than one group. For example, graph can rhyme with naff or half, so both group numbers are given in the index. Similarly, sow rhymes with cow when it means ‘female pig’ and with go when it means ‘put seed in ground’.
If your word is not in the index, does it have an extra ending, such as the -s of stamps or the -ed of dragged? If so, remove the ending and look for the main form of the word (i.e. stamp or drag). You may be able to add the same ending to other words in its group (e.g. cramps/lamps/tramps or bragged/lagged/sagged ). Many words with these endings have groups of their own, often with ‘etc.’ at the end, which means that more rhymes can be made by adding the same ending to other words. For example, group 1.4 contains some of the most common -acks words that rhyme with axe, but there is not room to include them all – you can make many more by adding -s to the other ack words in group 1.3.
If you still cannot find a suitable rhyme for your word, you may find a near-rhyme in another group. Words ending in the ‘f ’ sound, for example, are sometimes rhymed with words ending in the ‘v’ or ‘th’ sound (e.g. leaf/weave/teeth/breathe). Other letter sounds that can be paired in this way are ‘b’ and ‘p’ (crab/tap), ‘k’ and ‘g’ (rack/stag), ‘d’ and ‘t’ (bed/set), ‘m’ and ‘n’ (rim/thin), ‘s’ and ‘z’ (miss/fizz), and ‘sh’ and ‘ch’ (squash/watch).
Finally, here is a list of words that have no rhyme:
bilge
cusp
damask
depth
eighth
else
gouge
month
ninth
period
scarce
sixth
warmth
wasp
Welsh
width
The rhymes in this section have the ‘a’ sound of mat and happy as their main or final vowel sound.
1.1 blab, cab, crab, Crabbe, dab, drab, fab, flab, gab, grab, jab, lab, Mab, nab, scab, slab, stab, tab, * McNab, Cantab., kebab, vocab, * Ahab, spacelab, prefab, rehab, Skylab, confab, Joab, Moab, * smash-and-grab, hackney cab, taxicab, shish kebab, minicab, baobab
Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer had a very unusual gift of the gab,
They were highly efficient cat-burglars as well, and remarkably smart at a smash-and-grab.
T. S. ELIOT
1.2 abs, Babs, cabs, crabs, dabs, grabs, jabs, nabs, scabs, slabs, stabs, * abdabs, prefabs, * dribs and drabs, shish kebabs, minicabs, etc.
1.3 back, black, Black, Braque, clack, claque, crack, flak, hack, jack, Jack, Jacques, knack, lac, lack, mac, Mac, Mach, pack, plaque, quack, rack, sac, sack, shack, slack, smack, snack, stack, tack, thwack, track, vac, wack, whack, WRAC, wrack, yack, yak, Zack, * aback, unpack, macaque, attack, alack, laid-back, repack, Chirac, Dirac, Iraq, * ack-ack, cashback, flashback, splashback, hatchback, backpack, bratpack, ratpack, NASDAQ, lampblack, Shadrach, backtrack, yashmak, knapsack, ransack, Balzac, Anzac, dhansak, flapjack, blackjack, hardback, halfback, hardtack, fast-track, Tarmac®, Carnac, Karnak, bareback, payback, playback, tailback, haystack, hayrack, racetrack, setback, sweptback, shellac, Lurpak®, feedback, greenback, leaseback, Meshach, Taoiseach, cheapjack, kickback, slingback, switchback, ridgeback, six-pack, ticktack, rickrack, gimcrack, knickknack, skipjack, Dyak, kayak, buy-back, tieback, zwieback, wisecrack, sidetrack, hijack, skyjack, softback, Cognac, Cossack, hopsack, Toshack, clawback, drawback, horseback, Dvořák, outback, soundtrack, blowback, throwback, Kodak, smokestack, Slovak, Prozac®, Kojak, humpback, cutback, comeback, hunchback, mudpack, thumbtack, rucksack, muntjac, fullback, woolpack, bushwhack, woolsack, Blu-Tack®, shoeblack, bootblack, sumac, Cusack, Muzak®, * back-to-back, saddleback, Pasternak, Savernake, almanac, Sassenach, Bacharach, Skagerrak, bladderwrack, anorak, haversack, crackerjack, natterjack, applejack, Cadillac, amphibrach, paddywhack, Dannimac®, heart attack, Armagnac, cardiac, paperback, razorback, maniac, leatherback, Kerouac, Bergerac, steeplejack, coeliac, stickleback, in the black, bric-a-brac, hit the sack, iliac, Syriac, piggyback, ipecac, bivouac, Pontiac, Mauriac, quarterback, Kodiak, zodiac, lumberjack, multipack, multitrack, cul-de-sac, Union Jack, Cluniac, * celeriac, amnesiac, insomniac, ammoniac, demoniac, simoniac, * counterattack, yackety-yak, * kleptomaniac, egomaniac, nymphomaniac, dipsomaniac, pyromaniac, monomaniac, necrophiliac, paedophiliac, haemophiliac, sacroiliac, paradisiac, aphrodisiac, Dionysiac, hypochondriac, sal ammoniac,