Home › Glossary › Letter R

rhyming pair

Form
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Two successive lines that share end rhyme, forming a basic verse unit

Detailed Definition
A rhyming pair is a two-line unit where the line endings employ identical or similar sounds, creating sonic correspondence that binds the lines together through auditory pattern. This fundamental poetic structure uses end-rhyme as its primary organizing principle, establishing closure and connection through sound repetition. Rhyming pairs can be end-stopped or enjambed, metrically regular or free, but their defining feature is the sonic echo that creates a sense of completion and relationship, making them among poetry's most recognizable and widely used structures across cultures and periods.
Example
Example in poetry:
Alexander Pope: “True ease in writing comes from art, not chance; / As those move easiest who have learned to dance”; Emily Dickinson: “Hope is the thing with feathers – / That perches in the soul –”; Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18: “So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, / So long lives this, and this gives life to thee”; Langston Hughes: “Hold fast to dreams / For if dreams die”; A.E. Housman: “Loveliest of trees, the cherry now / Is hung with bloom along the bough”; Contemporary poet Danez Smith: “i tried to love you / but the gun was too loud”.
Additional Notes
A rhyming pair is a basic couplet where two lines share end rhyme—can be closed or enjambed, and serves as a fundamental unit in many metrical traditions.
Also Known As
Rhyming duo Couplet Paired lines Distich Two-line unit verse pair Sound couplet
Skip to main content