There are a couple of English words that don’t have any rhymes; they may be few and far between but do pop up sometimes. These rhymeless words may make it tough to write a really good song, ’cause if you try to rhyme them it’ll end up sounding wrong. So if you’d like to learn some more and see a proper sample, here are several rhymeless words that are a great example.
(See what we did there?)
Let’s begin with the word “orange” — orange you glad we started with an example that you’ve probably heard before? Whether the word applies to the fruit or the color (fun fact: the fruit is named after the color), there’s no true rhyme for the word “orange” in the standard English lexicon. There is, however, a very specific and archaic botanical term, “sporange,” meaning “a botanical structure in which asexual spores are formed.” The more modern name for this is “sporangium.” But outside of that weird, historical case, there are no exact rhymes for “orange.” There are, however, some slant rhymes you can consider — slant rhymes being words that share similar, but not identical sounds. Try out“change,” “grunge,” or “tinge” if you must use “orange” in verse.
Continuing this colorful trend, let’s move on to two other rhymeless hues: “silver” and “purple.” While words like “river” or “shiver” may sort of sound like “silver,” they’re slant rhymes at best. The same goes for “purple,” whose closest rhyme is likely “whirlpool.”
But it’s not just colors that dominate the rhymeless spectrum. For instance, the phrase “ninth of the month” is a headache for lyricists, as both “ninth” and “month” lack any sort of proper English rhyme. The animal kingdom is also full of words without rhyming pairs, such as “walrus,” “wolf,” and “penguin.”
The list goes on and on — “angel,” “bulb,” “woman,” “husband,” and “warmth” also fall into the rhymeless category. While preschoolers singing nursery rhymes and skilled rappers make it seem easy, it turns out the English lexicon is full of rhymeless words just waiting to trip us up.
More from our network
Word Smarts is part of Optimism, which publishes content that uplifts, informs, and inspires.
