Rhyme or rime?
rhyme is a noun meaning “Rhyming verse (poetic form)”; rime is a noun meaning “Archaic in the form rimes: originally, any frozen dew forming a white deposit…”. They sound the same (/ɹaɪm/). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) rhyme is about 11 times as common as rime.
What is the difference between rhyme and rime?
| rhyme | rime | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, verb | noun, verb |
| Meaning | Rhyming verse (poetic form) A thought expressed in verse; a verse; a poem; a tale told in verse To compose or treat in verse; versify | Archaic in the form rimes: originally, any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces; hoar frost (sense 1) A film or slimy coating To cover (something) with rime (noun etymology 1, noun sense 1 or etymology 1, noun sense 3.1) or (loosely) hoar frost |
| Example | Many editors say they don’t want stories written in rhyme these days | Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote The Rime of the Ancient Mariner in 1797–1798 |
| Forms | rhymes | rimes |
| Pronunciation | /ɹaɪm/ /ɹɑem/ [ɹɑe̯m] | /ɹaɪm/ |
| In writing | 3.6 times per million words | about once in every 3 million words |
Sources: rhyme and rime in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of rhyme and rime
rhyme
- 1
Rhyming verse (poetic form)
Many editors say they don’t want stories written in rhyme these days
- 2
To compose or treat in verse; versify
- 3
A thought expressed in verse; a verse; a poem; a tale told in verse
Tennyson’s rhymes
- 4
To place (a word or words) in such a way as to produce a rhyme or an approximation thereof
- 5
A word that rhymes with another
Norse poetry is littered with rhymes like “sól … sunnan”
- 6
Of a word, to be pronounced identically with another from the vowel in its stressed syllable to the end
Creation rhymes with integration and station
- 7
A word that rhymes with another, in that it is pronounced identically with the other word from the vowel in its stressed syllable to the end
"Awake" is a rhyme for "lake"
- 8
To be pronounced identically from the vowel in the stressed syllable of each to the end of each
Mug and rug rhyme
rime
- 1
Archaic in the form rimes: originally, any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces; hoar frost (sense 1)
- 2
To cover (something) with rime (noun etymology 1, noun sense 1 or etymology 1, noun sense 3.1) or (loosely) hoar frost
- 3
The second part of a syllable, from the vowel on (as opposed to the onset)
- 4
To enlarge (a hole), especially using a tool such as a reamer
- 5
A film or slimy coating
- 6
To cover (something) with a thin coating or film; to coat
- 7
To remove debris from inside (something, such as a freshly bored hole or a pipe) using a tool
- 8
White hair as an indication of old age
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, rhyme or rime?
rhyme appears 3.6 times per million words; rime about once in every 3 million words.
rhyme 3.6 times per million wordsrime about once in every 3 million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search rhyme vs rime?
“rhyme vs rime” is searched about 480 times a month on Google and 10 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“rime vs rhyme”, “rhyme or rime”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.