eye rhyme

American  

noun

1. sight rhyme.

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eye rhyme British  

noun

1. a rhyme involving words that are similar in spelling but not in sound, such as stone and none

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Usage

What is an eye rhyme? An eye rhyme involves the use of words that look like they should rhyme—based on their endings being spelled the same—but that don’t actually rhyme, as in move and love or pour and sour.An eye rhyme is also called a sight rhyme.The typical sense of the word rhyme refers to an instance in which the endings of two or more words rhyme—meaning they sound exactly the same, as in right and sight. However, the endings of such words don’t need to be spelled the same in order to rhyme: right also rhymes with site.An eye rhyme, though, always involves the ending of the word being spelled in the same way and not sounding the same.Just like regular rhymes, eye rhymes are used in poetry and other forms of literature. Using an eye rhyme is another artistic way to make connections between words. For example, it can be used in verse to create an unexpected effect at the end of a line that looks like it’s going to rhyme but actually doesn’t:Expecting a rhyme, you start to read,But the next line just hurts your head. Example: Her use of eye rhymes throughout her poetry has a particularly effective disorienting effect.

Etymology

Origin of eye rhyme

First recorded in 1870–75