sight rhyme

American  

noun

Prosody.

1. agreement in spelling, but not in sound, of the ends of words or of lines of verse, as in have, grave.

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Usage

What is a sight rhyme? A sight 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.A sight rhyme is also called an eye 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.A sight rhyme, though, always involves the ending of the word being spelled in the same way and not sounding the same.Just like regular rhymes, sight rhymes are used in poetry and other forms of literature. Using a sight 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 sight rhymes throughout her poetry has a particularly effective disorienting effect.

Etymology

Origin of sight rhyme

First recorded in 1935–40