Writing Poems with Rhyming Words

Have you ever noticed how some words sound almost the same at the end? Cat and hat. Day and play. That matching ending sound is called a rhyme — and it is the heart of poetry!

What is a rhyme?

• Two words rhyme when their ending sounds are the same.
• The beginning letters can be different — only the ending must match.
• Examples: cat / hat, big / dig, sun / run.

Word families make rhyming easy

• Words in the same word family almost always rhyme.
• -at family: cat, hat, bat, mat, sat, rat.
• -ay family: day, play, say, stay, way, ray.
• -ight family: night, light, right, bright, sight.

Writing a couplet poem

• A couplet is the simplest poem — just two lines.
• The last word of line 1 rhymes with the last word of line 2.
• Example: I see a cat sitting on a mat, / She wears a silly yellow hat.

Poems do not need to tell a story

• A poem can just describe a feeling or paint a picture.
• It does not need a beginning, middle, and end like a story.
• The most important thing is that it sounds good when read aloud.