Synonyms that rhyme

May 18, 2017 5:08 AM

My six year old daughter asked me a simple question, but I've come up blank, and google wasn't any help. Can you think of any synonyms that rhyme?

I guess, it might be a small list, due to the fact that similar sounding words that mean similar things would by nature be confusing?

posted by ben30 to Writing & Language (41 answers total)

"Boo" and "hoo" kinda
posted by rw at 5:24 AM on May 18, 2017 [1 favorite]

Chugging and glugging I guess.

I'm really bad with rhyming but can you not answer this with nearly any pair of synonyms that have the same number of syllables in the progressive tense (ing)?
posted by DarlingBri at 5:26 AM on May 18, 2017 [1 favorite]

boggy, soggy?
chunk, hunk?
state, communicate?
posted by vacapinta at 5:27 AM on May 18, 2017 [14 favorites]

Wee and pee // wee-wee and pee-pee

That's all I've got.
posted by ZipRibbons at 5:38 AM on May 18, 2017 [7 favorites]

jab, stab
loop, hoop
catch, latch
sate, satiate
howl, yowl
scout, lookout
posted by vacapinta at 5:43 AM on May 18, 2017 [18 favorites]

loose, unloose
flammable, inflammable
posted by paper chromatographologist at 5:56 AM on May 18, 2017 [5 favorites]

truth/sooth
slip/trip
bow/prow
aught/nought
mere/sheer
creak/squeak
shimmer/glimmer
brim/rim
bit/whit
nab/grab
smack/whack
glob/blob
crude/rude
shake/quake
dale/vale
glare/stare
spot/blot/dot
whirl/swirl/twirl
hump/bump/lump

(lifted from the answers to the quiz 'Can you name the synonyms that rhyme?').
posted by misteraitch at 5:58 AM on May 18, 2017 [23 favorites]

I also had
slide, glide
whirl, twirl
posted by vacapinta at 6:00 AM on May 18, 2017 [4 favorites]

yay!, hooray!
posted by BusyBusyBusy at 6:04 AM on May 18, 2017 [2 favorites]

bright / light
posted by forza at 7:11 AM on May 18, 2017 [1 favorite]

Grasp and clasp.
posted by Polycarp at 7:21 AM on May 18, 2017 [2 favorites]

Moil/toil
Huff/puff, kind of
posted by trig at 7:25 AM on May 18, 2017 [1 favorite]

Sprain, strain, & pain aren't quite synonyms but have overlapping meanings, especially in colloquial usages.
posted by SemiSalt at 7:26 AM on May 18, 2017 [1 favorite]

jabber/blabber
posted by Redstart at 7:41 AM on May 18, 2017 [2 favorites]

sack/pack
posted by zippy at 7:56 AM on May 18, 2017 [2 favorites]

boink/doink (from a recent episode of Brooklyn 99)

You don't have to share this one with your six year old.
posted by paper chromatographologist at 7:57 AM on May 18, 2017 [2 favorites]

bumble/fumble
posted by zippy at 8:05 AM on May 18, 2017 [1 favorite]

breast/chest
musty/fusty
rosy/posy
wear/tear
posted by Mo Nickels at 8:50 AM on May 18, 2017 [1 favorite]

knuckle down/buckle down
posted by Mo Nickels at 8:51 AM on May 18, 2017 [1 favorite]

bash, smash, mash
posted by kapers at 10:33 AM on May 18, 2017 [2 favorites]

Wiggle and jiggle.
posted by jessicapierce at 10:46 AM on May 18, 2017 [3 favorites]

chatter / natter
trim / slim
flag / lag / sag / drag
splashy / flashy
goop / gloop
mumble / grumble
berate / castigate
posted by aubilenon at 10:57 AM on May 18, 2017 [1 favorite]

mush / crush
mush / slush
glide / slide
wail / rail
slash / gash
wash / slosh
gadget / widget
clink / tink
winkle / sparkle
mutter / titter
posted by Oyéah at 11:43 AM on May 18, 2017 [1 favorite]

Cram and jam?
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 11:46 AM on May 18, 2017 [2 favorites]

Assume/presume
posted by Wrinkled Stumpskin at 2:46 PM on May 18, 2017 [1 favorite]

annihilate, obliterate, eradicate, exterminate, disintegrate
posted by lore at 6:05 PM on May 18, 2017 [2 favorites]

prattle / tattle
posted by obiwanwasabi at 6:46 PM on May 18, 2017 [1 favorite]

Crashing/Smashing
Drop/Plop

And, sadly, I'm out, but will continue to think because this is a fun brain exercise/word puzzle! Please thank your daughter, who is so dope for coming up with this question!
posted by katemcd at 6:52 PM on May 18, 2017 [1 favorite]

Seeing as / being as
posted by aws17576 at 10:38 PM on May 18, 2017 [1 favorite]

Poo / number two.
posted by quinndexter at 11:23 PM on May 18, 2017 [3 favorites]

Due to the close relationship between Old English and Old Norse, there are some pairs of words beginning with sk- and sh- which are etymological cousins (and have sometimes kept a similar meaning), the Norse cousin having entered into English during the Norse invasions.

For instance, shirt / skirt, and ship / skip.
posted by tivalasvegas at 1:17 PM on May 19, 2017 [6 favorites]

tubby and chubby
posted by peeedro at 1:22 PM on May 19, 2017 [1 favorite]

Will someone PLEASE create the obvious young children's book of these!!
------anxious grandparents.
posted by hexatron at 2:13 PM on May 19, 2017 [3 favorites]

annihilate, obliterate, eradicate, exterminate, disintegrate
Decimate.
YES i KNOW.
posted by quinndexter at 11:56 AM on May 20, 2017 [1 favorite]

This thread reads like crib notes for a Southern Baptist sermon.
posted by rhizome at 9:31 PM on May 21, 2017 [1 favorite]

Amble, ramble, gambol.
posted by Pickman's Next Top Model at 10:21 PM on May 21, 2017 [1 favorite]

Ben30, poet laureate Robert Southey has you covered (salient part around fifth stanza or so):

The Cataract of Lodore

BY ROBERT SOUTHEY
"How does the water
Come down at Lodore?"
My little boy asked me
Thus, once on a time;
And moreover he tasked me
To tell him in rhyme.
Anon, at the word,
There first came one daughter,
And then came another,
To second and third
The request of their brother,
And to hear how the water
Comes down at Lodore,
With its rush and its roar,
As many a time
They had seen it before.
So I told them in rhyme,
For of rhymes I had store;
And 'twas in my vocation
For their recreation
That so I should sing;
Because I was Laureate
To them and the King.

From its sources which well
In the tarn on the fell;
From its fountains
In the mountains,
Its rills and its gills;
Through moss and through brake,
It runs and it creeps
For a while, till it sleeps
In its own little lake.
And thence at departing,
Awakening and starting,
It runs through the reeds,
And away it proceeds,
Through meadow and glade,
In sun and in shade,
And through the wood-shelter,
Among crags in its flurry,
Helter-skelter,
Hurry-skurry.
Here it comes sparkling,
And there it lies darkling;
Now smoking and frothing
Its tumult and wrath in,
Till, in this rapid race
On which it is bent,
It reaches the place
Of its steep descent.

The cataract strong
Then plunges along,
Striking and raging

As if a war raging
Its caverns and rocks among;
Rising and leaping,
Sinking and creeping,
Swelling and sweeping,
Showering and springing,
Flying and flinging,
Writhing and ringing,
Eddying and whisking,
Spouting and frisking,
Turning and twisting,
Around and around
With endless rebound:
Smiting and fighting,
A sight to delight in;
Confounding, astounding,
Dizzying and deafening the ear with its sound.

Collecting, projecting,
Receding and speeding,
And shocking and rocking,
And darting and parting,
And threading and spreading,
And whizzing and hissing,
And dripping and skipping,
And hitting and splitting,
And shining and twining,
And rattling and battling,
And shaking and quaking,
And pouring and roaring,
And waving and raving,
And tossing and crossing,
And flowing and going,
And running and stunning,
And foaming and roaming,
And dinning and spinning,
And dropping and hopping,
And working and jerking,
And guggling and struggling,
And heaving and cleaving,
And moaning and groaning;

And glittering and frittering,
And gathering and feathering,
And whitening and brightening,
And quivering and shivering,
And hurrying and skurrying,
And thundering and floundering;

Dividing and gliding and sliding,
And falling and brawling and sprawling,
And driving and riving and striving,
And sprinkling and twinkling and wrinkling,
And sounding and bounding and rounding,
And bubbling and troubling and doubling,
And grumbling and rumbling and tumbling,
And clattering and battering and shattering;

Retreating and beating and meeting and sheeting,
Delaying and straying and playing and spraying,
Advancing and prancing and glancing and dancing,
Recoiling, turmoiling and toiling and boiling,
And gleaming and streaming and steaming and beaming,
And rushing and flushing and brushing and gushing,
And flapping and rapping and clapping and slapping,
And curling and whirling and purling and twirling,
And thumping and plumping and bumping and jumping,
And dashing and flashing and splashing and clashing;
And so never ending, but always descending,
Sounds and motions for ever and ever are blending
All at once and all o'er, with a mighty uproar, -
And this way the water comes down at Lodore.
posted by sy at 7:25 PM on May 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

squiggly wiggly
posted by compound eye at 2:47 PM on May 25, 2017

icky / sticky / squicky all have a similar feel to me.
posted by Two unicycles and some duct tape at 10:25 PM on May 27, 2017

Can you think of any synonyms that rhyme?

This reminds me of the question whether there are any antonyms that rhyme (and are spelled the same). Enter: homographic homophonic autantonyms!
posted by klausman at 9:31 PM on June 5, 2017

I was recently reminded that there's a character in Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain books, Gurgi, who speaks with an idiosyncratic style that includes a lot of rhyming synonyms or sorta-synonyms. Here's the Wikipedia entry for Gurgi, which gives the following examples from the books:

crunchings and munchings
smackings and whackings
sneakings and peekings
posted by The Minotaur at 7:51 AM on June 16, 2017