24 Words Famous for Being Unrhymable (But They Actually Rhyme)

Although these words frequently appear on lists of supposedly unrhymable terms, they all have rhymes in English—provided you include rare dialects and specialized scientific vocabulary. Take a look and decide for yourself.

1. Acrid

Acrid pairs with epacrid (in certain pronunciations), a term referring to plants in the Epacris genus, primarily native to Australia.

2. Angst

Angst loosely rhymes with phalanxed, which means “arranged in rows,” and the archaic term thanksed, referring to expressing gratitude.

3. Beige

Beige is pronounced closer to the first syllable of Asia than to words like age, gauge, stage, or rage. However, it still finds a rhyme in greige, the term for the muted hue of unbleached fabric.

4. Bulb

Bulb pairs with culb, an archaic term from the 17th century meaning a sharp or witty retort.

5. Chaos

Chaos finds its rhyme in naos, referring to the central chamber of a Greek temple, and speos, an ancient Egyptian cave tomb.

6. Circle

Circle rhymes with hurkle, an archaic dialect term meaning “to curl up your limbs,” as well as heterocercal and homocercal, zoological terms describing fish tails that are either asymmetrical or symmetrical.

7. Circus

Circus shares a homophone with cercus, a term for an appendage on some insects, and rhymes with cysticercus, referring to a tapeworm larva. If that’s too niche, consider rhyming it with murcous, a 17th-century term meaning “thumbless.”

8. Concierge

Concierge, borrowed directly from French, has limited English rhymes. However, it pairs with demi-vierge, another French term historically used to describe a young woman who engages in suggestive behavior but remains a virgin—or, as Merriam-Webster defines it, “a girl who indulges in lewd speech and promiscuous petting without losing her virginity.” The term translates to “half-virgin.”

9. Dunce

Dunce rhymes with punce, a dialect word that can mean flattened meat or a forceful kick, among other uses.

10. False

False rhymes with valse, another term for a waltz, as noted by the Oxford English Dictionary.

11. Film

Film pairs with pilm, an archaic term from southern England referring to dust or fine powder.

12. Filth

Filth rhymes with spilth, describing the amount of liquid lost when spilled (or the act of spilling), and tilth, which signifies hard work or toil.

13. Gouge

Gouge rhymes with scrouge, meaning “to squeeze or press together.” In 19th-century academic slang, a scrouge also referred to a tedious or lengthy lesson or task.

14. Gulf

Gulf rhymes with sulf, another term for toadflax plants, and culf, an archaic word from southwest England referring to loose feathers from pillows or cushions.

15. Music

Music rhymes with ageusic and dysgeusic, medical terms describing the complete absence or partial impairment of a person’s sense of taste, respectively.

16. Orange

You’ve likely heard the claim that nothing rhymes with orange. However, the English surname Gorringe—like Henry Honeychurch Gorringe, captain of the USS Gettysburg—rhymes with orange, as does Blorenge, a hill in south Wales. Even excluding proper nouns, there’s sporange, an obscure term for a plant’s spore-producing structure. Depending on your accent, the word’s obscurity, and stress placement (as sporange can rhyme with orange or be pronounced “spuh-ranj”), it turns out there is indeed a rhyme for orange.

17. Purple

Purple rhymes with hirple, meaning “to limp” or “walk clumsily,” and curple, an old Scots term for a leather strap beneath a horse’s tail to secure its saddle (or more broadly, “buttocks”).

18. Replenish

Replenish rhymes with displenish, meaning “to clear out furniture,” and Rhenish, referring to something related to the Rhine River.

19. Rhythm

Rhythm pairs with the English place name Lytham and smitham, an archaic term for fine malt dust or powdered lead ore.

20. Silver

Following purple and orange, silver is the third English color often thought to lack rhymes. However, there’s chilver, an archaic dialect term for a female lamb.

21. Wasp

Wasp rhymes with cosp, a fastener for doors or gates, and knosp, an architectural decoration shaped like a tree bud.

22. Width

Width rhymes with sidth, a dialect term used to describe the length, depth, or breadth of an object—or specifically the measurement of one side.

23. Window

Window pairs with tamarindo, a sweetened drink made from boiled tamarind fruit, popular in Spanish American cultures.

24. Women

Women rhymes with timon, an archaic term for a ship’s rudder, and dimmen, meaning “to fade” or “to set like the sun.” However, woman reportedly has no rhyme at all.