Rhyming Words Worksheets PDF

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In the first few weeks of the pandemic and digital learning, I sat down with my first-grade daughter.

She was assigned a rhyme-matching activity on a digital platform. And she was frustrated.

Initially, I thought it was the tech. But then I realized, she could not hear rhymes in words.

I didn’t know it at the time, but she is dyslexic. Even with 60+ hours of Orton-Gillingham training, I wasn’t clear on how important rhyming is for children to learn how to read.

Now I know a lot more about how to teach your child to read and the importance of phonemic awareness.

This blog post is for you if you:

  • have heard your child needs to rhyme, but you’re not sure why.
  • think a rhyming words worksheet PDF will be useful for your child.
  • have a kindergarten-age child learning to read.
  • have an older child struggling with reading.

You are in the right place. While I’m going to give you six free rhyming words worksheets, I’ll also clear up why rhyming is important anyway.

Rhyming Words Worksheets PDF

The worksheets included in these free rhyming words worksheets pdf are:

  • Rhyme Time Worksheet
  • Draw a Rhyme Line Matching Worksheet
  • Color by Rhymes
  • Do They Rhyme? Rhyming Discrimination Worksheet
  • Sort by Rhymes Cut and Paste Worksheet
  • Rhyme Match Cut and Glue Worksheet

Directions for each worksheet are listed on the rhyming printables.  But you’ll see each worksheet in more detail below.

Grab the free sample of the rhyming words worksheets here. You’ll be signing up for my email newsletter when you enter your information in the box.

You’ll get the worksheets immediately and then emails with tips, sales, and freebies. You’re welcome to unsubscribe at any time.

Make sure to read all the tips below, especially if you have a new or struggling reader.

Why is rhyming so important for reading?

Rhyming is important for reading because it is a part of phonological awareness. Simply, written language is a code of speech sounds that are represented by symbols (letters).

Letters do not make sounds. They spell the sounds that we speak.

Phonological awareness is the understanding that spoken language is made up of sounds. Rhyming is a good way to develop phonological awareness because it draws attention to the sounds.

When children play with rhymes, they learn that sounds in language can be changed.  This leads to phonemic awareness, which is the awareness of the sounds in an individual word.

They learn they can manipulate speech sounds.  This is a precursor to becoming a skilled reader.

However, research is demonstrating that it is best to directly connect this practice directly to phonics. After all, the point of all this language development is to actually read words on a page!

So these rhyming worksheets are sorted by phonics skills.  These free rhyming worksheets include these skills:

  • short o words
  • short u words
  • mixed cvc words
  • consonant digraphs
  • oi and oy words
  • long e words (ee and ea)

If you’re looking for a complete set of rhyming worksheets sorted by phonics skills, check them out in the Printable Parents’ Shop.

How do you explain rhyming words to kids?

The simplest explanation for rhyming words for kids:

The words have the same ending.

The words need to have the same ending sounds. It’s helpful to hold up two hands and say the onset with one hand and the rime with another.

  • Say:”Do cat and bat rhyme?”
  • Hold up your right and left hand while saying /c/ and /at/
  • Hold up your right and left hand while saying /b/ and /at/
  • Say, “they both say ‘at’ so they rhyme” as you wave your left hand.

A helpful chant is:

  • Cat and bat
  • Both say -at (waving left hand)
  • So cat and bath rhyme (clap hands).

For non-rhyming words:

  • Cat and car.
  • -at and -ar
  • Cat and car don’t rhyme. (shake hands and head no)

>>Related post: Phonemic Awareness Worksheets

How can I practice rhyming words at home?

You don’t have to use rhyming words worksheets pdf to practice rhyming words at home! You can practice rhyming words out loud with your child.

While in the car or while brushing your child’s teeth, say to your child:

  • “Do cat and hat rhyme?”
  • “Do dog and brush rhyme?”
  • “Do cup and car rhyme?”

Your child can say yes or no, give a thumbs up or thumbs down, or just nod or shake their head.

Now that we’ve got a better understanding of rhyming, let’s take a look at each of the rhyme worksheet pdfs.

Rhyme Time Worksheet

Your child will find the two rhyming words in a group of three. This is rhyming identification.

Using the Rhyme Time Worksheet

  1. Say to your child, “this word is rub. Repeat.”
  2. Your child says, “Rub.”
  3. You say, “These words are sub, cub, and dot. Repeat.”
  4. Your child says, “Sub, cub, dot.”
  5. If your child struggles to repeat, do them one at a time.
  6. Ask your child to find the rhymes.
  7. If needed, you will say the pairs, “Rub, sub. Do those rhyme?”
  8. Repeat these steps until your child is automatic with identifying the rhymes.

Rhyme Sort Cut and Glue Worksheet

In this worksheet, your child will cut out pictures and glue them under the current column.

How to use the Rhyming Sort Worksheet:

  1. Instruct your child to cut out the pictures.
  2. Then, you name the pictures at the top for your child.
  3. Say: “This is a cowboy. Repeat.”
  4. Your child should repeat: “Cowboy.”
  5. Say: “This is soil. Repeat.”
  6. Your child should repeat: “Soil.”
  7. Name each picture for your child one at a time. Ask your child to repeat.
  8. Tell your child they need to glue it under the rhyme.
  9. If your child doesn’t hear the rhyme, say, “Toy and cowboy. Do those rhyme?”

This builds rhyme discrimination, or the ability to hear if two words rhyme.

Color by Rhymes Worksheet

In this worksheet, your child will categorize words by rhyme. They color some pictures red and some pictures green based on the rhyme.

How to use the Color by Rhymes Worksheet

  1. Say the keywords to your child. Say, “Sheep. Repeat.”
  2. Your child repeats, “sheep.”
  3. Say “cream. Repeat.”
  4. Your child repeats, “cream.”
  5. Explain that your child will color words that rhyme with sheep red and words that rhyme with cream green.
  6. Name the rest of the pictures out loud for your child.
  7. If they can’t automatically tell you what it rhymes with, say “weep/sheep or weep/cream.” Give your child 5-10 seconds to respond before you try helping more.

Draw a Rhyme Line Matching Worksheet

On this worksheet, your child matches each picture on the left to a rhyming picture on the right.

Using the Rhyme Line Matching Worksheet

Like the other worksheets, your most important role is to say each word out loud for your child.

  1. Name all the words on the left side for your child and have them repeat each word.
  2. Then start with the first word on the right,
  3. Say, “The word is south. Repeat.”
  4. Your child says, “south.”
  5. You say, “Let’s check the words on the left side. Stop me when you hear the rhyme for south. Peach….rash….. mouth.”
  6. If your child doesn’t stop you, say, “mouth rhymes with south. They both say ‘outh.'”

Do They Rhyme? Rhyming Discrimination Worksheet

In this worksheet, your child will simply circle yes or no for a word pair.

To use this worksheet, start by following the procedure detailed above:

  1. Say, “Fog. Repeat. Log. Repeat. Do those rhyme?”
  2. You can use your hands to gesture like explained above if your child isn’t sure.
  3. Your child circles “yes” because fog and log rhyme.

Rhyme Match Cut and Glue Worksheet

Your child will match 8 rhyming pairs to practice both rhyme identification and rhyme discrimination.

Using the Rhyme Match Cut and Glue Worksheet

Here’s how to help your child with the rhyme match worksheet:

  1. Instruct your child to cut off the bottom portion.
  2. Show your child how to cut out the square pieces with rhyming pictures.
  3. On the worksheet, say the first rhyme word, “pad.”
  4. Your child repeats, “pad.”
  5. Say, “Let’s find a match for pad.”
  6. Point to the pieces until you find “bad.”
  7. Say, “Pad and bad rhyme.”
  8. Instruct your child to glue it down.
  9. Repeat with the other words.
  10. If this is too much for your child, hold back the pieces for the bottom row of rhymes.

More Rhyming Words Worksheets PDF

If you need more rhyming words worksheets, check out these worksheets in the Printable Parents’ Shop or on Teachers Pay Teachers.

There are 10 copies of each type of worksheet. This way, you can practice and repeat a skill until your child can do it independently.

They are organized by phonics skills so it’s easy to print out the worksheets that go along with the words your child or students are reading.

This is so important. Phonemic awareness is most effective when it’s connected to phonics skills.

So check out the Rhyming Worksheets in the Printable Parents’ Shop or on Teachers Pay Teachers today.

 

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