Free tool for students and teachers

Rhyme scheme checker for poems

Runs in your browser · nothing is uploaded · no account

Paste a poem, one line per line, with an empty line between stanzas. You get the rhyme scheme written the way it is taught in class, such as ABAB CDCD EFEF GG, the name of the form if it matches one, whether each rhyme is perfect or slant, and the number of syllables in every line.

How rhyme scheme letters work

The first line's end sound is A. Every line that rhymes with it is also A. The first line with a new end sound is B, the next new sound is C, and so on through the poem. A line that rhymes with nothing still takes a letter of its own, which is why a ballad stanza is written ABCB: only lines 2 and 4 rhyme, and lines 1 and 3 each get a fresh letter.

Letters keep counting across stanzas. A Shakespearean sonnet does not restart at A in its second quatrain; it goes on to C and D, which is how you can tell from the scheme alone that each quatrain brings new rhymes.

Forms it recognises

The checker names a form when the rhymes match it exactly. It reads rhyme only, so a poem can match a form's rhyme scheme and still break its meter.

No end rhymes at all is reported as free verse or blank verse. The tool cannot tell those two apart, because the difference is meter, not rhyme.

Using it in class

• Check a scheme before marking it. Students label the poem by hand first, then paste it and compare. Disagreements are where the discussion is.
• Talk about slant rhyme. Pairs marked slant are rhymes the poet chose to leave almost right. Seeing them labelled, instead of dropped, makes that choice visible.
• Count syllables. The count per line shows a limerick's long and short lines, a haiku's 5, 7, 5, and a sonnet line that runs to eleven syllables when it should have ten.
• Write to a form. Students draft a limerick or a ballad stanza and check that the rhymes land where the form says they should.

What it cannot do

• It does not scan meter. No stress marks, no iambic pentameter detection. Syllable counts only.
• It hears American pronunciation. Rhymes that depend on an older or regional accent may come back unrhymed. Many rhymes in older poetry worked in the poet's English and do not in today's.
• Old and rare words may be missing. The dictionary covers about 40,000 modern English words. Thee, hath, names and invented words are flagged instead of guessed.
• Eye rhymes are not rhymes here. Love and prove look alike but sound different, so they are reported as not rhyming.
• Contractions are skipped. Don't and I'm are flagged and add nothing to the syllable count; write them out if the count matters.

Where the pronunciations come from

The CMU Pronouncing Dictionary from Carnegie Mellon University, reduced to the most common 40,000 words. It downloads once (about 250 KB) the first time you press the button, and the analysis runs in the page. The same engine powers our rhyme scheme analyzer for rap verses, which also measures multisyllabic rhymes.

Frequently asked questions

How do you find the rhyme scheme of a poem?

Give the last sound of the first line the letter A. Every later line that rhymes with it is also A. The first line with a new end sound gets B, then C, and so on. Lines that rhyme with nothing still take a new letter. Put a space between stanzas.

What is the rhyme scheme of a Shakespearean sonnet?

ABAB CDCD EFEF GG: three alternating quatrains and a closing couplet. Load the sonnet example above to see it.

What is the rhyme scheme of a limerick?

AABBA. Lines 1, 2 and 5 share one rhyme, lines 3 and 4 share another.

Is my poem saved or uploaded?

No. Everything runs in your browser and nothing you paste leaves it.