Rhyme Sort — Does It Rhyme?
Sort picture pairs by whether they rhyme.
Drop here
Drop here
0/12 sorted
How to run it
Say both words with the ending stretched and let the child judge. Judging is harder than matching, because there is no right answer to search for — the child has to attend to the sound and decide. Cake and bike is the interesting non-pair: they share a vowel-consonant pattern and differ in the vowel, which catches children who are matching on shape rather than sound. Eight minutes covers the twelve.
Cueing ladder
Start at the top. Add support one step at a time.
- IndependentSay the item and wait 5 seconds for the student's answer.Log as correct
- Stretch itSay the word again slowly, stretching the sounds or tapping the syllables.Log as cued
- Two choicesOffer two answers, the right one not always second.Log as cued
- ModelDo it yourself, tapping as you go, then the student does it after you.Log as cued
Adjust it
Use pictures, fewer items, and words with fewer sounds.
Take the pictures away, or move on to syllable work: clapping and counting syllables.
Matching IEP goal
Given spoken words, Student will judge whether two words rhyme in 8 of 10 opportunities across 3 consecutive sessions, given no more than one repetition.
Send it home through the parent portal →About this activity
Twelve pairs sorted by whether they rhyme: cat and hat, dog and log, sun and fun, bed and red, pig and big, car and star, moon and spoon, book and look and frog and log do rhyme; cup and dog, tree and shoe and cake and bike do not. The three non-rhyming pairs are the point — a judgement task needs both answers to be possible.
What to listen for
Watch the near misses. Cake and bike is the item that separates a child who hears rhyme from one who is judging by how the words look or by their final consonant. Notice whether the child can explain — they both end in -at is an explanation, and it shows the awareness is explicit rather than intuitive.
Carrying it home
Asking whether two words rhyme takes two seconds and works with anything. Getting it wrong on purpose is even better, because children love correcting an adult and it makes them listen carefully.
What's in this activity
- rhymes
- does not rhyme
Questions
- What ages is this for?
- Kindergarten and first grade.
- Is it free?
- Yes, all twelve pairs play with no account.
- How is this different from the rhyme matching game?
- Matching asks the child to find a partner, which can be done by searching. This asks for a judgement about a given pair, including pairs that do not rhyme, which is the harder and more diagnostic task.
Use this board with your caseload
With a free account, every correct, cued and incorrect mark is saved to the student and scored against their IEP goal, with the data written up for you. Assign it as home practice through the parent portal.
Track progress freeFree for SLPs. No card, no trial clock.