When I’m stumped for a rhyming word, a synonym or a definition, my go-to website is www.rhymezone.com. I go there a lot. In fact, I don’t believe I’ve ever written a sonnet without consulting this excellent source.
I never drive anywhere without the radio on, and I usually pay attention to song lyrics. I hear plenty of near rhymes in songs which seem to be perfectly acceptable to listeners. But I am a stickler for using only exact rhymes in my sonnets, and that makes the process a lot more challenging (and fun, as far as I’m concerned).
I also cringe anytime I hear lyrics where the songwriter has obviously “stretched” to find a rhyme. I always ask myself if the rhyming words in my sonnets truly advance the story or message or is a word there only because it rhymes. In such cases, I need to find a better rhyming word. Rhymezone often solves the problem.
But sometimes it doesn’t. In that case, I look at synonyms. If I can find a word that means the same as the word for which I can’t find a suitable rhyme, Im half way there. Then I just need to find a good rhyming word for my new word. Persistence and Rhymezone usually bring me to the desired result.
I marvel at rhyming poets from long ago who wrote great poems without the benefit of a resource like Rhymezone. I wouldn’t want to try writing sonnets without it.