How do you teach rhyming to kindergarteners?

Read nursery rhymes, Dr. Seuss, and rhyming books frequently, pausing on the rhyming words. Play odd-one-out with word sets (cat, hat, dog - which doesn't rhyme?). Generate rhyme families together (all the -at words: bat, cat, fat, hat, mat, pat, rat, sat). Worksheets with picture-to-picture rhyme matching are an appropriate independent practice format.

Does rhyming help with reading?

Yes. Rhyme awareness is a form of phonological awareness that helps children hear and manipulate the sound structure of words. Children who understand that cat, bat, hat, and mat share the same ending sound (-at) learn to read and spell that entire word family much more efficiently. CCSS RF.K.2 explicitly targets phonological awareness including rhyme as a reading readiness skill.

Kindergarten Match Rhyming Words Worksheets

Ages 3-6 · Free previews · Print-ready PDFs

Written by Adi Ackerman, Head Teacher

Free printable match rhyming words worksheets for kindergarten students (Ages 3-6). All worksheets are aligned to Common Core standards and ready to print.

Kindergarten Reading Rhyming Match Rhyming Words Clear All

Match Rhyming Words

GradeKindergarten

TopicRhyming

More rhyming worksheets

Explore all of our kindergarten rhyming worksheets, covering rhyming words, match rhyming words, circle pictures that rhyme, match pictures that rhyme.

Rhyming words Circle Pictures That Rhyme Match Pictures That Rhyme

Frequently Asked Questions

Rhyme recognition is a kindergarten phonemic awareness standard (CCSS RF.K.2a), expected by the end of kindergarten. Most students can recognize rhyming pairs by mid-year. Rhyme production (generating new rhymes) is harder and may emerge later. If a child cannot recognize rhymes by end of kindergarten, this is an early indicator of phonological processing difficulty worth monitoring.

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