Rhyming is one of the first ways children learn to hear the parts of words: cat and hat sound the same at the end, so they rhyme. These picture worksheets need no reading — say each picture out loud and listen. Pick a worksheet type and download a fresh PDF, or print a whole rhyming pack.
Eight different rhyming worksheets in one PDF — two of each kind, all with different pictures — with answer keys at the end. Free, no sign-up.
Every rhyme on these sheets is a true rhyme — the words share the same vowel and ending sound, like cake / rake / snake. We check rhymes by pronunciation, not spelling, and leave out pictures a child might call by another name (a calf that looks like a cow, a kitten that looks like a cat), because a picture that isn’t named the way you expect breaks the rhyme. Each download mixes the pictures, so you can print as many different sheets as you need.
Two words rhyme when they sound the same from the vowel to the end: cat and hat, cake and snake, bee and tree. The beginning sound changes, but the rest stays the same. Hearing rhymes is part of phonological awareness — noticing the sound parts of spoken words.
Children who can hear rhymes are learning to split words into a beginning and an ending, which is exactly what they do later when they read word families like -at (cat, hat, bat). Rhyme awareness in preschool is one of the early signs a child is ready for phonics.
Many children start to recognize rhymes around age 3 to 4 and can make their own rhymes by age 5. Rhyming worksheets are most common in pre-K and kindergarten. Recognizing a rhyme (does cat rhyme with hat?) comes before producing one (what rhymes with cat?).
Read rhyming books aloud and pause before the rhyming word so your child can fill it in. Play "does it rhyme?" with pairs of words. On these worksheets, say every picture out loud together — rhyming is about listening, so saying the words matters more than looking at them.
We check rhymes by sound, not spelling. Words can look alike and not rhyme, or rhyme without looking alike (bee, key and tree all rhyme). We also leave out pictures a child might name differently — if a picture of a kitten gets called "cat," the rhyme falls apart.