A perfect rhyme for “now” ends in /aʊ/, the sound from its stressed vowel to the end of the word. Near rhymes differ by a single sound, which is enough to end a line beside “now” without matching it exactly. Most of the near rhymes end in one of two sounds, /aʊt/ or /aʊn/.
Spoken aloud, “now” is /naʊ/, respelled NOW, one syllable. With a single syllable there is nothing in front of the stress, so a rhyme has to match the word in full.
“Now” has 27 perfect rhymes and 86 near rhymes in common use; how, wow and ow are the most common.
In This Page
What Rhymes With Now
How, wow, ow and allow rhyme with “now”, each one ending in /aʊ/ from the stressed vowel on. A word that changes one sound of that ending, such as out or down, reads as a near rhyme instead.
- How
- Wow
- Ow
- Allow
- Somehow
- Thou
- Cow
- Bow
- Anyhow
- Ciao
- Vow
- Chow
Perfect Rhymes With Now
One-Syllable Rhymes With Now
- How
- Wow
- Ow
- Thou
- Cow
- Bow
- Ciao
- Vow
- Chow
- Pow
- Sow
- Brow
- Plow
- Dow
- Yow
- Bough
Two- And Three-Syllable Rhymes With Now
Anyhow and disavow have three syllables, and the rest have two.
- Allow
- Somehow
- Meow
- Eyebrow
- Luau
- Know-how
- Landau
- Powwow
- Kowtow
- Anyhow
- Disavow
Near Rhymes With Now
“Now” has 86 near rhymes in common English, and more of them end in /aʊt/ than in any other sound, like out and about. A second ending, /aʊn/, is heard in words such as down and town. A near rhyme for “now” differs from its /aʊ/ ending by a single sound, which is what separates it from a perfect rhyme.
Near Rhymes For Now Ending In -ut: Out And About
Out, about and without rhyme loosely on /aʊt/, which is the ending of “now” followed by /t/.
- Out
- About
- Without
- Doubt
- Shout
- Throughout
- Bout
- Scout
- Lookout
- Blackout
- Trout
- Workout
- Hideout
- Knockout
- Layout
- Drought
Now Rhymes Closing In -own: Down And Town
Each of down, town and brown ends in /aʊn/, the ending of “now” followed by /n/.
- Down
- Town
- Brown
- Crown
- Downtown
- Clown
- Drown
- Breakdown
- Gown
- Hometown
- Countdown
- Lockdown
- Touchdown
- Sundown
- Uptown
- Meltdown
Longer Now Rhymes Like Power And Hour
Power, hour and shower end in /aʊɚ/, which is the whole ending of “now” followed by /ɚ/.
- Our
- Power
- Hour
- Shower
- Flower
- Tower
- Sour
- Flour
- Half-hour
- Horsepower
- Manpower
- Devour
- Firepower
- Willpower
- Superpower
- Sunflower
Proud And Allowed: Now With A Final Consonant
Proud, allowed and crowd share the ending /aʊd/, which is the ending of “now” followed by /d/.
- Proud
- Allowed
- Crowd
- Loud
- Cloud
- Aloud
- Vowed
- Shroud
- Bowed
- Endowed
- Plowed
- Stroud
- Sowed
Foul And Owl As Near Rhymes For Now
In foul, owl and howl the ending is /aʊl/, which is the ending of “now” followed by /l/.
- Foul
- Owl
- Howl
- Growl
- Cowl
- Prowl
- Fowl
- Scowl
Words Like Couch And Ouch That Rhyme Loosely With Now
Couch, ouch and vouch are near rhymes on /aʊtʃ/, which is the ending of “now” followed by /tʃ/.
- Couch
- Ouch
- Vouch
- Pouch
- Crouch
- Grouch
- Slouch
Around /aʊnd/, mouth /aʊθ/, route /ut/ and towel /aʊəl/ are looser near rhymes for “now”, each on an ending of its own.
Does Out Rhyme With Now
People often ask whether these words rhyme with “now”. Only the sounds from the stressed vowel on count, so two words can share four letters and still not rhyme.
| Word | Rhymes With Now | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| How | Yes | Perfect rhyme, matching every sound from the stressed vowel on |
| Wow | Yes | Perfect rhyme, matching every sound from the stressed vowel on |
| Ow | Yes | Perfect rhyme, matching every sound from the stressed vowel on |
| Out | Near rhyme | The ending of "now" followed by /t/, near enough for the end of a line |
| Down | Near rhyme | The ending of "now" followed by /n/, near enough for the end of a line |
| Know | No | Same letters at the end, but said /oʊ/ |
| Snow | No | Same letters at the end, but said /oʊ/ |
Near Rhymes For Now By Word Class
The near rhymes for “now” include 65 nouns, nine verbs, three adjectives and three adverbs, and each word is counted once, under the part of speech it takes most often. Out is both an adjective and a noun, so it is listed once, under the part of speech it takes more often. Among the nouns, out, doubt and shout are in the same word class as “now”, which is a noun.
| Word Class | Near Rhymes |
|---|---|
| Nouns | Out, doubt, shout, bout, scout, lookout, blackout, trout, workout, hideout, knockout, layout |
| Verbs | Drown, devour, allowed, vowed, bowed, endowed, plowed, sowed, vouch |
| Adjectives | About, proud, loud |
| Adverbs | Throughout, aloud, around |
Animals, Body Parts And Foods That Rhyme With Now
Meaning has no effect on whether two words rhyme, so the rhymes for “now” name every kind of thing, including cow and sow among animals. Nothing among the colors rhymes with “now” at all.
| Kind Of Word | Rhymes |
|---|---|
| Animals | Cow, sow, owl, fowl |
| Body Parts | Brow, mouth |
| Foods | Trout, sour, flour |
| Flowers | Flower, sunflower |
| Places | Town, hometown, south |
| Cities | Town, hometown |
Less Common Rhymes For Now
These less common words rhyme with “now” on every sound from the stressed vowel on, among them clough, highbrow and snowplow. They are standard English but rare in everyday writing, so readers meet them mostly in verse.
- Clough
- Highbrow
- Snowplow
- Southpaw
- Endow
- Prow
- Scow
- Curacao
- Pshaw
- Lough
- Avow
- Heehaw
- Sangfroid
The Ending Sound In Now
“Now” ends in the rhyme sound /aʊ/, made up of the stressed vowel /aʊ/ alone, with no consonant after it. How, wow and allow are three of the 27 other common words that end in the same sound.
Words That Look Like Now But Do Not Rhyme
“Now” is spelled with the ending -now, as are know, snow and minnow, yet none of those words rhymes with it. Know and snow end in /oʊ/ and minnow ends in /ɪnoʊ/, whereas “now” ends in /aʊ/. These words end in different sounds from “now”, so the likeness exists in print only.
| Word | Ending Sound | Closing Sound Shared With Now |
|---|---|---|
| Know | /oʊ/ | None |
| Snow | /oʊ/ | None |
| Minnow | /ɪnoʊ/ | None |
Rhyme Schemes With Now
In the stanza forms poets use most, “now” rhymes with how and wow. When a letter repeats, those lines end on the same rhyme sound.
| Scheme | Line endings | How The Lines Pair |
|---|---|---|
| AABB | Now / how / wow / allow | Two couplets in a row, each pair rhyming on consecutive lines. |
| ABAB | Now / out / how / about | Alternating lines, with the near rhymes on the B lines and the perfect pair on the A lines. |
| ABCB | … / now / … / how | Only the second and fourth lines rhyme, as in the ballad stanza and in most hymns. |
Using Now Rhymes In Poems And Songs
John Keats matches “now” with bough in these lines from “Fairy Song”:
Look up, look up! I flutter now
John Keats (1795-1821), Fairy Song
On this flush pomegranate bough.
George Gordon Byron rhymes “now” with brow in “On This Day I Complete My Thirty-sixth Year”:
Such thoughts should shake my soul, nor now,
George Gordon Byron (1788-1824), On This Day I Complete My Thirty-sixth Year
Where glory decks the hero's bier,
Or binds his brow.
In a couplet ending on “now”, the nearest rhymes are how and wow. For a longer line or song verse, writers use allow and somehow instead.
| Kind Of Line | Line-Ending Pairs | How They Match |
|---|---|---|
| Couplet with a one-syllable ending | Now / how, now / wow, now / ow | Both words end in /aʊ/ and have the same number of syllables |
| Longer line or song verse | Now / allow, now / somehow, now / meow | The longer word ends in the same /aʊ/, with one more syllable before it |
| Near rhyme in a lyric | Now / out, now / about, now / down | Same stressed vowel /aʊ/, one sound of the ending differs |
Names That Rhyme With Now
Proper names rhyme by the same rule as common words, and Moscow, Mao and Tao all end on the sound of “now”. The counts on this page include common words only, which is why the names are listed separately, most common first.
- Moscow
- Mao
- Tao
- Frau
- Lao
- Gao
- Macau
- Howe
- Macao
- Liao
FAQs
The most common words that rhyme with “now” in everyday English are how, wow, ow and allow. Beyond those, thou, anyhow, ciao, vow, chow and dow rhyme with it as well. All of them end in /aʊ/, which is the part of “now” a rhyme has to match.
Everyday things that rhyme with “now” include cow, bow, sow, brow, plow and eyebrow. They are nouns that end in /aʊ/, so each one rhymes with “now” in full.
Everyday English has 113 rhymes for “now” once near rhymes are added to the perfect ones. Of that total, 27 are perfect rhymes on /aʊ/ and 86 are near rhymes that differ by one sound.
The closest near rhymes for “now” are out, about, down, around, house and without. They share the stressed vowel /aʊ/ with “now”, and the sounds after it differ. In a lyric, listeners hear them as a full match, because the shared vowel is what they notice at speaking speed.
“Now” ends in the same letters as know, snow and minnow, yet none of them rhymes with it. None of them is said with the /aʊ/ of “now”, and two words rhyme only when the stressed vowel is the same.
