Words That Rhyme with ARE for Poems, Songs, Rap, and Phonics

Before listing rhymes, one phonetic fact matters enormously here: are has two pronunciations, and they do not share the same rhyming sound.

Pronunciation 1 — /ɑːr/ (the most common spoken form)
This is the full stressed pronunciation: ar as in car or star. This is how are sounds when it’s emphasized: “We ARE going.” It rhymes with words ending in the -ar sound.

Pronunciation 2 — /ər/ (the unstressed, everyday form)
In normal conversational speech, are is almost always unstressed and reduced to -er, as in “They’re late” or a quick “where are you?” In this form, it rhymes with words like her, stir, and blur.

For poetry and songwriting, Pronunciation 1 (/ɑːr/) is by far the more useful — it’s the version that scans clearly in a line, carries weight, and opens up a rich set of rhymes. The sections below focus on this pronunciation unless otherwise noted.

Perfect Rhymes With Are (/ɑːr/)

These words share the identical vowel and ending sounds. Every word below ends in the -ar (/ɑːr/) sound.

One-Syllable Perfect Rhymes With Are

These are the most useful for poetry and song — strong, clean, and naturally rhythmic.

Word	Notes
bar	Versatile; works in dozens of contexts — legal, musical, physical
car	Common and concrete; great for everyday or narrative verse
far	Distance and longing; one of the most emotionally evocative rhymes here
jar	Homely and tactile; useful for domestic or nature imagery
mar	To damage or spoil; works well in darker or melancholic writing
par	Equality or standard; useful in reflective or evaluative lines
scar	Powerful emotional weight; injury, memory, survival
spar	Fighting or debating; active and confrontational
star	Among the richest rhymes available — wonder, aspiration, fame
tar	Dark and viscous; useful for gritty, industrial, or Southern Gothic writing
char	To scorch or burn; also British slang for tea
czar (also tsar)	Authority and power; works in political or historical verse
bar	Already listed above

A few less common but genuine one-syllable rhymes worth knowing: baa (as sheep say — works in pastoral writing if the -ar quality is clear in your accent), ma and pa (informal; rhyme in most American accents), spa (relaxation imagery), bra, ha, ah (exclamations, informal verse).

Note on ma, pa, spa, bra, ha: In most American and some British accents, these words use the same /ɑː/ vowel, making them solid rhymes with are. In some British RP accents, the vowel is slightly shorter — worth checking against your own speech.

Two-Syllable Perfect Rhymes With Are

Each of these words ends cleanly on the -ar (/ɑːr/) sound.

Word	Syllables	Notes
afar	2	Distance and remoteness; “from afar” is a natural phrase in lyrical writing
bazaar	2	A marketplace; rich with color and sensory imagery
cigar	2	Celebration, wealth, old-world atmosphere
crossbar	2	Concrete and physical; sports, architecture
crowbar	2	Force, labor, breaking through obstacles
debar	2	To exclude or prohibit; formal and legalistic in tone
disbar	2	To remove from legal practice; specific but genuine
guitar	2	Music, romance, performance — one of the most songwriting-friendly words on this list
handcar	2	A railway maintenance vehicle; nostalgic and old-fashioned
hussar	2	A light cavalry soldier; historical and martial
jaguar	3*	*See note below
memoir	2	Memory and narrative — note: some speakers pronounce the final syllable as -wahr, which rhymes cleanly
Myanmar	3	Country name; works in geopolitical or travel writing
nightjar	2	A nocturnal bird; atmospheric and unusual
railcar	2	Travel, industry, the American landscape
sidebar	2	A secondary point; works in meta or conversational poetry
sidecar	2	A cocktail or motorcycle attachment; vintage imagery
sonar	2	Technology, oceans, detection
streetcar	2	Urban, nostalgic, Southern imagery
tartar	2	Historical or culinary; ends clearly on -tar

*Jaguar has three syllables in most accents: JAG-yoo-ar or JAG-war. In the two-syllable British shortening JAG-wah, it rhymes perfectly. Know your accent and intended audience.

Three-Syllable Rhymes With Are

These end on the -ar sound and open up longer, more flowing lines.

Word	Notes
avatar	Identity, digital culture, mythology
cinnabar	A red mineral pigment; vivid color imagery
handlebar	Concrete; bicycles, mustaches
registrar	Academic and administrative; works in institutional settings
reservoir	Water storage; ends in -wahr in most pronunciations — a clean rhyme in most accents
seminar	Education; reflective or intellectual contexts
superstar	Fame, ambition, pop culture
vinegar	Ends in -ger in most accents — not a rhyme; see Eye Rhymes section

Read also: 180+ Words That Rhyme With Long (With Meanings, Examples)

Near Rhymes With Are (/ɑːr/)

Near rhymes — also called slant rhymes — share most but not all of the target sound. They’re widely used in contemporary songwriting, rap, and modern poetry, where a pure rhyme can sometimes feel too neat or forced.

Words Ending in -arn, -ard, -ark, -art, -arm

These share the -ar vowel but close on a different consonant. They work particularly well in songs and free verse.

-arn endings: barn, yarn, darn, tarn (a mountain lake)

-ard endings: hard, card, yard, guard, barred, scarred, starred, marred, charred, regard, discard, boulevard (3 syllables), avant-garde — these are especially close and are widely accepted near rhymes in contemporary writing

-ark endings: bark, dark, mark, park, spark, stark, lark, arc, remark, embark, landmark, hallmark

-art endings: heart, start, part, art, chart, smart, apart, impart — heart and start are among the most emotionally resonant near rhymes available

-arm endings: arm, farm, charm, harm, alarm, disarm

For songwriters: The -ard and -art groups are the closest-feeling near rhymes to are and are extremely common in pop, country, and folk music. Hard, heart, star, far, scar, start can often be combined in a single verse without the ear noticing much sonic distance at all.

Words That Look Like They Rhyme but Don’t

A few spelling traps worth noting:

Bare, care, dare, fare, hare, rare, share, stare, ware — these all end in -are in spelling, but they rhyme with fair (/ɛːr/), not with are (/ɑːr/). They are a completely different sound. Do not use them as rhymes for are.

Vinegar — ends in -gar in spelling but is pronounced VIN-uh-ger. The final syllable is -ger, not -gar. Not a rhyme.

Dollar, collar, cellar — similarly end in -ar or -er in spelling but are unstressed -er sounds. Not rhymes in most accents.

Rhymes for the Unstressed Are (/ər/)

If you’re writing verse where are appears in its reduced, conversational form — soft and quick, like the -er in butter — your rhyme pool shifts entirely.

Perfect rhymes in this case include: her, stir, fur, blur, sir, were, purr, slur, burr, defer, refer, prefer, occur, concur, transfer, confer.

This is an unusual choice for formal verse, but in spoken word, rap, or highly conversational poetry, it can work precisely because it captures the natural rhythm of speech.

Creative Examples of Rhymes With Are

Using star and far (AABB)

We drove until the city lights grew dim,
and chased the night out past the canyon rim.
The nearest town was farther than a scar —
we stopped the car beneath a single star.

Far, scar, car, and star — all clean one-syllable perfect rhymes. The rhyme scheme is AABB.

---

Using guitar and afar (ABAB)

She played a chord I’d never heard before,
a sound that came from somewhere far away.
I pressed my ear against the wooden door
and heard the ghost of someone’s old guitar.

Here before and door carry the A rhyme (near rhyme in many accents); away and guitar carry the B rhyme. This is ABAB with a slant A rhyme — a structure common in contemporary folk songwriting.

Read also: 230+ Words That Rhyme With Pain: Rhymes for Poems, Songs, Rap & Writing

Choosing the Right Rhymes With Are

For traditional poetry where sonic precision matters: the one-syllable perfect rhymes — bar, car, far, star, scar, jar — are your most reliable tools. They’re common enough not to feel forced, and strong enough to land cleanly at the end of a line.

For songwriting and pop lyrics: guitar is probably the single most useful rhyme in this entire list — it’s two syllables, it names an instrument that already belongs in songs, and it pairs naturally with far, star, scar, and are itself.

For rap and spoken word: the near-rhyme clusters around -ark, -art, and -ard open the sound considerably. Heart, hard, dark, start, mark, spark all carry strong sonic weight and will sit comfortably in a verse alongside are, far, or star.

For children’s verse: car, star, jar, far, bar — short, familiar, easy to hear. These are the right starting point.