See it in language
Examples of Assonance
The slow boat rolled home.
Instructional example
Bright kites climbed the silent sky.
Instructional example
The long i sound recurs across bright, kites, climbed, silent, and sky.
Cool blue moonlight pooled in the room.
Instructional example
The repeated oo sound creates a sustained sonic pattern across the sentence.
Show more examples
"The light of the fire is a sight"
— In this sentence, the repetition of the long "i" sound in "light," "fire," and "sight" creates assonance.
"Men sell the wedding bells"
— In this sentence, the repetition of the short "e" sound in "men," "sell," and "wedding" creates assonance.
"The cat in the hat sat on the mat"
— In this sentence, the repetition of the short "a" sound in "cat," "hat," and "mat" creates assonance.
"I rose and told him of my woe"
— In this sentence, the repetition of the long "o" sound in "rose," "told," and "woe" creates assonance.
"Try to light the fire"
— In this sentence, the repetition of the long "i" sound in "try," "light," and "fire" creates assonance.
Read like an editor
How to recognize it
- Read the passage aloud and isolate recurring vowel sounds, not vowel letters.
- Check that the matching sound occurs across nearby words strongly enough to form a pattern.
- Separate repeated vowels from repeated consonants and repeated initial sounds.
Meaning and effect
Why writers use Assonance
- Build rhythm
- Repeated vowel qualities can reinforce the movement of a phrase or line.
- Improve memorability
- A coherent sound pattern makes phrasing more distinctive and easier to recall.
- Organize sound
- Recurring vowels connect words into an audible pattern.
Common confusion
Assonance vs. Consonance
Both repeat speech sounds, but assonance patterns vowels and consonance patterns consonants.
Assonance
Assonance repeats vowel sounds.
“The slow boat rolled home.”
Questions readers ask
Frequently asked questions
Can assonance occur when words are spelled differently?
Yes. Assonance depends on pronunciation, so differently spelled words may share the same vowel sound.
How is assonance different from consonance?
Assonance repeats vowel sounds; consonance repeats consonant sounds, often within or at the ends of nearby words.