What is meant by "rime" in phonics?

"Rime" in phonics specifically refers to the vowel sound of a syllable and any consonants that follow it. For instance, in the word "cat," the rime is "at," which comprises the vowel "a" and the subsequent consonant "t." Understanding rime is crucial for teaching reading and spelling, as it helps learners recognize patterns across different words that share the same rime, facilitating phonemic awareness and decoding skills.

The other options do not accurately reflect the definition of rime; they focus on different aspects of phonetics or vocabulary that are unrelated to the concept of rime itself. For instance, consonants within a syllable refer specifically to the onset (the initial consonant sounds) rather than the rime structure, while contextual definitions pertain to semantics rather than phonics. Likewise, a word family usually represents groups of words that share a common feature, such as a phonological pattern, but it does not define rime directly.