English homophones
waist/waste
"waste" (#1,652 written frequency) beats "waist" (#7,635) in this 2-word /weɪst/ cluster. Size rank #133 of 1,007 English groups.
Data vintage
Frequency splits the cluster
These 2 spellings keep the same /weɪst/ reading, but written frequency splits them hard: "waste" leads at #1,652, with "waist" trailing at #7,635.
Spelling pairs in this cluster
- Shared stem "wa" then splits - "waist" (5 letters) vs "waste" (5).
Orthographic DNA of this cluster
Shared letters across waist, waste: astw. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.
waist
5 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVVCC
Inventory aistw · private i
waste
5 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVCCV
Inventory aestw · private e
Pick the spelling from the meaning
- Write "waist" when you mean: The part of the body between the pelvis and the stomach.
- Write "waste" when you mean: Excess of material, useless by-products, or damaged, unsaleable products; garbage; rubbish.
Known mistypes of these spellings
Edit-distance variants recorded against this cluster: useful when a search or OCR feed lands on the wrong form.
Each spelling
Nearby English homophone groups
What to do next
You've reviewed the 2-spelling cluster (waist, waste). Here's where to go from here.
- "waste" is the most frequent headword in this 2-spelling cluster (rank #1,652 in English). Full entry
- Among English homophone groups, a cluster of 2 spellings ranks #133 by size (1,007 groups in this vintage). Corpus statistics
- Explore a nearby 2-spelling cluster: Wickham · Wycombe. Nearby cluster
- Each spelling in "waist, waste" has its own headword page with definition, IPA, and misspelling variants. First entry
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.