Which to use
“wade” and “wove” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,409
- “wade” frequency rank
- #49,728
- “wove” frequency rank
- 57137
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wade | wove |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To walk through water or something that impedes progress. | simple past of weave |
Where the eye mixes wade and wove
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. wade and wove follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between wade and wove
A purely visual mix-up. wade (/weɪd/) and wove (/wəʊv/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57137, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
wade is recorded at frequency rank #7,409, classified as averb, pronounced /weɪd/. wove is at rank #49,728, tagged as averb, pronounced /wəʊv/.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 57137, this pair ranks #121,367 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of wade vs wove
Shared letters: ew. Private to "wade": ad. Private to "wove": ov.
"wade" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "wove" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "wade" and "wove" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "wade" or "wove" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "wade" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "wove" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #121,367 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "wade" and "wove" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wile vs wove". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #121,367 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.