Which to use
“waite” is a verb and “waiter” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #30,281
- “waite” frequency rank
- #12,886
- “waiter” frequency rank
- 43167
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | waite | waiter |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Archaic spelling of wait. | A male or female attendant who serves customers at their tables in a restaurant, café or similar. |
Letter map: waite vs waiter
Shared letters muted; letters that set waite and waiter apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. waite runs 5 letters (CVVCV) against waiter's 6 (CVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Part-of-speech tell for waite / waiter
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: waite is averb and waiteranoun. On the page they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “waite” sits inside “waiter”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43167, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
waite is recorded at frequency rank #30,281, classified as averb. waiter is at rank #12,886, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈweɪtə/.
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 43167, this pair ranks #242,585 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of waite vs waiter
Shared letters: aeitw. Private to "waite": -. Private to "waiter": r.
"waite" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "waiter" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "waite" for "waiter" ever safe?
Which is more common, "waite" or "waiter"?
After this comparison
You've compared "waite" and "waiter". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "waite" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "waiter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #242,585 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "waite" and "waiter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "waifu vs waite". 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 #242,585 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.