Waive or wave?
waive is a verb meaning “To relinquish (a right etc.); to give up claim to; to forgo”; wave is a verb meaning “To move back and forth repeatedly and somewhat loosely”. They sound the same (/weɪv/). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) wave is about 24 times as common as waive.
What is the difference between waive and wave?
| waive | wave | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | verb, noun | verb, noun, suffix |
| Meaning | To relinquish (a right etc.); to give up claim to; to forgo To relinquish claim on a payment or fee which would otherwise be due | To move back and forth repeatedly and somewhat loosely To move one's hand back and forth (generally above the shoulders) in greeting or departure A moving disturbance in the level of a body of liquid; an undulation |
| Example | If you waive the right to be silent, anything you say can be used against you in a court of law | The flag waved in the gentle breeze |
| Forms | waives, waiving, waived | waves, waving, waved |
| Pronunciation | /weɪv/ /wɛjv/ /wæɪv/ | /weɪv/ /wɛjv/ /wæɪv/ |
| In writing | 1.7 times per million words | 42 times per million words |
Sources: waive and wave in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of waive and wave
waive
- 1
To relinquish (a right etc.); to give up claim to; to forgo
If you waive the right to be silent, anything you say can be used against you in a court of law
- 2
To relinquish claim on a payment or fee which would otherwise be due
- 3
CanadaUSTo release [a player] onto the waiver wire
wave
- 1
To move back and forth repeatedly and somewhat loosely
The flag waved in the gentle breeze
- 2
A moving disturbance in the level of a body of liquid; an undulation
The wave traveled from the center of the lake before breaking on the shore
- 3
To generate a wave
- 4
Abbreviation of microwave
- 5
Alternative form of μwave, abbreviation of microwave
- 6
USA members of the WAVES; a member of the US Naval Reserve (Women's Reserve)
- 7
Applied to various (often very specialised) music genres, subcultures and aesthetics
chill + -wave → chillwave
- 8
To move one's hand back and forth (generally above the shoulders) in greeting or departure
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, waive or wave?
waive appears 1.7 times per million words; wave 42 times per million words.
waive 1.7 times per million wordswave 42 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search waive vs wave?
“waive vs wave” is searched about 1,600 times a month on Google and 70 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“wave vs waive”, “waive or wave”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.