WAVvswoveWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: WAV is a noun, wove is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“WAV” is a noun and “wove” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#40,967
“WAV” frequency rank
#49,728
“wove” frequency rank
90695
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature WAV wove
Definition Initialism of wheelchair accessible vehicle. simple past of weave

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set WAV and wove apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
WAV
4 ch
wove

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: WAV is /wæv/ while wove is /wəʊv/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 90695, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

WAV is recorded at frequency rank #40,967, classified as anoun, pronounced /wæv/. 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 90695, this pair ranks #3,955 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of WAV vs wove

Shared letters: vw. Private to "WAV": a. Private to "wove": eo.

"WAV" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "wove" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • woveowve · woev · wovve · wvoe · wwove

Frequency comparison

WAV#40,967
wove#49,728

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "WAV" and "wove" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "WAV" is a noun and "wove" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "WAV" or "wove"?
"WAV" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #40,967 in our English list, against #49,728 for "wove". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering WAV vs wove

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “WAV”; for a verb, it's “wove”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “WAV” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list