Which to use
“wave” and “waved” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,423
- “wave” frequency rank
- #14,250
- “waved” frequency rank
- 16673
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wave | waved |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To move back and forth repeatedly and somewhat loosely. | simple past and past participle of wave |
Where the eye mixes wave and waved
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between wave and waved
A purely visual mix-up. wave (/weɪv/) and waved (/weɪvd/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “wave” sits inside “waved”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16673, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
wave is recorded at frequency rank #2,423, classified as averb, pronounced /weɪv/. waved is at rank #14,250, tagged as averb, pronounced /weɪvd/.
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 16673, this pair ranks #456,266 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of wave vs waved
Shared letters: aevw. Private to "wave": -. Private to "waved": d.
"wave" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "waved" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "wave" and "waved" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "wave" vs "waved" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "wave" and "waved" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "wave" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "waved" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #456,266 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "wave" and "waved" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "waved 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 #456,266 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.