Which to use
“waved” and “weave” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #14,250
- “waved” frequency rank
- #14,455
- “weave” frequency rank
- 28705
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | waved | weave |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of wave | To form something by passing lengths or strands of material over and under one another. |
Where the eye mixes waved and weave
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between waved and weave
A purely visual mix-up. waved (/weɪvd/) and weave (/wiːv/) 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 4 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28705, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
waved is recorded at frequency rank #14,250, classified as averb, pronounced /weɪvd/. weave is at rank #14,455, tagged as averb, pronounced /wiːv/.
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 28705, this pair ranks #368,979 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of waved vs weave
Shared letters: aevw. Private to "waved": d. Private to "weave": -.
"waved" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "weave" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "waved" and "weave" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "waved" vs "weave" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "waved" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "weave" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #368,979 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "waved" and "weave" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "weave 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 #368,979 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.