wave
/weɪv/verb, noun
wave is spelled W-A-V-E: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 42 times per million words in written English, the 2,392nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “waive vs wave” about 1,600 times a month (Google, United States). As a verb, wave means “To move back and forth repeatedly and somewhat loosely” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in wave?
| Letters | 4: W-A-V-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 42 times per million words; the 2,392nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is wave?
Wave appears 42 times per million words in written English, the 2,392nd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce wave?
- US /weɪv/
- British /wɛjv/
- Australia /wæɪv/
Wave has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_(NaomiAmethyst)-wave.wav, En-us-wave.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with wave
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: waive (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Also written: waive.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with wave?
8 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as wave from its last stressed vowel (/eɪv/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of wave
- waves present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- waving participle, present
- waved participle, past
- μwaves plural
- μ-wave
- uwave
- μ-waves plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does wave mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To move back and forth repeatedly and somewhat loosely.
The flag waved in the gentle breeze.
- 2
To move one's hand back and forth (generally above the shoulders) in greeting or departure.
- 3
To call attention to, or give a direction or command to, by a waving motion, as of the hand; to signify by waving; to beckon; to signal; to indicate.
I waved goodbye from across the room.
- 4
To have an undulating or wavy form.
- 5
To raise into inequalities of surface; to give an undulating form or surface to.
- 6
To style (the hair) so as to produce a wavy texture.
- 7
To swing and miss at a pitch.
Jones waves at strike one.
- 8
To cause to move back and forth repeatedly.
The starter waved the flag to begin the race.
- 9
To generate a wave.
noun
- 1
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.
- 2
The ocean.
- 3
A moving disturbance in the energy level of a field.
Gravity waves, while predicted by theory for decades, have been notoriously difficult to detect.
- 4
A shape that alternatingly curves in opposite directions.
Her hair had a nice wave to it.
- 5
Any of a number of species of moths in the geometrid subfamily Sterrhinae, which have wavy markings on the wings.
- 6
A loose back-and-forth movement, as of the hands.
He dismissed her with a wave of the hand.
- 7
A sudden, but temporary, uptick in something.
A wave of shoppers stampeded through the door when the store opened for its Christmas discount special.
- 8
Any of a series of orders to be fulfilled in one short interval of time, planned as part of wave picking.
noun
- 1
USA members of the WAVES; a member of the US Naval Reserve (Women's Reserve).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Wave in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | flotter , saluer , onduler , agiter, brandir , vague |
| German | wedeln, schwenken, flattern, wogen , winken , wellen |
| Portuguese | ondular , acenar , agitar , onda, vaga , ondear |
| Spanish | ondular, olear, ondear , saludar con la mano abierta, holear , onda |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does wave come from?
From Middle English waven, from Old English wafian (“to wave, fluctuate, waver in mind, wonder”), from Proto-West Germanic *wabōn, from Proto-Germanic *wabōną, *wabjaną (“to wander, sway”), from Proto-Indo-European *webʰ- (“to move to and from, wander”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).