waver
/ˈweɪvə/
"waver" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“waver” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #39,643 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #39,643
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To swing or wave, especially in the air, wind, etc.; to flutter.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | waver |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈweɪvə/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #39,643 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “waver” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for waver is 5 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈweɪvə/. Corpus data places it at rank #39,643 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 12 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for waver, with forms such as "awver", "waevr", and "waverr". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "wer", "wavy", "wove", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: The verb is derived from Middle English waveren (“to move back and forth, swing; to move unsteadily, totter; to shake, tremble; to wander; (figurative) to be changeable or unstable; to deviate”), and then possibly: * from Old English (compare Old English wǣ… The correct English form is waver, spelled W-A-V-E-R.
Definition
- 1To swing or wave, especially in the air, wind, etc.; to flutter.
- 2To move without purpose or a specified destination; to roam, to wander.
- 3To sway back and forth, as if about to fall; to reel, to stagger, to totter.
- 4To begin to weaken or show signs of weakening in resolve; to falter, to flinch, to give way.
- 5To feel or show doubt or indecision; to be indecisive between choices; to vacillate.
- 6Of a body part such as an eye or hand, or the voice: to become unsteady; to shake, to tremble.
- 7Of light, shadow, or a partly obscured thing: to flicker, to glimmer, to quiver.
- 8Chiefly of a quality or thing: to change, to fluctuate, to vary.
- 9Followed by from: to deviate from a course; to stray, to wander.
- 10Of the wits: to become confused or unsteady; to reel.
- 11To cause (someone or something) to move back and forth.
- 12To cause (someone) to begin to or show signs of weakening in resolve; also (rare), to weaken in resolve due to (something).
Etymology
The verb is derived from Middle English waveren (“to move back and forth, swing; to move unsteadily, totter; to shake, tremble; to wander; (figurative) to be changeable or unstable; to deviate”), and then possibly: * from Old English (compare Old English wǣfre (“flickering, quivering, wavering; active, nimble (?)”)), related to Old English wafian (“to wave”) from Proto-West Germanic *wabbjan (“to cause to weave; to entangle; to wrap”), from Proto-Germanic *wabjaną (“to cause to weave; to entangle; to wrap”); and/or * from Old Norse vafra (“to move unsteadily, flicker”), probably related to vefa (“to weave”); both from Proto-Germanic *webaną (“to weave”), from Proto-Indo-European *webʰ- (“to braid, weave”). Doublet of wave. The noun is derived from the verb.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: awver,waevr,waverr,wavre,wavver,wvaer,wwaver
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of waver - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "waver"?
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Using “waver”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is W-A-V-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈweɪvə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “wer” - see the side-by-side comparison. waver vs wer
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.