weave

/wiːv/

//wiːv// verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"weave" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“weave” has 6 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #14,455. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#14,455
frequency rank, English
1,759
“W” headwords
6
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To form something by passing lengths or strands of material over and under one another.

Corpus desk

Index EN-weave · weave · English

weave · rank #14,455 · 6 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #14,455
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 6 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,759
  • PHOTO-FINISH watershed

Nearest frequency peer: watershed (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “weave”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “weave” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

weave vs wee
60% similar
weave vs were
60% similar
weave vs wove
60% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for weave
PropertyValue
Headwordweave
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
IPA/wiːv/
Letters5
Frequency rank#14,455
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “weave”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).weavelands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “watershed” (#14,454), “Wilkinson” (#14,456), “Walton” (#14,453). Among 1,759 “W” headwords, “weave” is #14,455. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 6 spelling variants around weave (IPA /wiːv/), averb. Corpus frequency is #14,455 among 1,759 “W” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for weave, with forms such as "ewave", "waeve", and "weaev". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "wee", "were", "wove", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English weven (“to weave”), from Old English wefan (“to weave”), from Proto-West Germanic *weban, from Proto-Germanic *webaną, from Proto-Indo-European *webʰ- (“to weave, braid”). Cognates Cognate with North Frisian weev, weew, weewe (“to weave”… The correct English form is weave, spelled W-E-A-V-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    To form something by passing lengths or strands of material over and under one another.
  2. 2
    To spin a cocoon or a web.
  3. 3
    To unite by close connection or intermixture.
  4. 4
    To compose creatively and intricately; to fabricate.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how weave appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. This loom weaves yarn into sweaters.
  2. Spiders weave beautiful but deadly webs.

Etymology

From Middle English weven (“to weave”), from Old English wefan (“to weave”), from Proto-West Germanic *weban, from Proto-Germanic *webaną, from Proto-Indo-European *webʰ- (“to weave, braid”). Cognates Cognate with North Frisian weev, weew, weewe (“to weave”), Saterland Frisian weeuwe (“to weave”), Dutch weven (“to weave”), German weben (“to weave”), Luxembourgish wiewen (“to weave”), Yiddish וועבן (vebn, “to weave”), Danish væve (“to weave”), Faroese veva (“to weave”), Icelandic vefa (“to weave”), Norwegian Bokmål veve (“to weave”), Norwegian Nynorsk veva, veve (“to weave”), Swedish väva (“to weave”).

This word in other languages

tejer(Español)tisser(Français)weben(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ewave
  • waeve
  • weaev
  • weavve
  • wevae
  • wweave

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of weave - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

ewave2waeve2weaev2weavve1wevae2wweave1
Edit distance from "weave"

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 "weave"?
"weave" is spelled W-E-A-V-E. The IPA pronunciation is /wiːv/.
What does "weave" mean?
As a verb, "weave" means: To form something by passing lengths or strands of material over and under one another.
What words are commonly confused with "weave"?
"weave" is commonly confused with "wee", "were", "wove". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "weave"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "weave" is /wiːv/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "weave"?
From Middle English weven (“to weave”), from Old English wefan (“to weave”), from Proto-West Germanic *weban, from Proto-Germanic *webaną, from Proto-Indo-European *webʰ- (“to weave, braid”). Cognates Cognate with North Frisian weev, weew, weewe (... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "weave", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Alexa#14,460vomit#14,450arent#14,465Baden#14,470

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).

tidy6 variantsCaleb6 variantscomb6 variantscurl6 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list