Commonly Confused Words

Waive vs. Wave

1 min read

Waive and wave sound exactly the same, but their meanings couldn’t be more different. One is about giving something up, and the other is about movement or the sea.

Waive

Waive means to give up a right, claim, rule, or requirement. You “waive” something when you decide it won't apply.

The bank agreed to waive the fees.
You can waive your right to a lawyer.
They waived the registration requirement this year.

Wave

Wave has two common meanings: moving your hand back and forth, or the large moving water you see at the beach.

She waved at me from across the street.
The waves were huge during the storm.
He gave a quick wave before leaving.

💡 Tip

Wave = hand movement or ocean → imagine a hand “waving like a wave.”
Waive = to give something up → contains “ai” like in “claim,” which you might choose to waive.

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Question 1 sur 8Score: 0/8

The company agreed to ___ the late payment charge.

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Who vs. Whom

Let’s learn the difference between who and whom in a simple way. Who Who is the person doing the action (the subject of the sentence or question). Who called you last night? (Someone did the calli...

Commonly Confused Words

Waive vs. Wave

1 min read

Waive and wave sound exactly the same, but their meanings couldn’t be more different. One is about giving something up, and the other is about movement or the sea.

Waive

Waive means to give up a right, claim, rule, or requirement. You “waive” something when you decide it won't apply.

The bank agreed to waive the fees.
You can waive your right to a lawyer.
They waived the registration requirement this year.

Wave

Wave has two common meanings: moving your hand back and forth, or the large moving water you see at the beach.

She waved at me from across the street.
The waves were huge during the storm.
He gave a quick wave before leaving.

💡 Tip

Wave = hand movement or ocean → imagine a hand “waving like a wave.”
Waive = to give something up → contains “ai” like in “claim,” which you might choose to waive.

Test your knowledge 📝

Question 1 sur 8Score: 0/8

The company agreed to ___ the late payment charge.

Discover the app: Shaky English

Join 100,000 people who are improving their English skills on the Shaky English app

Other similar rules

Conjugation

What Is an Adverb?

Agreement rules

Passive Voice

Common confusions

Your vs. You're

Your shows that something belongs to you. Your phone is ringing. (The phone belongs to you.) I love your new haircut. Is this your water bottle? You're is the short form of you are. You'...

Agreement rules

Word Order with Adverbs of Frequency (always, never, usually)

Agreement rules

Omission of Auxiliary Verbs in Questions/Negatives (e.g. He not go)

In English, most questions and negative sentences need a small helping word: do, does or did. Many learners forget it. do / does: for the present (things that are true now or happen often) did:...

Common mistakes

Using “will” vs. “going to” for future

Common confusions

Less vs. Fewer

People often mix up less and fewer, but one simple rule helps you get it right. Fewer Fewer is used with countable nouns: things you can count one by one. There were fewer people at the event th...

Common confusions