‘Waiver’ and ‘waver’

Waiver and waver are homophones, but they mean very different things. I often find that waiver is used when the writer actually means waver – I presume the mistake is made because the writer has the ay sound in mind.

Waiver

  • the act or an instance of giving up a claim or right
  • a document recording the giving up of a claim or right

Waver

  • to hesitate between possibilities; to be indecisive
  • to swing from one thing to another
  • to become unsteady; to falter; to become weaker
  • to move back and forth or one way and another; to quiver or flicker

My tip: try to associate waiver with the giving up of a claim. It should be fairly easy to remember that waver is the spelling for everything else.

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