Woke Up or Waked Up or Woken Up? (Helpful Examples)

The past tense of “wake up” can be a subject of confusion for many. The word “wake” has two different past tense forms: “woke” and “woken”. Whilst two different forms exist, it is simple to separate the two. Reading this article should make solving the different meanings easy.

Woke Up or Waked Up or Woken Up: Which is Correct?

Both “woke up” and “woken up” are correct forms of “wake up”, taking into account the sentence context. “Woke up” is the simple past tense of the verb “to wake”, whilst “woken up” is used in the past perfect or present perfect tense. “Waked up” is incorrect to use.

• He woke up in a bad mood because it was Monday morning.
• She was surprised to have woken up later than she planned.

When is “Woke Up” Correct?

“Woke up” is the simple past tense form of “wake”. When someone or something wakes up in the past, or when someone has finished sleeping and has awoken, it is advised to use “woke” to describe this action of waking.

Furthermore, “woke” is a standalone verb. This means that the word “woke” can occur after a noun, pronoun, or adverb in a sentence. It does not need to be placed next to an auxiliary verb; the sentence can make sense without one.

Example Sentences Using “Woke Up”

Here are some examples to show you how to use “woke up” in your own sentences:

• She woke up crying after a scary nightmare.
• After drinking a bottle of wine the night before, Sarah woke up with a terrible headache.
• I woke up after ten hours of sleep, but still felt rather tired.
• She has slept with the television on and woke up to the loud conversation of the television presenters.
• Tim woke up early at 5 am to drive his mother to the airport.
• She woke up later than planned for the annual meeting and felt very stressed.
• I don’t know why, but one day I woke up and felt like I was no longer in love with her.
• She walked quietly into the room in case she woke up her father, who was sleeping in the armchair.
• She woke up to the sound of torrential rain and thunder outside; the storm had arrived.
• John woke up, but it was only 7 am, so he decided to sleep in for another hour.

When is “Waked Up” Correct?

It is not correct to use the words “waked up” in a sentence, because the sentence would not make sense.

The words “wake up” can be used in a sentence instead, when describing a present or future happening.

This rule can be confusing. To help you remember it, note the following example:

• Correct: I woke up too late for breakfast.
• Incorrect: I waked up too late for breakfast.

In simply reading these sentences, it is clear that the words are jarring and do not make sense. “I waked up too late for breakfast” just does not sound right.

Example Sentences Using “Waked Up”

Considering this subject, there are four verbs to use to describe becoming awake after sleeping: to wake, to awake, to awaken, and to wake up.

As explained, “waked up” should not be used in a sentence. “Woken up” or “woke up” are the correct forms of the past tense to use. However, “wake up” and “wake” are often used in sentences to describe the present and future happenings.

To help you to understand this rule, here are more examples of correct and incorrect sentences. This way you will fully grasp that “waked up” is incorrect to use in a sentence.

• Correct: The doctor says he has woken up from a coma.
• Incorrect: The doctor says he has waked up from a coma.

• Correct: He had woken up with a headache every day for the past week.
• Incorrect: He had waked up with a headache every day for the past week.

• Correct: Her boyfriend had woken up and forgotten to text her for the third day in a row.
• Incorrect: Her boyfriend had waked up and forgotten to text her for the third day in a row.

When is “Woken Up” Correct?

“Woken up” is the past perfect or present perfect form of the verb “to wake”. Unlike the simple past tense form of a verb, “woke up”, the words “woken up” cannot be used alone in a sentence and need to be used in combination with an auxiliary verb such as “have” or “had” to create a compound verb.

The perfect form is used in a sentence when describing an action that is connected to a previous time. To explain further:

• Past perfect: Had woken up
• Present perfect: Has/have woken up
• Future perfect: Will have woken up
• Conditional perfect: Would have woken up

Example Sentences Using “Woken Up”

Here are some examples to show you how to use “woken up” in your own sentences:

• The children have woken up earlier than expected and their parents are still sleeping.
• Your cat may dislike it and react by hissing if woken up.
• He fell asleep at 8 pm on Thursday evening and has not yet woken up.
• She had woken up to the sound of shouting and got out of bed to look out of the window.
• Her hair was ruffled, and her eye makeup was smudged, indicating that she had only just woken up.
• I was annoyed because I was woken up earlier than I would have liked.
• She thought he had woken up hours ago but was disappointed to find him still sleeping in bed.
• I can’t come to work today because I have woken up with a terrible headache.
• He had woken up feeling sick again and was unsure what medicine to try next.
• The dogs had woken up hours earlier and Tom had taken them outside to exercise.

“Have Woke Up” vs. “Have Waked Up” vs. “Have Woken Up”

“Have woke up” is an example of the perfect present tense. It is also important to consider the phrases “have waked up” and “have woken up”.

This article has already established that the phrase “have waked up” does not make sense in any sentence, so is therefore incorrect to use in a sentence. Avoid using this phrase.

It is, however, acceptable to use “wake up” when describing a present or future action in a sentence.

The phrases “have woke up” and “have woken up” are correct. This should only apply when using plural; more than one person or thing have woken up.

Note that the word “have” has three forms:

• Simple Present: Have or has
• Simple Past: Had
• Past Participle: Had

Remember that, like “wake”, the word “have” is an irregular verb and cannot use “-ed” to shift into the tense. They do not change at all, or the form is altered. In the same way as “have waked up” is incorrect, “has waked” or “had waked” are also incorrect

Final Thoughts

“Woke up” and “woken up” are correct past tense forms of the word “wake”. Whilst “woke up” is the simple past tense form and is a standalone verb, “woken up” is the past perfect or present tense perfect form and should be used with an auxiliary verb such as “have” or “was”.

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