Abstract Understanding long-term, ocean wave climate variability is important to assess climate change impacts on coastal and ocean physics and engineering. Teleconnection patterns can represent wave climate variability in the context of climate change. The objective of this study is to identify how large-scale spatial distributions of wave heights vary on a monthly basis and how they are influenced by various teleconnection patterns using reanalysis datasets. The wave height climate responses to teleconnection patterns in the eastern part of the North Pacific and North Atlantic are more sensible than in the corresponding western parts. The dominant spatial patterns of monthly averaged wave height variability in winter were obtained by empirical orthogonal function analysis. The three dominant patterns in the North Pacific and North Atlantic are similar. It is remarkable that one of the three dominant patterns, a band-shaped pattern, exhibits a strong relation to the teleconnection pattern in each ocean. The band-shaped pattern for the North Pacific was investigated in detail and found to be related to the west Pacific (WP) pattern. Where and how each teleconnection pattern influences wave climate becomes apparent especially during winter.