Exposure is defined as the total effect of waves on lakeshore vegetation. Waves may affect shoreline plants directly (e.g., by uprooting seedlings) or indirectly (e.g., by eroding fine sediments). Exposure may be an important ecological factor affecting the within-lake distribution of shoreline plants. The object of this study was to develop a method for identifying exposure gradients, using wind data and fetch measurements. Fetch was either (1) measured directly from aerial photographs for 16 compass bearings (“direct fetch”) or (2) calculated from 32 compass bearings to compensate for the shape of the lake basin (“effective fetch”). Wind data were either (1) mean wind velocity multiplied by directional percent frequency or (2) exceedance by direction. Four time periods (1) May, (2) growing season, (3) ice-free season and (4) entire year, were considered. This yielded 2 × 2 × 4 = 16 measures of exposure. Twenty-five points on a 600 m section of shoreline on Axe Lake, Ontario, Canada were sampled for sediment characteristics (proportion silt and clay; sand sorting coefficient) and shoreline plants (depth ranges occuopied by six selected species). Exposure values then were calculated for all 25 points using the 16 different methods of calculation. Spearman rank correlation coefficients were used to determine the correlation between calculated exposure values, sediment characteristics and species distributions. The sand sorting coefficient, Eriocaulon septangulare With., Nymphoides cordata (Ell.) Fern. and Utricularia cornuta Michx. were positively correlated with all measures of exposure. Proportion silt and clay, Brasenia schreberi Gmel., Dulichium arundinaceum (L.) Britt. and Pontederia cordata L. were negatively correlated with all measures of exposure. Calculations based on direct fetch yielded the strongest correlations. When effective fetch was used, measurements based on annual or May exceedance by direction values yielded the best results. It is concluded that calculated measures of exposure provided a biologically meaningful way to rank areas of shoreline along an exposure gradient.