Haploids of three cultivars of <i>Triticum aestivum</i> (Thatcher, Chris, and Chinese Spring) were obtained from crosses with <i>Zea mays</i>. The level of chromosome pairing at metaphase I and the synaptic behaviour at prophase I was studied. There were differences in the meiotic behaviour of the haploids from different cultivars. Thatcher and Chris haploids had significantly higher levels of pairing at metaphase I than Chinese Spring haploids. This metaphase I pairing was correlated with higher levels of synapsis achieved in the Thatcher and Chris prophase I nuclei than in the Chinese Spring nuclei. Variation in the effectiveness of the diploidizing mechanism among cultivars of wheat is proposed to have a genetic origin and the role of the <i>Ph1</i> locus in the different haploids is discussed.