To investigate the effects of different irrigation regimes for winter wheat during the rotation period on the water use efficiency (WUE) of rainfed summer maize in the Heilonggang River Basin of the North China Plain, five irrigation regimes were established during the winter wheat growing season: with no irrigation (IS0), irrigation at the jointing stage (IS1), irrigation at jointing and flowering stages (IS2), irrigation at erecting, flowering, and grain filling stages (IS3), and irrigation at erecting, jointing, flowering, and grain filling stages (IS4). The study analyzed the impacts of these irrigation regimes on soil water dynamics, effective rainfall utilization, water consumption characteristics, yield, and WUE of subsequent summer maize. A comprehensive evaluation was conducted using the TOPSIS-entropy weight method based on four indicators: water consumption, rainfall utilization efficiency, yield, and WUE. The results show that soil water content during the summer maize season was lowest in the 0-30.cm layer, highest in the 30-60.cm layer, and relatively low in the 60-100.cm layer. Rainfall utilization efficiency during the summer maize growing season decreased with increasing winter wheat irrigation frequency. IS0 had the highest rainfall utilization efficiency of 54.31%, while IS1, IS2, IS3, and IS4 showed decreases of 7.81%, 24.98%, 27.49%, and 28.32%, respectively, compared to IS0. Total water consumption during the summer maize season increased with winter wheat irrigation frequency, with IS1, IS2, IS3, and IS4 increasing by 5.98%, 7.23%, 14.35%, and 20.77%, respectively, compared to IS0. Except for IS2, summer maize grain yield generally increased with winter wheat irrigation frequency, whereas WUE decreased. IS2 achieved the highest grain yield (17 593.87.kg/hm²) and WUE (3.43.kg/m³). IS2 had the highest relative closeness (approximately 0.60), making it the optimal irrigation regime. In conclusion, irrigating winter wheat twice during the jointing and flowering stages (IS2, with total irrigation of 150 mm) can ensure high summer maize yield while conserving water and effectively utilizing rainfall resources, thereby improving overall WUE during the crop rotation.