# creeper

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈkɹipɚ/ · frequency rank #31,123

## Definitions
1. A person or a thing that crawls or creeps.
2. Any creeping animal (such as a serpent), reptile.
3. A one-piece garment for infants designed to facilitate access to the wearer's diaper.
4. A device which allows a small child to safely roam around a room from a seated or standing position.
5. A metal plate with spikes, designed to be worn with shoes to prevent slipping.
6. A spur-like device strapped to the boot to facilitate climbing.
7. A small low iron, or dog, between the andirons.
8. An instrument with iron hooks or claws for dredging up items from a well or other water.
9. Any device for causing material to move steadily from one part of a machine to another, such as an apron in a carding machine, or an inner spiral in a grain screen.
10. Any plant (as ivy or periwinkle) that grows by creeping, especially a climbing plant of the genus Parthenocissus.
11. A treecreeper.
12. Strophitus undulatus, a freshwater mussel of the eastern United States.
13. A small four-hooked grapnel used to recover objects dropped onto the sea bed.
14. The lowest gear of some tractors or trucks: one with so low a gear ratio that the vehicle creeps along at the speed of a human's slow walk.
15. A low-profile wheeled platform whereupon one may lie on one's back and gain better access to the roof of a space with very low height (such as the underbody of a vehicle), or a low stool similarly wheeled.
16. A person who creeps people out; a creepy person.
17. A kind of shoe, usually with a suede upper and a thick crepe sole, associated with various 20th-century subcultures.
18. A ball that travels low, near ground level.

## Etymology
From Middle English crepere, from Old English crēopere, equivalent to creep + -er. Slang usage derived from phrase give the creeps or creep out (distinct from merely one who creeps).

## Easily confused with
- **creepy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/creeper-vs-creepy)
- **creeps** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/creeper-vs-creeps)
- **creepers** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/creeper-vs-creepers)
- **creep** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/creep-vs-creeper)
- **cheaper** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cheaper-vs-creeper)
- **creeped** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/creeped-vs-creeper)
- **creamer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/creamer-vs-creeper)

## Common misspellings (10)
`ccreeper`, `cereper`, `creeepr`, `creeperr`, `creepper`, `creepre`, `crepeer`, `creper`, `crreeper`, `rceeper`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/creeper