read
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
4 characters
Language
English
word origin
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "read", 4-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "read" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "read" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
read is aEnglishverb. It means: To look at and interpret letters or other information that is written. Pronounced /ɹiːd/. It ranks #266 in English word frequency. Often confused with red and rid.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | read |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ɹiːd/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #266 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for read is 4 letters long, classified as averb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ɹiːd/. Corpus data places it at rank #266 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.Wiktionary records 18 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 5 documented wrong-spelling variants for read, with forms such as "erad", "raed", and "readd". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "red", "rid", "rep", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English reden, from Old English rǣdan (“to counsel, advise, consult; interpret, read”), from Proto-West Germanic *rādan, from Proto-Germanic *rēdaną (“advise, counsel”), from Proto-Indo-European *Hreh₁dʰ- (“to arrange”). Cognate with Scots rede,… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is read, spelled R-E-A-D, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1To look at and interpret letters or other information that is written.
- 2To look at and interpret letters or other information that is written.
- 3To look at and interpret letters or other information that is written.
- 4To speak aloud words or other information that is written. (often construed with a to phrase or an indirect object)
- 5To interpret, or infer a meaning, significance, thought, intention, etc., from.
- 6To consist of certain text.
- 7To substitute a corrected piece of text in place of an erroneous one; used to introduce an emendation of a text.
- 8To substitute a corrected piece of text in place of an erroneous one; used to introduce an emendation of a text.
- 9To be able to hear what another person is saying over a radio connection.
- 10To observe and comprehend (a displayed signal).
- 11To study (a subject) at a high level, especially at university.
- 12To fetch data from (a storage medium, etc.).
- 13To recognise (someone) as being transgender.
- 14To call attention to the flaws of (someone) in a playful, taunting, or insulting way.
- 15To imagine sequences of potential moves and responses without actually placing stones.
- 16To think, believe; to consider (that).
- 17To advise; to counsel. See rede.
- 18To tell; to declare; to recite.
Etymology
From Middle English reden, from Old English rǣdan (“to counsel, advise, consult; interpret, read”), from Proto-West Germanic *rādan, from Proto-Germanic *rēdaną (“advise, counsel”), from Proto-Indo-European *Hreh₁dʰ- (“to arrange”). Cognate with Scots rede, red (“to advise, counsel, decipher, read”), Saterland Frisian räide (“to advise, counsel”), West Frisian riede (“to advise, counsel”), Dutch raden (“to advise; guess”), German raten (“to advise; guess”), Danish råde (“to advise”), Swedish råda (“to advise, counsel”), Persian رده (rade, “to order, to arrange, class”). In West Germanic the verb had a sense “interpret”, which developed further into “interpret letters” in English and “interpret by intuition, guess” on the continent. Compare rede.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: erad,raed,readd,reda,rread
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for read
Misspelling Variants of "read"
Frequency rank: #266 in English
Frequently Asked Questions
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter R in our English index: