# reader

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈɹidɚ/ · frequency rank #4,043

## Definitions
1. A person who reads.
2. A person who reads a publication.
3. A person who recites literary works, usually to an audience.
4. A proofreader.
5. A person employed by a publisher to read works submitted for publication and determine their merits.
6. A position attached to aristocracy, or to the wealthy, with the task of reading aloud, often in a foreign language.
7. A university lecturer ranking below a professor.
8. Any device that reads something.
9. A book of exercises to accompany a textbook.
10. An elementary textbook for those learning to read, especially for foreign languages.
11. A literary anthology.
12. A lay or minor cleric who reads lessons in a church service.
13. A newspaper advertisement designed to look like a news article rather than a commercial solicitation.
14. Reading glasses.
15. Marked playing cards used by cheaters.
16. A wallet or pocketbook.
17. At Eton College, a lesson for which pupils are sent back to their separate school houses.

## Etymology
From Middle English reder, redar, redere, redare, from Old English rēdere, rǣdere (“a reader; scholar; diviner”), from Proto-West Germanic *rādāri, equivalent to read + -er. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Räider (“advisor”), Dutch rader (“advisor”), German Rater (“advisor”).

## Easily confused with
- **rear** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/reader-vs-rear)
- **ready** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/reader-vs-ready)
- **refer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/reader-vs-refer)
- **reads** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/reader-vs-reads)
- **rider** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/reader-vs-rider)
- **ryder** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/reader-vs-ryder)
- **render** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/reader-vs-render)
- **reaper** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/reader-vs-reaper)
- **rudder** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/reader-vs-rudder)
- **reared** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/reader-vs-reared)
- **remade** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/reader-vs-remade)
- **Reiner** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/reader-vs-reiner)
- **renter** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/reader-vs-renter)
- **reefer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/reader-vs-reefer)
- **readers** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/reader-vs-readers)
- **readied** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/reader-vs-readied)
- **read** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/read-vs-reader)
- **radar** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/radar-vs-reader)
- **racer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/racer-vs-reader)
- **rarer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/rarer-vs-reader)

## Common misspellings (8)
`erader`, `raeder`, `readder`, `readerr`, `readre`, `reaedr`, `redaer`, `rreader`

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