reaper
/ˈɹiːpɚ/
"reaper" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“reaper” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #19,677 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #19,677
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - One who reaps; a person employed to harvest crops from the fields by reaping.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | reaper |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɹiːpɚ/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #19,677 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “reaper” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for reaper is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈɹiːpɚ/. Corpus data places it at rank #19,677 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for reaper, with forms such as "eraper", "raeper", and "reaepr". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "rear", "refer", "repel", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English reper, repare, repere, *riper (the last, attested only in surnames Ryper, Riper, etc.), from Old English rīpere (“reaper”), equivalent to reap + -er. The correct English form is reaper, spelled R-E-A-P-E-R.
Definition
- 1One who reaps; a person employed to harvest crops from the fields by reaping.
- 2A machine used to harvest crops.
- 3Ellipsis of Grim Reaper.
- 4A recluse spider (Loxosceles and Sicarius spp.).
Etymology
From Middle English reper, repare, repere, *riper (the last, attested only in surnames Ryper, Riper, etc.), from Old English rīpere (“reaper”), equivalent to reap + -er.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: eraper,raeper,reaepr,reaperr,reapper,reapre,repaer,rreaper
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of reaper - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “reaper”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is R-E-A-P-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈɹiːpɚ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “rear” - see the side-by-side comparison. reaper vs rear
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.