# river

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈɹɪvɚ/ · frequency rank #1,001

## Definitions
1. A large and often winding stream which drains a land mass, carrying water down from higher areas to a lower point, oftentimes ending in another body of water, such as an ocean or in an inland sea.
2. Any large flow of a liquid in a single body.
3. The last card dealt in a hand.
4. A visually undesirable effect of white space running down a page, caused by spaces between words on consecutive lines happening to coincide.

## Etymology
From Middle English ryver, from Anglo-Norman rivere, from Early Medieval Latin rīpāria (“littoral, riverbank”), from Latin rīpārius (“of a riverbank”), from Latin rīpa (“river bank”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁reyp- (“to scratch, tear, cut”). Unrelated to Latin rīvus (“stream”) (whence rival, derive). Doublet of riviera and rivière. Displaced native Old English ēa.

## Easily confused with
- **rove** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/river-vs-rove)
- **roger** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/river-vs-roger)
- **ruler** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/river-vs-ruler)
- **rover** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/river-vs-rover)
- **ryder** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/river-vs-ryder)
- **rower** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/river-vs-rower)
- **roper** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/river-vs-roper)
- **rivet** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/river-vs-rivet)
- **rivers** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/river-vs-rivers)
- **Rivera** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/river-vs-rivera)
- **riviera** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/river-vs-riviera)
- **ride** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ride-vs-river)
- **rise** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/rise-vs-river)
- **rice** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/rice-vs-river)
- **ripe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ripe-vs-river)
- **rite** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/rite-vs-river)
- **rave** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/rave-vs-river)
- **rife** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/rife-vs-river)
- **Riva** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/riva-vs-river)
- **refer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/refer-vs-river)

## Common misspellings (7)
`irver`, `rievr`, `riverr`, `rivre`, `rivver`, `rriver`, `rvier`

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