misreadings

Misreadings are incorrect interpretations of written text or symbols that arise during reading or visual processing. They occur when a reader substitutes or misinterprets letters, words, numbers, or punctuation, or assigns an unintended meaning to what is printed. Misreadings can arise in everyday reading, academic work, or data interpretation and may affect comprehension, communication, or quantitative accuracy.

Types of misreadings include orthographic misreadings, where similar-looking letters or letter sequences lead to a wrong word (for example, reading “desert” instead of “dessert”); semantic or interpretive misreadings, where ambiguity or context leads to an incorrect understanding of a sentence; and numeracy misreadings, where digits or symbols are mistaken (such as misreading 5 as S or 0 as O). Misreadings can also involve perceptual factors, such as fatigue, poor typography, or visual impairment, which increase the likelihood of errors during fast or scanning reading.

Causes include cognitive load, limited reading proficiency, dyslexia or other reading disorders, fatigue, distractions, and suboptimal typography or lighting. The reliability of printed or digital text can also influence misreadings, especially when fonts have low letter distinctiveness or when spacing is tight.

Implications include reduced comprehension, communication errors, and safety risks in contexts like education, professional settings, or labeling of medications and instructions. Mitigation strategies involve slower, deliberate reading, proofreading and verification, improving typography and contrast, and using digital tools to flag potential ambiguities or numbers for double-checking.

See also: misinterpretation, misperception, reading disorders, typography, proofreading.