A reader for non-native readers. Open real books and blogs, tap the words you don't know, and review them at the right time — until they're yours.
A real essay, live in the reader · works in your browser · free during beta
57,000+
learner dictionary entries, built in
4 levels
Hard · Okay · Easy · Known — one tap each
FSRS
the scheduling science behind Anki
1 click
from a blog’s RSS feed to study material
No word lists to import, no decks to build. Your vocabulary grows as a side effect of reading things you actually care about.
Bring an EPUB or subscribe to a blog. A clean, paper-like reader with none of the clutter.
Hover for meaning and pronunciation, then rate how well you know it: Hard, Okay, Easy, or Known.
Words come back as flashcards right before you’d forget them, in the sentences you found them in.
As you mark words, read a lot measures how much of a text you understand without help and estimates your CEFR level — so you always know whether a text is in your learning zone, too easy, or a stretch.
Try it in the demo: read a few paragraphs, mark a few words, and get your first snapshot in about two minutes.
Every marked word becomes a card carrying the exact sentence you found it in — context makes recall dramatically easier. Cards are scheduled with FSRS, the modern spaced-repetition algorithm, so you review each word right before you'd forget it, not on someone else's calendar.
Mark a word once and it carries your level in every book and article you ever open — not per-book lists that reset every time.
Subscribe to blogs via RSS and read them with full dictionary support. Paul Graham’s essays are one click away.
Hover any word: English definitions, Chinese translation, IPA for both US and UK, and audio — in one popover, no tab-switching.
Marked words return as flashcards on an FSRS spaced-repetition schedule, with the exact sentence you met them in.
Chapters and word levels are cached on your device. Read on a plane; everything syncs when you’re back.
Reading streaks, badges, and a monthly goal you set yourself — gentle structure for showing up every day.
read a lot is a tool, not a content library. You bring the books you own and the blogs you follow; articles are fetched from the original site at reading time and never re-hosted. Writers keep their traffic — you keep your reading in one place.
Why this exists
“I read English essays and books every day, but every unknown word died in a dictionary tab. Word lists reset with every book; flashcard apps had no idea what I was reading. I wanted one place where reading itself builds my vocabulary — so I built it.”
— Levi, maker of read a lot
The core reader — reading, word marking, spaced-repetition review, RSS subscriptions, and sync — is free and will stay free. Paid AI-powered extras come later; everything you do during beta stays free for you.
No credit card. No trial clock.
Readers at roughly B1 level and above who want to read real English — books, essays, blogs — rather than graded textbook passages. If you can mostly follow this page, you’re ready.
Upload your own EPUB books, or subscribe to any blog with an RSS feed. Built-in feeds (like Paul Graham’s essays) get you reading in one click.
Those tools start from lists. read a lot starts from reading: words enter your review queue because you actually met them in a text, and every flashcard carries the sentence you found it in. The reading is the studying.
No. Articles load from the original site at the moment you read them — read a lot never copies or re-hosts anyone’s content.
Everything is free during beta. The core reader — reading, word marking, spaced-repetition review, RSS, sync — stays free after that. Future paid features will be AI-powered extras, and everything you do during beta stays free for you.
read a lot is desktop-first today. A proper mobile experience is in development.