Eraser, (also called a rubber outside the United States) and come in a variety of shapes, sizes and colours.

Some pencils have a rubber on one end. Less expensive erasers are made from synthetic rubber and synthetic soy-based gum, but more expensive or specialized they are vinyl, plastic, or gum-like materials.

At first, they  were made to erase mistakes made with a pencil; later, more abrasive ink rubber were introduced.

The term is also used for things that remove writing from chalkboards and whiteboards. Ink rubber are denser, allowing them to ease pen marks.

They may be free-standing blocks (block and wedge eraser), or conical caps that can slip onto the end of a pencil (cap ).

A barrel  is a device shaped like a pencil, but instead of being filled with pencil lead, its barrel contains a retractable cylinder of eraser material (most commonly soft vinyl). Many, but not all, wooden pencils are made with attached erasers.

Novelty  made in shapes intended to be amusing are often made of hard vinyl, which tends to smear heavy markings when used as an eraser.