diff --git a/font.go b/font.go
index 7556d6c..52be66b 100644
--- a/font.go
+++ b/font.go
@@ -346,3 +346,38 @@ func putPixel(p painter.Painter, px, py int, ink RGBA) {
 // caller that writes its own ends up wrapping to different rules than the card
 // beside it.
 func WrapText(f Font, text string, width int) []string { return wrapText(f, text, width) }
+
+// BitmapCovers reports whether the built-in 5x7 font has a glyph for r.
+//
+// ⭐ WHY A CONSUMER NEEDS TO ASK. A rune with no glyph still ADVANCES -- that is
+// deliberate, it keeps a column of text lined up -- so measuring a string tells
+// you nothing about whether it can be read. The only way to know is to ask the
+// table, and until now the table was unexported and the answer was folklore:
+// go-xrkit/desk carries a hand-written rule forbidding apostrophes in one
+// window, arrived at after "the glasses' own menu bar" came out with a hole in
+// it, and that rule is both incomplete (it says "no dashes" while the plain
+// hyphen draws fine) and unenforced (that same window ships "Turn this Mac's
+// screen off").
+//
+// ⚠ IT ANSWERS FOR THE BUILT-IN FONT ONLY. A TrueType face has its own,
+// far wider coverage; this is the fallback, and the fallback is what a platform
+// with no system face falls back TO.
+func BitmapCovers(r rune) bool {
+	_, ok := font5x7[r]
+	return ok
+}
+
+// BitmapMissing lists the runes of s the built-in font cannot draw, in order,
+// without repeats. Empty means every character in s would be legible.
+func BitmapMissing(s string) []rune {
+	var out []rune
+	seen := map[rune]bool{}
+	for _, r := range s {
+		if BitmapCovers(r) || seen[r] {
+			continue
+		}
+		seen[r] = true
+		out = append(out, r)
+	}
+	return out
+}
diff --git a/font_test.go b/font_test.go
index 11e1cb0..37311ca 100644
--- a/font_test.go
+++ b/font_test.go
@@ -278,3 +278,37 @@ func TestTheEllipsisHasAGlyph(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Errorf("the ellipsis glyph lights %d pixels, want 3 dots", lit)
 	}
 }
+
+// TestBitmapCoverageAnswersWhatMeasuringCannot.
+//
+// ⛔ A RUNE WITH NO GLYPH STILL ADVANCES, on purpose, so that a column of text
+// stays lined up. Measuring therefore says nothing about legibility, and the
+// only honest answer comes from the table.
+func TestBitmapCoverageAnswersWhatMeasuringCannot(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, c := range []struct {
+		r     rune
+		drawn bool
+	}{
+		{'a', true}, {'.', true}, {'-', true}, {'(', true},
+		{'…', true}, // added with the rune-keyed table
+		{'\'', false}, {'’', false}, {'—', false}, {'é', false},
+	} {
+		if got := BitmapCovers(c.r); got != c.drawn {
+			t.Errorf("BitmapCovers(%q) = %v, want %v", c.r, got, c.drawn)
+		}
+	}
+
+	// ⭐ AND THE WIDTH IS THE SAME EITHER WAY, which is the whole point.
+	f := NewBitmapFont(1)
+	if f.Measure("a") != f.Measure("’") {
+		t.Error("a covered and an uncovered rune must measure the same; if they " +
+			"differ, callers could have used width to detect coverage")
+	}
+
+	if got := BitmapMissing("Turn this Mac's screen off"); len(got) != 1 || got[0] != '\'' {
+		t.Errorf("BitmapMissing = %q, want just the apostrophe", got)
+	}
+	if got := BitmapMissing("plain - hyphens are fine"); len(got) != 0 {
+		t.Errorf("BitmapMissing = %q, want none: the hyphen draws", got)
+	}
+}