Hello Norina,
It means both :
- legge as noun means "law" or "act"
"Studia legge"
He is studying law
"per legge"
by law
- leggere (verb)
legge as a verb ( the third present singular of the verb "leggere") means
read (he/she reads)
"è un libro che si legge bene"
The book reads well
"mi legge como un libro aperto"
She can read me like an open book.
Do you mean by "translators" dictionaries ? If so then when looking up words in dictionaries ( on or off line )
notice that the words are listed by their source.
If you looked for "legge" you will find it as a source noun which means "law".
"read" on the other hand will not appear as a conjugated verb in the third person rather in its infinitive "leggere".That is why dictionaries say "legge = law" .