English homophones
laird/lead
"lead" (#636 written frequency) beats "laird" (#23,586) in this 2-word /lɛːd/ cluster. Size rank #133 of 1,007 English groups.
Data vintage
Frequency splits the cluster
These 2 spellings keep the same /lɛːd/ reading, but written frequency splits them hard: "lead" leads at #636, with "laird" trailing at #23,586.
Spelling pairs in this cluster
- No shared spelling stem: "laird" is 5 letters, "lead" is 4; only the sound ties them.
Orthographic DNA of this cluster
Shared letters across laird, lead: adl. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.
laird
5 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVVCC
Inventory adilr · private ir
lead
4 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVVC
Inventory adel · private e
Pick the spelling from the meaning
- Write "laird" when you mean: A feudal lord in Scottish contexts.
- Write "lead" when you mean: A heavy, pliable, inelastic metal element, having a bright, bluish color, but easily tarnished; both malleable and ductile, though with l…
Known mistypes of these spellings
Edit-distance variants recorded against this cluster: useful when a search or OCR feed lands on the wrong form.
Each spelling
noun · /lɛd/ · #636 frequency
A heavy, pliable, inelastic metal element, having a bright, bluish color, but easily tarnished; both malleable and ductile, though with little tenacity. It is easily fusible, forms alloys with other metals, and is an ingredient of solder and type metal. Atomic number 82, symbol Pb (from Latin plumbum).
Nearby English homophone groups
What to do next
You've reviewed the 2-spelling cluster (laird, lead). Here's where to go from here.
- "lead" is the most frequent headword in this 2-spelling cluster (rank #636 in English). Full entry
- Among English homophone groups, a cluster of 2 spellings ranks #133 by size (1,007 groups in this vintage). Corpus statistics
- Explore a nearby 2-spelling cluster: Laura · Lara. Nearby cluster
- Each spelling in "laird, lead" has its own headword page with definition, IPA, and misspelling variants. First entry
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.