Which to use
“lead” is a noun and “leary” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #636
- “lead” frequency rank
- #34,564
- “leary” frequency rank
- 35200
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lead | leary |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 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). | Alternative spelling of leery. |
Letter map: lead vs leary
Shared letters muted; letters that set lead and leary apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.
Part-of-speech tell for lead / leary
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: lead is anoun and learyanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35200, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lead is recorded at frequency rank #636, classified as anoun, pronounced /lɛd/. leary is at rank #34,564, tagged as anadj.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 35200, this pair ranks #314,046 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of lead vs leary
Shared letters: ael. Private to "lead": d. Private to "leary": ry.
"lead" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "leary" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "lead" for "leary" ever safe?
Frequency check: "lead" vs "leary" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pair "lead" vs "leary" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "lead" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "leary" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #314,046 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lead" and "leary" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "leary vs leery". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #314,046 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.