leadedvsleaveWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: leaded is a adjective, leave is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“leaded” is an adjective and “leave” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#44,898
“leaded” frequency rank
#457
“leave” frequency rank
45355
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature leaded leave
Definition Held in place by strips of lead. To have a consequence or remnant.

Where the eye mixes leaded and leave

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
leaded
5 ch
leave

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: leaded is /ˈlɛdɪd/ while leave is /liːv/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45355, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

leaded is recorded at frequency rank #44,898, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈlɛdɪd/. leave is at rank #457, tagged as averb, pronounced /liːv/.

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 45355, this pair ranks #222,024 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of leaded vs leave

Shared letters: ael. Private to "leaded": d. Private to "leave": v.

"leaded" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "leave" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • leadedeladed · laeded · leadde · leadded · leadedd · leaedd · ledaed · lleaded
  • leaveelave · laeve · leaev · leavve · levae · lleave

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "leaded" and "leave" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "leaded" is an adjective and "leave" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "leaded" or "leave"?
"leave" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #457 in our English list, against #44,898 for "leaded". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list