Which to use
“leaded” is an adjective and “leed” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #44,898
- “leaded” frequency rank
- #40,780
- “leed” frequency rank
- 85678
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | leaded | leed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Held in place by strips of lead. | Language; tongue. |
Where the eye mixes leaded and leed
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. leaded runs 6 letters (CVVCVC) against leed's 4 (CVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: leaded vs leed
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: leaded is /ˈlɛdɪd/ while leed is /liːd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 85678, 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/. leed is at rank #40,780, tagged as anoun, pronounced /liːd/.
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 85678, this pair ranks #10,000 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of leaded vs leed
Shared letters: del. Private to "leaded": a. Private to "leed": -.
"leaded" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "leed" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "leaded" for "leed" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "leaded" or "leed" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "leaded" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "leed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #10,000 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "leaded" and "leed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "leaded vs leaker". 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 #10,000 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.