Which to use
“leaded” is an adjective and “loaded” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #44,898
- “leaded” frequency rank
- #4,687
- “loaded” frequency rank
- 49585
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | leaded | loaded |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Held in place by strips of lead. | simple past and past participle of load |
Where the eye mixes leaded and loaded
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between leaded and loaded
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: leaded is /ˈlɛdɪd/ while loaded is /ˈləʊ.dəd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - e in “leaded” becomes o in “loaded”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49585, 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/. loaded is at rank #4,687, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈləʊ.dəd/.
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 49585, this pair ranks #182,215 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of leaded vs loaded
Shared letters: adel. Private to "leaded": -. Private to "loaded": o.
"leaded" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "loaded" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "leaded" for "loaded" ever safe?
Frequency check: "leaded" vs "loaded" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
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 "loaded" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #182,215 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "leaded" and "loaded" 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 #182,215 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.