Which to use
“leading” is a verb and “lending” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,087
- “leading” frequency rank
- #8,685
- “lending” frequency rank
- 9772
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | leading | lending |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of lead | The action of, or an instance of the action of the verb to lend. |
Letter map: leading vs lending
Shared letters muted; letters that set leading and lending apart highlighted. Shared run: 6.
Grammar separator: leading vs lending
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: leading is averb and lendinganoun. On the page they differ by a single letter - a in “leading” becomes n in “lending”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9772, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
leading is recorded at frequency rank #1,087, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈliːdɪŋ/. lending is at rank #8,685, tagged as anoun.
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 9772, this pair ranks #495,676 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of leading vs lending
Shared letters: degiln. Private to "leading": a. Private to "lending": -.
"leading" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC · "lending" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "leading" for "lending" ever safe?
Frequency check: "leading" vs "lending" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
You've compared "leading" and "lending". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "leading" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lending" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #495,676 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "leading" and "lending" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lending vs Lessing". 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 #495,676 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.