lead
/ˈlɛd/noun, verb, adjective
lead is spelled L-E-A-D: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 158 times per million words in written English, the 638th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “lead vs led” about 27,100 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, lead means “A heavy, pliable, inelastic metal element, having a bright, bluish color, but easily tarnished; both malleable and ductile, though with little…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of lead is leads.
How many letters and syllables are in lead?
| Letters | 4: L-E-A-D |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 |
| In writing | 158 times per million words; the 638th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is lead?
Lead appears 158 times per million words in written English, the 638th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce lead?
- /ˈlɛd/
- [ˈlɛd]
As a verb (“To guide or conduct with the hand, or by means of some…”): /ˈliːd/, [ˈlɪi̯d].
Lead has one syllable.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_(NaomiAmethyst)-lead.wav, En-us-lead-metal.oga, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Tesco250-lead.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with lead
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with lead?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as lead.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: deal, dale, lade.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of lead
- leads plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- ♄
- leading participle, present
- leaded participle, past
- led participle, past, singular, he/she/it, plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does lead mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
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.
- 2
A plummet or mass of lead attached to a line, used in sounding depth at sea or to estimate velocity in knots.
- 3
A thin strip of type metal, used to separate lines of type in printing.
- 4
Vertical space in advance of a row or between rows of text. Also known as leading.
This copy has too much lead; I prefer less space between the lines.
- 5
Sheets or plates of lead used as a covering for roofs.
- 6
A roof covered with lead sheets or terne plates.
- 7
A thin cylinder of graphite used in pencils.
- 8
slangBullets; ammunition.
They pumped him full of lead.
- 9
The act of leading or conducting; guidance; direction, course
to take the lead
- 10
Precedence; advance position; also, the measure of precedence; the state of being ahead in a race; the highest score in an incomplete game.
the white horse had the lead.
- 11
UKAn insulated metallic wire for electrical devices and equipment.
- 12
The situation where a runner steps away from a base while waiting for the pitch to be thrown.
The runner took his lead from first.
- 13
The act or right of playing first in a game or round; the card suit, or piece, so played
your partner has the lead
- 14
The main role in a play or film; the lead role.
- 15
The actor who plays the main role; lead actor.
- 16
The person in charge of a project or a work shift etc.
John is the development lead on this software product.
verb
- 1
To cover, fill, or affect with lead.
continuous firing leads the grooves of a rifle.
- 2
To place leads between the lines of.
to lead a page
- 3
To guide or conduct with the hand, or by means of some physical contact connection.
a father leads a child
- 4
To guide or conduct in a certain course, or to a certain place or end, by making the way known; to show the way, especially by going with or going in advance of; to guide somebody somewhere or to bring somebody somewhere by means of instructions.
The guide was able to lead the tourists through the jungle safely.
- 5
To direct; to counsel; to instruct.
A good teacher should lead their students to the right answer.
- 6
To conduct or direct with authority; to have direction or charge of; to command, especially a military or business unit.
to lead a political party
- 7
To draw or direct by influence, whether good or bad; to prevail on; to induce; to entice; to allure.
to lead someone to a righteous cause
- 8
To influence towards a belief, a conclusion, etc.
The evidence leads me to believe he is guilty.
- 9
To guide or conduct, as by accompanying, going before, showing, influencing, directing with authority, etc.; to have precedence or preeminence; to be first or chief; – used in most of the senses of the transitive verb.
- 10
To go or to be in advance of; to precede; hence, to be foremost or chief among.
the big sloop led the fleet of yachts; the Guards led the attack; Demosthenes leads the orators of all ages
adjective
- 1
Foremost.
The contestants are all tied; no one has the lead position.
- 2
Main, principal, primary, first, chief, foremost.
the lead guitarist in band
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Lead in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | plomb , sonde , interligne , guider , mener, conduire |
| German | Blei , Senkblei, Lot , führen , Durchschuss , verbleien |
| Portuguese | chumbo , prumo , guiar, conduzir, levar , chumbar |
| Spanish | plomo , sonda, escandallo , regleta, interlínea , balas |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does lead come from?
From Middle English led, leed, from Old English lēad (“lead”), from Proto-West Germanic *laud (“lead”), possibly borrowed from Proto-Celtic *ɸloudom, from Proto-Indo-European *plewd- (“to flow”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).