lead
/lɛd/
"lead" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“lead” has 5 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #636. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #636
- frequency rank, English
- 16,425
- “L” headwords
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - 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 othe...
Corpus desk
Index EN-lead · lead · English
lead · rank #636 · 5 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-CORE #636
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 5 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 16,425
- PHOTO-FINISH knew
Nearest frequency peer: knew (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Frequency neighbourhood for “lead”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- film
film
99,368 corpus weight
- happened
happened
99,367 corpus weight
- knew
knew
99,366 corpus weight
- lead
lead
99,365 corpus weight
- likely
likely
99,364 corpus weight
- military
military
99,363 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “lead” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | lead |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /lɛd/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #636 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “lead” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 5 spelling variants around lead (IPA /lɛd/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #636 among 16,425 “L” headwords. Wiktionary lists 9 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for lead, with forms such as "elad", "laed", and "leadd". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "let", "LED", "lee", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: 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”). Cognate with Scots leid, lede (“lead”), North Frisian lud, lu… The correct English form is lead, spelled L-E-A-D.
Definition
- 1A 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, symbol Pb (from Latin plumbum).
- 2A plummet or mass of lead attached to a line, used in sounding depth at sea or to estimate velocity in knots.
- 3A thin strip of type metal, used to separate lines of type in printing.
- 4Vertical space in advance of a row or between rows of text. Also known as leading.
- 5Sheets or plates of lead used as a covering for roofs.
- 6A roof covered with lead sheets or terne plates.
- 7A thin cylinder of graphite used in pencils.
- 8Bullets; ammunition.
- 9X-ray protective clothing lined with lead.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how lead appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
This copy has too much lead; I prefer less space between the lines.
I would have the tower two stories, and goodly leads upon the top.
Etymology
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”). Cognate with Scots leid, lede (“lead”), North Frisian lud, luad (“lead”), West Frisian lead (“lead”), Dutch lood (“lead”), Low German Lod (“solder, plummet”), German Lot (“solder, plummet, sounding line”), Swedish lod (“solder, plummet”), Icelandic lóð (“a plumb, weight”), Irish luaidhe (“lead”) Latin plumbum (“lead”), Finnish luoti (“bullet”). Doublet of loth. More at flow. * (graphite in a pencil): Graphite was once believed to be a form of lead; see black lead and plumbago.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- elad
- laed
- leadd
- leda
- llead
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of lead - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "lead", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (5 here; floor ≥5).
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.