leading
/ˈliːdɪŋ/
"leading" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“leading” has 10 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #1,087. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #1,087
- frequency rank, English
- 2,297
- “L” headwords
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 16
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - present participle and gerund of lead
Corpus desk
Index EN-leading · leading · English
leading · rank #1,087 · 10 variants · 16 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #1,087
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 16 pairs
- VAR-MID 10 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,297
- PHOTO-FINISH kept
Nearest frequency peer: kept (-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.
Rank peers near misspelling magnet “leading”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- j
j
98,917 corpus weight
- join
join
98,916 corpus weight
- kept
kept
98,915 corpus weight
- leading
leading
98,914 corpus weight
- loved
loved
98,913 corpus weight
- message
message
98,912 corpus weight
What this shows “leading” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.
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 | leading |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈliːdɪŋ/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #1,087 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 16 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “leading”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 10 spelling variants around leading (IPA /ˈliːdɪŋ/), averb. Corpus frequency is #1,087 among 2,297 “L” headwords. Dominant gloss: "present participle and gerund of lead".
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for leading, with forms such as "elading", "laeding", and "leadding". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 16 confusable-pair relationships, "leaving", "letting", "loading", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English ledinge, ledynge, ledand, ledande, ledende, from Old English lǣdende, from Proto-West Germanic *laidijandī, from Proto-Germanic *laidijandz, present participle of Proto-Germanic *laidijaną (“to lead”), equivalent to lead + -ing. Compare … The correct English form is leading, spelled L-E-A-D-I-N-G.
Definition
- 1present participle and gerund of lead
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how leading appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
I had occasion […] to make a somewhat long business trip to Chicago, and on my return […] I found Farrar awaiting me in the railway station. He smiled his wonted fraction by way of greeting, […], and finally leading me to his buggy, turned and drove out of town.
Etymology
From Middle English ledinge, ledynge, ledand, ledande, ledende, from Old English lǣdende, from Proto-West Germanic *laidijandī, from Proto-Germanic *laidijandz, present participle of Proto-Germanic *laidijaną (“to lead”), equivalent to lead + -ing. Compare West Frisian liedend, Dutch leidend, German leitend, Swedish ledande, Icelandic leiðandi.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- elading
- laeding
- leadding
- leadign
- leadingg
- leadinng
- leadnig
- leaidng
- ledaing
- lleading
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of leading - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "leading"?
What does "leading" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "leading"?
How do you pronounce "leading"?
What is the origin of the word "leading"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "leading", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (10 here; floor ≥5).