mislead
/mɪsˈliːd/
"mislead" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“mislead” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #21,872 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #21,872
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 4
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To lead astray, in a false direction.
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 | mislead |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /mɪsˈliːd/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #21,872 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 4 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “mislead” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for mislead is 7 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /mɪsˈliːd/. Corpus data places it at rank #21,872 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for mislead, with forms such as "imslead", "milsead", and "miselad". 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 4 confusable-pair relationships, "missed", "misled", "misread", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English mysleden, from Old English mislǣdan (“to mislead”), from Proto-Germanic *missalaidijaną (“to mislead”). By surface analysis, mis- + lead. The correct English form is mislead, spelled M-I-S-L-E-A-D.
Definition
- 1To lead astray, in a false direction.
- 2To deceive by telling lies or otherwise giving a false impression.
- 3To deceptively trick into something wrong.
- 4To accidentally or intentionally confuse.
Etymology
From Middle English mysleden, from Old English mislǣdan (“to mislead”), from Proto-Germanic *missalaidijaną (“to mislead”). By surface analysis, mis- + lead.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: imslead,milsead,miselad,mislaed,misleadd,misleda,misllead,misslead,mmislead,msilead
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of mislead - 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
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Using “mislead”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-I-S-L-E-A-D - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /mɪsˈliːd/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “missed” - see the side-by-side comparison. mislead vs missed
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.