laúdvsleadWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“laúd” and “lead” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#42,534
“laúd” frequency rank
#39,314
“lead” frequency rank
81848
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature laúd lead
Definition Instrumento musical antiguo de cuerda, formado por una caja de resonancia ovalada y abombada por la parte trasera, seis pares de cuerdas, y cuyo clavijero forma un ángulo muy pronunciado con el mango, que es corto. Plomo.

Where the eye mixes laúd and lead

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. laúd and lead follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
laúd
4 ch
lead

Look-alike desk: laúd vs lead

A purely visual mix-up. laúd ([laˈuð̞]) and lead (/lɛd/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 81848, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

laúd is recorded at frequency rank #42,534, classified as anoun, pronounced [laˈuð̞]. lead is at rank #39,314, tagged as anoun, pronounced /lɛd/.

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 81848, this pair ranks #9,909 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of laúd vs lead

Shared letters: adl. Private to "laúd": ú. Private to "lead": e.

"laúd" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "lead" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lead ← elad · laed · leadd · leda · llead

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "laúd" and "lead" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([laˈuð̞] versus /lɛd/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "laúd" vs "lead" - which ranks higher?
"lead" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #39,314 in our Spanish list, against #42,534 for "laúd". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "laúd" and "lead" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "laúd" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lead" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #9,909 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "laúd" and "lead" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lac vs laúd". 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 #9,909 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list