lead vs leave, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“lead” is a noun and “leave” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#39,314
“lead” frequency rank: #35,123
“leave” frequency rank: 74437
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	lead	leave
Definition	Plomo.	Salir.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set lead and leave apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

lead

5 ch

leave

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lead is /lɛd/ while leave is /liːv/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 74437, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lead is recorded at frequency rank #39,314, classified as anoun, pronounced /lɛd/. leave is at rank #35,123, tagged as averb, pronounced /liːv/.

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 74437, this pair ranks #21,314 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of lead vs leave

Shared letters: ael. Private to "lead": d. Private to "leave": v.

"lead" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "leave" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

lead ← elad · laed · leadd · leda · llead
leave ← elave · laeve · leabe · leaev · leavve · levae · lleave

Frequency comparison

lead#39,314

leave#35,123

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lead" and "leave" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lead" is a noun and "leave" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "lead" or "leave"?

"leave" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,123 in our Spanish list, against #39,314 for "lead". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering lead vs leave

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “lead”; for a verb, it's “leave”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “lead” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable