Which to use
“lad” and “lead” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #38,389
- “lad” frequency rank
- #20,773
- “lead” frequency rank
- 59162
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lad | lead |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Valet d’écurie chargé de garder et de soigner les chevaux de course. | Puissant coup de poing direct du bras arrière. |
Where the eye mixes lad and lead
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses lad with lead
A purely visual mix-up. lad (\lad\) and lead (\lid\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59162, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lad is recorded at frequency rank #38,389, classified as anoun, pronounced \lad\. lead is at rank #20,773, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lid\.
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 59162, this pair ranks #104,700 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of lad vs lead
Shared letters: adl. Private to "lad": -. Private to "lead": e.
"lad" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "lead" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- lead ← elad · laed · leadd · leda · llead
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "lad" and "lead" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "lad" or "lead"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "lad" 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 #104,700 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lad" and "lead" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lad vs lep". 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 #104,700 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.