Which to use
“laid” is an adjective and “led” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #12,805
- “laid” frequency rank
- #9,687
- “led” frequency rank
- 22492
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | laid | led |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui a quelque défaut qui se remarque dans les proportions, dans les formes ou dans les couleurs qui constituent la beauté chez les hommes et chez les animaux. | Diode semiconductrice à jonction qui émet une lumière colorée ou blanche lorsqu’elle est traversée par un courant électrique. |
Where the eye mixes laid and led
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses laid with led
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: laid is \lɛ\ while led is \lɛd\. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22492, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
laid is recorded at frequency rank #12,805, classified as anadj, pronounced \lɛ\. led is at rank #9,687, 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 22492, this pair ranks #357,694 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of laid vs led
Shared letters: dl. Private to "laid": ai. Private to "led": e.
"laid" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "led" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- laid ← alid · ladi · laidd · liad · llaid
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "laid" for "led" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "laid" or "led" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "laid" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "led" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #357,694 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "laid" and "led" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lago vs laid". 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 #357,694 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.