Which to use
“lead” and “led” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,773
- “lead” frequency rank
- #9,687
- “led” frequency rank
- 30460
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lead | led |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Puissant coup de poing direct du bras arrière. | Diode semiconductrice à jonction qui émet une lumière colorée ou blanche lorsqu’elle est traversée par un courant électrique. |
Where the eye mixes lead and led
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses lead with led
A purely visual mix-up. lead (\lid\) and led (\lɛd\) 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 30460, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lead is recorded at frequency rank #20,773, classified as anoun, pronounced \lid\. 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 30460, this pair ranks #310,169 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of lead vs led
Shared letters: del. Private to "lead": a. Private to "led": -.
"lead" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "led" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- lead ← elad · laed · leadd · leda · llead
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "lead" and "led" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "lead" or "led"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "lead" and "led" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "lead" 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 #310,169 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lead" and "led" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lead 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 #310,169 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.