leak vs led, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“leak” and “led” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#38,893
“leak” frequency rank: #9,687
“led” frequency rank: 48580
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	leak	led
Definition	Fuite d’informations confidentielles.	Diode semiconductrice à jonction qui émet une lumière colorée ou blanche lorsqu’elle est traversée par un courant électrique.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set leak and led apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

leak

3 ch

led

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. leak (\lik\) 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 48580, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

leak is recorded at frequency rank #38,893, classified as anoun, pronounced \lik\. 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 48580, this pair ranks #177,776 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of leak vs led

Shared letters: el. Private to "leak": ak. Private to "led": d.

"leak" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "led" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

leak ← elak · leakk · leka · lleak

Frequency comparison

leak#38,893

led#9,687

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "leak" and "led" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (\lik\ versus \lɛd\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "leak" or "led"?

"led" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,687 in our French list, against #38,893 for "leak". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering leak vs led

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “leak” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable