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“Lead” or “Led”

lead / led are similar-sounding terms with different meanings (referred to as homophones). To better understand the differences, see below for definitions, pronunciation guides, and example sentences using each term.

Definitions

What each term means

Same sound, different spellings and meanings, shown with a pronunciation guide for each term.

lead l·EH·d

  • nounan advantage held by a competitor in a race.
  • nouna soft heavy toxic malleable metallic element; bluish white when freshly cut but tarnishes readily to dull grey.
  • nounevidence pointing to a possible solution.
  • nouna position of leadership (especially in the phrase `take the lead').
  • nounthe angle between the direction a gun is aimed and the position of a moving target (correcting for the flight time of the missile).
  • nounthe introductory section of a story.
  • noun(sports) the score by which a team or individual is winning.
  • noun(baseball) the position taken by a base runner preparing to advance to the next base.
  • nouna news story of major importance.
  • nounthin strip of metal used to separate lines of type in printing.
  • nounmixture of graphite with clay in different degrees of hardness; the marking substance in a pencil.
  • nounthe playing of a card to start a trick in bridge.
  • verbtake somebody somewhere.
  • verbtend to or result in.
  • verbtravel in front of; go in advance of others.
  • verbcause to undertake a certain action.
  • verbbe ahead of others; be the first.

led l·EH·d

No dictionary entry for this spelling — see the usage examples below for how it shows up in writing.

Usage

Examples in context

Real sentences for each spelling. Hover an example to copy it.

“lead”

  • precisely adjusted to keep the lead and tin type metal liquified
  • Willie Gardner: lead vocals, lead guitar.
  • melt, while holding the molten lead that was still extremely hot.
  • English side, opening a 7–0 lead in the first half, one
  • Commander Christine Jones (Metropolitan Police), lead on mental health issues
  • his sophomore year, Morris helped lead Stanford to its first Pac-12
  • Rides on his motorbike lead to an affair.
  • gearbox (model: DQ200) which might lead to loss of power, covering
  • Institute, Cancer Research Technology, the Lead Discovery Centre and the Centre
  • points and tied for the lead with six goals and helped

“led”

  • Former Queen's Guard commanders led the May 2014 Thai coup
  • company that for many years led the development of policing practices
  • Arab tradition, the latter were led by Suluk's murderer and successor,
  • groups in the Kivus were led by Generals Padiri and Dunia.
  • ACPO was led by Chief Constable Sir Hugh
  • This led to a general uprising by
  • in all 21 matches and led all Pac-12 freshman with seven
  • by the local stations eventually led to further investments and technological
  • million to an investment group led by Pierce National Life Insurance
  • This led to resentment towards his person

Examples are Wikipedia snippets under the CC ShareAlike 3.0 license. Definitions are drawn from WordNet.

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