Lead or led: which is correct?
Correct
led (past tense of lead) / lead (present tense; the metal)
Avoid
lead (as the past tense: "she lead the team")
Summary
Correct: led (past tense of lead) / lead (present tense; the metal) — Avoid: lead (as the past tense: "she lead the team"). Led = the past tense and past participle of the verb lead; lead = the present-tense verb (to guide) or the heavy metal, which is pronounced like led.
- Part of speech
- verb
- Source
- Merriam-Webster
Why
Merriam-Webster: the past tense of the verb lead (rhymes with need) is led. The error comes from the noun lead, the metal, which is spelled lead but pronounced exactly like led.
Examples
- She led the team to victory last season.
- Who will lead the meeting today?
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- Checked against
- Merriam-Webster / Oxford
- Spelling authority
- Merriam-Webster · Oxford English Dictionary / Oxford spelling · SCOWL
- Commonly confused and non-standard forms
- 64
- Dictionary
- Hunspell en_US / en_GB / en_AU / en_CA · Dictionary license: MIT AND BSD (SCOWL combined licence)