Word Confusion: Lead versus Lede

Plural for the noun: leads
Gerund: leading

Third person present verb: leads
Past tense or past participle: led
Present participle: leading

Plural: ledes

Alternative spelling: lead

• An example for others to follow
• A piece of information that may help in the resolution of a problem
• Someone or something that may be useful, especially a potential customer or business opportunity
• [Cards] An act or right of playing first in a trick or round of play
• [Cards] The card played first in a trick or round
• [Cards] The card, suit, etc., so played

[the lead] A position of advantage in a contest

• First place
• An amount by which a competitor is ahead of the others
• [Baseball] An advance of one or more steps taken by a base runner from the base they occupy while the pitcher has the ball

The act of taking the offensive

Precedence

• Example
• Leadership

[British; music] To play first chair in an orchestra or band

The chief part in a play or film

• The person playing the chief part
• [Usually as modifier] The chief performer or instrument of a specified type
• [Journalism] The item of news given the greatest prominence in a newspaper, broadcast, etc.
• [US; journalism; also lede] The opening sentence or paragraph of a news article, summarizing the most important aspects of the story

[British] A leash for a dog or other animal

[British] A wire that conveys electric current from a source to an appliance, or that connects two points of a circuit together

The direction of a rope, wire, or chain

[leader] Any of various devices for guiding a running rope

[Naval architecture] The distance between the center of lateral resistance and the center of effort of a sailing ship, usually expressed decimally as a fraction of the water-line length

The distance advanced by a screw in one turn

An artificial watercourse leading to a mill

• A channel of water in an ice field

Have the advantage in a race or game

• Culminate in a particular event

[lead with or lead off with] Start

• [Boxing; lead with] Make an attack with a particular punch or fist
• [Baseball; of a base runner] Advance one or more steps from the base one occupies while the pitcher has the ball

[Mining] A lode

[Mining] An auriferous deposit in an old riverbed

[Music; lead sheet] A type of sheet music arrangement used by many instrumentalists, bands, and even vocalists

A heavy, bluish-gray, soft, ductile metal, the chemical element of atomic number 82. ²

An item or implement made of lead

[leads] Small narrow pieces of grooved lead used as frames for small pieces of glass in a window

• [Nautical] A lead casting suspended on a line to determine the depth of water
• Bullets

Lead weights or shot, as used in cartridges, fishing lines, etc.

Graphite used as the part of a pencil that makes a mark

[British; leads] Sheets of lead used for covering a roof

• A flat or low-pitched roof covered with such sheets

[Ceramics] To glaze (pottery) with a glaze made primarily of lead

[Printing] A blank space between lines of print

• A metal strip used to create space between lines of print

[Manège; of a horse at a canter or gallop] The foreleg that consistently extends beyond and strikes the ground ahead of the other foreleg

Verb, intransitive:
[With adverbial of direction] Be a route or means of access to a particular place or in a particular direction ¹

[Music; of an instrument or voice] To be assigned an important entry in a piece of music

[Dance] To direct and guide (one’s partner) in a dance

To tend (to) or result (in) (usually followed by to or in)

Verb, transitive:
Cause a person or animal to go with one by holding them by the hand, a halter, a rope, etc., while moving forward ¹

• Show (someone or something) the way to a destination by going in front of or beside them
• Conduct or escort

To guide in direction, course, action, opinion, etc.

• Bring
• To conduct or bring (water, wire, etc.) in a particular course
• [Of a road, passage, etc.] To serve to bring (a person) to a place

Be a reason or motive for (someone)

To go at the head of or in advance of a procession, list, body, etc.

• Proceed first in

Be in charge or command of

• Be the principal player of a group of musicians
• Set (a process) in motion
• [In card games] Play (the first card) in a trick or round of play

Organize and direct

To have top position or first place in (a competition)

• Be ahead of (competitors)
• Be superior to (competitors or colleagues)

Have or experience (a particular way of life)

To go through or pass (time, life, etc.)

To cause to pass a life of a particular kind

To influence or induce

• Cause

To be superior to

• Have the advantage over

To have the directing or principal part in

To aim and fire a firearm or cannon ahead of (a moving target) in order to allow for the travel of the target while the bullet or shell is reaching it

[Football] To throw a lead pass to (an intended receiver)

To phrase a question to (a witness) that tends to suggest the desired answer

To pass or spend

To fill or treat with lead

To surround, cover, or secure with lead or leads

[Printing] To space (type) by use of leads

To draw

• To entice
• To allure

[bury the lede] To begin a news story with nonessential details

He took the lead in the race.

He had a lead of four lengths.

Detectives investigating the murder are chasing new leads.

He went to a health fair hoping to get some leads on a job.

Setting up a social networking page can help you get numerous leads.

The goal of marketing is to generate leads so the sales people can close them.

It’s your lead.

That’s your lead??

They were beaten 5–3 after twice being in the lead.

The team held a slender one-goal lead.

“Champion Youth Baseball Coach Branndon Pezzelle has a solid approach to continually getting that premier lead off” (Dick’s Pro Tips).

“Youth baseball players all go through the transition from little league to pony league baseball where kids need to learn how to take a good lead” (Baseball Tip).

They followed the lead of the capital in their fashions.

Pam is lead violinist.

They gave me the lead sheet for “Sandman”.

She had the lead in a new film.

Jamie, it’s the lead role!

He still looked like a romantic lead.

That girl will be your lead dancer.

The “pensions revolution” is the lead in the Times.

What’s the lead story?

Where’s the bloomin’ lead for Scruffy?

There was a large metal case, with various wires, leads, and tubes connected.

Ball screws are typically specified by the lead.

The pitch and lead are equal with single start screws.

There’s a lead penning up the water above the level of the low meadow-land.

Leads allow the direct interaction between the atmosphere and the ocean.

We found a gold lead.

The horse is cantering on the left lead.

Lead has been used in roofing, plumbing, ammunition, storage batteries, radiation shields, etc., and its compounds have been used in crystal glass, as an antiknock agent in gasoline, and formerly in paints.

“In order to lead climb, at a minimum, you must be proficient and comfortable with placing trad gear, clipping quickdraws, lead belaying, and building and cleaning anchors” (Moynihan).

When determining the lead of a hull, be sure to take into account the masting, rigging, etc.

It was Colonel Mustard with the lead pipe in the library.

That went down like a lead balloon.

Leaded glass and stained glass both require the use of strips of lead to join together pieces of glass.

There’s evidence that heavy metals such as lead and cadmium can make osteoporosis worse.

A man leaped into the chains and, lowering down the lead, sounded in seven fathoms.

They shot my Ned full of lead!

It is still legal in the UK to use some lead weights in fishing.

Got my #3 lead pencils right here.

The lead roof of the Saxon Tower at St Michaels in Oxford, England, dates from 1765.

Sheet lead cladding is extremely durable, and depending on the thickness used can last for 100 years or longer.

Joints in any lead roof are intricate and require expert hand craftsmanship.

A lead glaze gives a smooth, glasslike finish that allows bright colors and decorative patterns to show through.

Leading was originally made of lead in varying sizes depending on the necessary width needed between lines.

No, no, no, Mitzie, Hal should be the lead when the two of you are dancing.

Verb, intransitive:
The door led to a long hallway.

That path leads directly to the house.

Closing the plant will lead to the loss of 300 jobs.

Fashioning a policy appropriate to the situation entails understanding the forces that led up to it.

The news on the radio led with the murder.

Ed leads off with a general survey of the objectives.

You lead and we’ll follow.

This will only lead to misery.

Donaldson led off with a double and took third on a grounder.

Adam led with a left.

The runner leads from first.

Dallas was fortunate to lead 85–72.

Are you planning on leading or shall I?

Lying leads to a lack of trust.

Gaming leads to other vices.

I will lead on softly.

Verb, transitive:
She emerged leading a bay horse.

She stood up and led her friend to the door.

I’m supposed to lead a group on a nature hike.

The prisoners were led into the warden’s office.

You can lead her around to your point of view if you are persistent.

The first street on the left will lead you to Andrews Place.

Nothing that I have read about the case leads me to the conclusion that anything untoward happened.

A fascination for art led him to start a collection of paintings.

The mayor will lead the parade.

A military delegation was led by the Chief of Staff.

The conference included sessions led by people with personal knowledge of the area.

Since the forties he has led his own big bands.

The minister will now lead us in prayer.

He led a peace movement.

They are waiting for an expansion of world trade to lead a recovery.

The eight of diamonds was an inspired lead.

The veteran jockey was leading the field.

The first baseman leads his teammates in runs batted in.

Iowa leads the nation in corn production.

There will be specific areas or skills in which other nations lead the world.

She’s led a completely sheltered life.

He simply wants to lead a full life.

That woman leads him a dog’s life.

Subsequent events led him to reconsider his position.

A shooter must lead the target, aiming to a point at which the victim will “walk right into it”.

The quarterback led the left end.

Objection, Your Honor. He’s leading the witness.

I lead a miserable life.

“You can lead straight over welds, section location, pillars, or anywhere else exceptional sealing properties are required” (Lead Filler).

“The end of the wire which it is desired to cover with lead is passed through the tube in the lead-chamber and the die and the chamber and then filled with lead” (US Patent Office).

It can be a judgment call when leading a page layout.

The love of pleasure leads men into vices which degrade and impoverish them.

The lede has been rewritten and the headline changed.

One should always listen carefully to the president, as he has a tendency to bury the lede.

Bury the lead sort of works, but bury the lede is the conventional spelling of this expression.

“The lede of Anne Marshall’s cover story in today’s City Paper grabs you by the collar” (Nashville Scene).

“Most games weren’t even close, and let me tell you, coming up with a snappy lede for a 50-point blowout was beyond difficult” (mlive.com).

“The Weiner quote was the lede in a notably vicious profile of Sadik-Khan in The New York Times” (Naparstek).

1. From Old English lǣdan is of Germanic origin and related to the Dutch leiden and the German leiten, also to load and lode.
2. From Old English lēad, of West Germanic origin, is related to the Dutch lood meaning lead and the German Lot meaning plummet, solder.