Word Confusion: Lade versus Laid

Posted September 16, 2021 by Kathy Davie in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

Revised as of
14 Jan 2023

This word confusion lade versus laid is a pair of heterographs (a subset of homophone), which makes it easier for writers to become confused.

Which is not an excuse for getting it wrong, mind you.

Lade is primarily a verb about loading or transporting cargo on a ship.

Laid is both a past tense and past participle of the verb lay, which means something has been laid down in an intentional manner.

Hmmm, well I can see where one would want to ensure that cargo was laid with purpose when lading a ship . . .

As lain is strictly the past participle of lie, this post will skip the noun form of lie.

Do have a look at “Lay versus Lie” as well, especially if you’re interested in the noun version of lie, “Lay versus Lie“, “Lays versus Laze“, “Lie versus Lye“, “Liar vs Lier vs Lyre“, and “Lain versus Lane“.

Word Confusions . . .

. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.

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Lade	Laid
Johnson and Seymour Millrace is Mo2010‘s own work and is under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. — In Scotland, it would be the Johnson and Seymour Lade.	Laid Out by Anton from USA is under the CC BY-SA 2.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons.
Part of Grammar:
Noun ¹, ²; Verb ³, intransitive & transitive Plural for the noun: lades Gerund: lading Third person present verb: lades Past tense: laded, lode [dated] Past participle: laded, laden Present participle: lading	Morpheme: lay While lay is also a noun, this post addresses the verb only. Verb, intransitive & transitive Third person present verb: lays Past tense: laid Past participle: laden, having laid Present participle: laying
Noun: [Scottish] A channel constructed to carry the swift current of water that drives a mill wheel ¹ A passage for water A ditch or drain [Obsolete; UK; dialect] Mouth of a river [Scottish] A load ² Verb, intransitive: [Of a ship] Take on cargo ³ To remove (liquid) with or as if with a ladle Verb, transitive: [Archaic] Load (a ship or other vessel) ³ Ship (goods) as cargo [Usually passive and followed by with] To burden or oppress To load heavily or oppressively [Usually passive and followed by with] To fill or load [Usually passive] To fill or cover abundantly To lift or throw in or out, as a fluid, with a ladle or other utensil [Nautical] To admit water by leakage, as a ship, etc. To transfer (molten glass) from the pot to the forming table, in making plate glass	Verb, intransitive: [Of a female bird, insect, reptile, or amphibian] Produce (an egg) from inside the body Verb, intransitive: [Adverbial of place] Put down, especially gently or carefully Prevent (something) from rising off the ground Put down and set in position for use [British] Set cutlery, crockery, and mats on a table in preparation for a meal [Often be laid with] Cover a surface with objects or a substance Put the material for a fire in place and arrange it Make ready a trap for someone Work out (an idea or suggestion) in detail ready for use or presentation Locate (an episode in a play, novel, etc.) in a certain place Stake (an amount of money) in a wager Used with an abstract noun so that the phrase formed has the same meaning as the verb related to the noun used [Of a female bird, insect, reptile, or amphibian] Produce (an egg) from inside the body [Vulgar slang] Have sex with [Nautical] Follow (a specified course)
Examples:
Noun: It was a lade from off the Tarland Burn. If you fall in the lade, you’ll be a dead duck. They flew over the Shundor lade where we were picnicking. Verb, intransitive: Vessels lade there on the left side of the port. Lade and go, get you unto the land of Canaan. The cargo is laden in bulk. All their vessels lade there. He lade again, ready to go. Verb, transitive: In any case, Banks laded the transports with the seeds of dozens of fruits, grains, and vegetables. The surplus products must be laden on board the vessels. Mahabir said he returned to India when the rice was shipped and brought back samples of what had been laded. Lade the Burnside with coal in the morning. She was laden with many responsibilities. The trees were laden with fruit. He was a man laden with honors. The cook laded the stew into small bowls. Carefully lade the glass onto the table. The surplus products must be laden on board the vessels.	Verb, intransitive: The hens were laying at the same rate as usual. I got laid last night. Verb, transitive: She laid the baby in his crib. He laid a comforting hand over hers. There may have been the odd light shower that laid the dust. It is advisable to have your carpet laid by a professional. The groundwork for change had been laid. She laid the table for the evening meal. The floor was laid with tiles. Henry laid the fire, anticipating the romantic evening ahead. She wouldn’t put it past him to have laid a trap for her. I’d have liked more time to have laid my plans. No one who knew the area could be in doubt where the scene was laid. She suspected he was pulling her leg, but she wouldn’t have laid money on it. As usual, he laid the blame on his little sister. She laid great stress on little courtesies. The flamingo laid only one egg. He laid a course for Ibiza harbor.
Derivatives:
Adjective: laden Noun: lader, lading	Adjective: well-laid
Phrasal Verb
	laid about one laid about someone laid into laid off laid up laid someone off laid someone out laid someone up laid something aside laid something down laid something in laid something on laid something out laid something up
History of the Word:
Early 17th century, in the sense watercourse, mouth of a river is probably a variation of lead as in to guide a person or animal forward, the Scots and Northern form of lode. From Middle English lad, from the Old English lād, from the Proto-Germanic laidō meaning a way, course. Before 900, Old English hladan meaning draw up (water) is of West Germanic origin and related to the Dutch and the German laden meaning to load, also to ladle and perhaps to lathe, and the Old Norse hlatha meaning to load. Middle English laden. Compare with ladle.	Old English lecgan is of Germanic origin and related to the Dutch leggen and the German legen. It’s also related to lie as in be in or assume a horizontal or resting position on a supporting surface.

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C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!

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