The past tense of the verb lead is led, not lead. One reason for the confusion might be that a similar verb, read, has an infinitive that’s spelled the same as the past tense. But with lead, that’s not how things are.
- Led is the correct way to spell the past tense of lead.
- Lead is a common misspelling of the past tense of the verb lead.
Definition of led
Led is the past tense of the verb lead:
By the way, if you see the word led written in uppercase—LED—it’s an acronym that stands for light emitting diode, which is, as its name says, a diode that emits light.
What Does lead mean?
Lead is also the name of a certain type of metal. However, when it’s used for the metal, the word lead is pronounced just like led, which can add to the confusion:
The soft core of a pencil is also sometimes referred to as lead, even though it’s made out of graphite and doesn’t usually contain lead:
