It also means “cause to go with oneself; march at the head of, go before as a guide, accompany, and show the way; carry on; sprout forth, bring forth.”  The Old English language was so complicated because so many words had several meanings. 5 Writing "Rules" That Are Really Guidelines, Tone vs. Lead means to be in charge, to show the way, or to be in front. to conduct or escort: lead them out; a heavy bluish-gray metal Not to be confused with: led – past tense of lead: He led them along the path. How to Wish Someone Well in 2021. Erin Servais is a book editor and author coach who helps authors at all stages of the writing process. One reason for the confusion might be that a similar verb, read, has an infinitive that’s spelled the same as the past tense. John Major and the Duke of Edinburgh led the mourners. She led us down the hill. past participle. People often believe that they use lead in pencils, but this is generally graphite. Dr Andy Wakefield led the field research in a project supervised by Professors Gareth Jones and Stephen Harris from the University’s School of Biological Sciences. Find conjugation of lead. The word “laedan” came from the Proto-Germanic word “laidjanan,” which means “to travel” or “to go forth”. Good luck! The past tense of lead is leaded or led. Find more words! The success of his company has led him to invest in new enterprises. The Republicans are now in the lead. The exceptions often outnumber the rules, and it can be very hard to keep track of what is right and what is wrong, especially if you find yourself working with several different groups of people with their own colloquialisms or slangs. Example 1: Please lead the way, because I really don’t know how to get to the top of this building. Infinitive - to lead Present participle - leading Past participle - led 1. Another great way to learn how to use a word is to explore the word being used correctly. To this moderately convoluted situation, add the past tense and past participle of the verb lead, which is led and pronounced like the metal noun lead with a short e. The homophonic confusion leads to homographic confusion, and you will therefore occasionally see lead in constructions where led is called for (as in, “She lead the ducklings to safety” instead of “She led … Lead is the present tense form of the verb. The word originally entered the modern English through the Old English word “laedan,” which means to guide. They have "led" the group to safety. led. Past Tense. A word’s etymology can reveal a lot about the changes a word has gone through to get to where it is today in modern English. To first understand a word, its history, and how to use it properly, it is important to first define the verb meaning. lead noun [U] (SUBSTANCE) [ U ] (symbol Pb) a chemical element that is a very heavy, soft, dark gray, poisonous metal, used especially in the past on roofs and for pipes and also for … – “lead” can also define the action of winning a game. Definition of led_1 in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. As I mentioned above, one of the reasons writers confuse led vs. lead is that the past tense led is pronounced the same as the noun lead, which has a different meaning entirely. Leading the mourners were his widow and 14-year-old daughter. For example, “he usually leads from the front” or “they lead by example”. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more. The past tense of “lead” is “led,” which is not to be confused with the separate and distinct noun, “lead,” which sounds the same, but refers to the stuff you find inside your pencil. He’s been with the school for fourteen years, and all the kids really enjoy his leadership.”, “A good general leads from the front, giving his soldiers an example to follow.”, “Leadership is a difficult trait to find; finding someone to lead a group of people can define the success of the team.”, Guide, a verb that means leading in a gentle way, pointing someone in the right direction, Conduct, a word that usually describes leadership in music, but can also refer to trains being driven by a conductor, Show, a word that means lead but also usually involves physical and visual leadership. The most common definition of "lead" as a verb is to show the way. 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: His legs felt heavy, like they were made from. Welcome to English, a language that is considered to be one of the most difficult languages in the world to master due to the complexity of its rules and the fact that it actually breaks its own rules more often than not. Bleed becomes bled , and lead becomes led .