Grammar Tips & Articles »

led, lead

This Grammar.com article is about led, lead — enjoy your reading!

35 sec read
4,596 Views
  Ed Good  —  Grammar Tips
Font size:

Note: The differences between led and lead are discussed in the Common Grammatical Mistakes section of Grammar.com. Click here for that discussion.

The word lead means “to guide” or “to be in front.” The word led is the past tense and the past participle of the verb to lead.

Many writers incorrectly use lead in the past tense. Perhaps they reason that if read (pronounced “red”) is the past tense of read (pronounced “reed”), then lead must be the past tense of lead. But it isn’t. The past tense and the past participle of lead is led.

Example: He said he would never lead me astray, but he led me straight to his favorite bar anyway.

Rate this article:

     

Have a discussion about this article with the community:

0 Comments

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this article to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "led, lead." Grammar.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 Dec. 2024. <https://www.grammar.com/led-lead>.

    Powered by CITE.ME Cite.Me

    Checkout our entire collection of

    Grammar Articles

    Free, no signup required:

    Add to Chrome

    Check your text and writing for style, spelling and grammar problems everywhere on the web!

    Free, no signup required:

    Add to Firefox

    Check your text and writing for style, spelling and grammar problems everywhere on the web!

    Browse Grammar.com

    #ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 

    Free Writing Tool:

    Instant
    Grammar Checker

    Improve your grammar, vocabulary, style, and writing — all for FREE!


    Quiz

    Are you a grammar master?

    »
    Identify the sentence with correct use of the preposition 'during':
    A They had a picnic during the summer.
    B The cat is hiding during the noise.
    C She read a book during the flight.
    D He walked during the storm.

    Improve your writing now:

    Download Grammar eBooks

    It’s now more important than ever to develop a powerful writing style. After all, most communication takes place in reports, emails, and instant messages.