Heteronym
"Lead" has two different pronunciations with two different meanings. Say LEED when it means to guide or go in front of (verb), and LED when it means a soft, heavy grey metal (noun). Which one is correct depends entirely on the sentence.
verb
LEED
to guide or go in front of
“She will lead the team.”
noun
LED
a soft, heavy grey metal
“The pipe was made of lead.”
Each button speaks the respelling, not the spelling — otherwise the speech engine would pick a single default pronunciation for both senses.
| Pronunciation | Part of speech | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| LEED | verb | to guide or go in front of |
| LED | noun | a soft, heavy grey metal |
"Lead" has two different pronunciations with two different meanings. Say LEED when it means to guide or go in front of (verb), and LED when it means a soft, heavy grey metal (noun). Which one is correct depends entirely on the sentence.
Pronounced LEED, "lead" is a verb meaning to guide or go in front of. For example: "She will lead the team."
Pronounced LED, "lead" is a noun meaning a soft, heavy grey metal. For example: "The pipe was made of lead."
"Lead" is a heteronym: two distinct words that happen to be spelled the same way. English spelling did not standardise around pronunciation, so unrelated words sometimes converged on one spelling while keeping separate sounds.
See the full entry for “lead”, browse all 76 heteronyms and stress pairs, or learn how English stress works.