How to pronounce “lead”
“lead” is said two ways
/lid/
leed
To guide. Long ee — and the noun meaning an advantage or a dog's lead is the same, leed.
/lɛd/
led
The metal. Short e, exactly like the past tense of the verb, led.
Listen for the vowel, not the letters
The spelling never moves; the sounds inside it do. Practise the two back to back, so your mouth stops defaulting to whichever one you learnt first.Both forms live in one sentence here: “Let her lead the tour past the old lead pipes.”Each button plays a short phrase rather than the bare word: the model voice takes its stress from the words around it, so asking it for “lead” on its own would play one reading twice instead of the verb and the noun. Read the transcription as you listen.
Say “lead” in one beat
lead
/lid/
Everything in this card describes the verb form. As a noun it is /lɛd/.
The voice you hear here is American; the British form is /liːd/ (see the table below), and a British voice is available in the app's settings.
- leadlid
- IPA (American)
- /lid/
- IPA (British)
- /liːd/
- Respelling
- leed (verb) · led (noun)
- Syllables
- 1 — lead
- Stress
- One syllable, so the whole word carries the beat — say /lid/ in one unbroken piece rather than clipping the vowel.
- Part of speech
- noun, verb
- Difficulty
- Beginner — most learners get this on the first take
American and British are not the same here
This is the verb form in two accents — a separate question from the two pronunciations above, which are the same accent saying two different words.
/lid/
/liːd/
No audio here: sayit’s voice is American, so a British button would play the American word. Read the transcription instead.
Where “lead” goes wrong
- Often heard
“leed pipes”
the metal is led; leed is the verb and the head start
What “lead” means
- noun
an advantage held by a competitor in a race
“he took the lead at the last turn”
- noun
a soft heavy toxic malleable metallic element; bluish white when freshly cut but tarnishes readily to dull grey
“the children were playing with lead soldiers”
- noun
evidence pointing to a possible solution
“the police are following a promising lead”
Say it in a sentence
“Let her lead the tour past the old lead pipes.”“lead”, answered
How do you pronounce “lead”?
“lead” has two pronunciations: /lid/ as a verb and /lɛd/ as a noun — the part of speech decides which. The spelling never changes; the sounds inside it do, and nothing on the page tells you which one a sentence wants. The transcription and syllable breakdown below describe the verb form. It is one unbroken piece — /lid/ — with no pause anywhere inside it.
How many syllables does “lead” have?
One, despite the 2 vowel letters in the spelling. The whole word is /lid/ — a single beat.
Which pronunciation of “lead” is correct?
Both are. /lid/ (leed) as a verb; /lɛd/ (led) as a noun. Nothing about the spelling tells you which — the sentence does, and the two are as different as any two words. Both appear here: “Let her lead the tour past the old lead pipes.”
Is “lead” said differently in British English?
Yes. American English says /lid/ (leed); British English says /liːd/. Both are correct — choose the accent you are learning and stay inside it.
What does “lead” mean?
As a noun: an advantage held by a competitor in a race For example: “he took the lead at the last turn” It carries 2 other senses as well — all of them said the same way.
Where is the stress in “lead”?
One syllable, so the whole word carries the beat — say /lid/ in one unbroken piece rather than clipping the vowel.
Now say “lead” and see every sound
Record it once and sayit lines your audio up against the target sound by sound — what landed, what slipped, and what it sounded like instead.