Led Not Lead

Probably the second-most common spelling error among programmers (after LoseNotLoose) is to use the word lead when the word ought to be led (for the past tense of the word that sounds like "leed").

This probably results from some errant connection in the programmer brain between this word and "read", which is spelled the same (but pronounced differently) in both its present and past tenses.

I thought this was gonna be a page about LedZeppelin?'s name. ;-)

Of course, the name Led Zeppelin reportedly came about when one of TheBeatles?, upon hearing that Robert Plant and Jimmy Page were forming a band, jokingly remarked that it would "go over as well as a lead zeppelin".

How do you spell lead as in the metal (Pb)? You say it the same as led. It's a simple mistake to make.

Lead the metal is spelled just as you wrote it: "lead".

Yes and you say it the same as led. Hence why people misspell 'led' as lead - not because they are simply DunderHead?s, but because they know how to spell lead (Pb), and assume that the past participle of lead is also spelt that way. Although why one would assume that is beyond me.

Then there's 'leading', the spacing between lines of printed text. This 'leading' is pronounced ledding. This one can seem puzzling, but the etymology of the word isn't that the spaces "lead" [leed] the lines. It comes from the lead [led] shims printers used to do this on movable presses.

Yeah, don't be misled about the pronunciation! (The first time I read "misled" aloud, it came out "missled". Ain't English grand?)