Lead (disambiguation)

"For the Wikipedia guideline for the lead paragraph(s) of an article, see ."

Lead can have several meanings and pronunciations, usually related to either the chemical element lead or the verb "to lead".

Meanings associated with the chemical element

All of these meanings are pronounced IPA| [lɛd] (to rhyme with "bed"):

* Lead, the chemical element
* Pencil lead, which is actually graphite
* Lead line ("the lead"), to measure water depth, in navigation

Meanings associated with the verb "to lead"

(Note: the past tense of the verb "to lead", that is, "led", is frequently misspelled as "lead". This is due to confusion with the correct spelling of the past tense of "to read", which is indeed "read" and rhymes with "bed".)

All of these meanings are pronounced IPA| [liːd] (to rhyme with "bead"):

* Lead actor or lead actress
* Lead singer
* Lead instrument, such as lead guitar
* Lead and follow, the direction or guidance one partner communicates to the other
* Lead (geology), a subsurface feature with the potential to have entrapped oil or gas
* Lead (electronics), a metallic wire for electrical devices and equipments
* A leash used to lead an animal
* Lead, the first part of every orthographic syllable in Hangul, also known as "initial"
* Lead compound, a chemical compound in drug discovery
* Lead, the amount of distance aimed in front of a moving target
* Lead (news) (or "lede") the leading news story, or leading part of a news story
* A news lead, is a tip or clue that may lead to the uncovering of interesting facts
* A sales lead, a potential customer
* Lead paragraph, the opening paragraph of an article
* Lead (steam engine), a valve timing parameter
* Lead (sea ice), a temporary stretch of open water in arctic ice
* Lead-lag compensator, a component in a control system
* Lead off, in baseball, a baserunner's position from the base he occupies
* Lead (leg), the leg that advances most in a quadruped's cantering or galloping stride

Other meanings

* Lead, South Dakota (pronounced [liːd] ), a city in the United States
* Lead (band)
* Pay per lead, a method of marketing
* Lead (engineering)