Certain sets of words in the English language tend to confuse writers. I have found the following to be among them:
LED / LEAD
These words are confusing because lead (pronounced leed) is the present tense of the verb to lead, and led is the past tense of that same verb. The noun lead (pronounced led, just like the verb led) is the name of a metallic element. So, the written word spelled l-e-a-d has two different pronunciations and two very different meanings. The words lead and led, on the other hand, when pronounced differently, have the same root word with only temporal differences in meaning: lead is happening now while led happened in the past.
INCORRECT: Yesterday I lead the afternoon tour at the museum.
CORRECT: Yesterday I led the afternoon tour at the museum.
ALSO CORRECT: Today and every Friday I lead the band in practice at 4:00 pm.
ALSO CORRECT: The atomic number of the heavy metal lead (Pb on the periodic table) is 82.
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