Bzzing aBout

In English we are familiar with the verb "read" being used both as present and past form, with only the pronunciation being different:

"read" pronounced as "reed" being the present tense: "Can you read Ancient script?"; and
"read" pronounced as "red" being the past tense: "Yes, I read that panel already."

The verb "lead" follows a different pattern. Here, present and past are not only pronounced differently, they are also spelled differently. The difficulty comes in because there is a noun which is spelled like the present tense, and pronounced like the past tense, causing the following pattern:

"lead" pronounced as "leed" being the present tense of the verb: "Lead me to the Stargate;"
"lead" pronounced as "led" being the noun for a soft gray metal: "We need more lead for the bullets;" and
"led" pronounced as "led" being the past tense of the verb: "She led them safely past the traps." Moreover,
"leaden," pronounced as "ledden" is the adjective: "Her limbs were leaden with exhaustion."

This is not less problematic because of the word "tread," which follows an even different pattern:

"tread" pronounced "tred" being the noun for a stairstep: "He built each tread very carefully to eliminate creaks," AND
"tread" pronounced "tred" being the present tense for a verb meaning "to take a step:" "Tread carefully among these trees, Colonel," BUT
"trod" pronounced either as "trode" or as "trod" being the kind of past tense where: "the halls of Atlantis where John trod" AND
"trodden" being the adverb meaning "worn or customary" as in "Downtrodden" or "well-trodden."

Have fun, but be careful!