moral

give, take
The government should give a lead in tackling racism.

follow

lead in
We should follow their lead in banning chemical weapons.

lead on
corporations that have chosen to take the lead on the privacy issue

big, clear, comfortable, commanding, good, healthy, huge, significant, sizeable, solid, strong, substantial
For the time being, China has a solid lead over India.

narrow, slight, slim, small
two-game, three-length, ten-point, etc.
overall
early

be in, gain, have
She has a narrow lead over the other runners.

go into, move into, take
They took an early lead.

build, build up, establish
The team has now built up a commanding lead.

hold, keep, maintain, retain
lose
regain, retake
They regained the lead with only a few minutes left to play.

put sb/sth (back) into
That game puts her back into the lead.

extend, increase, open, open up, widen
Houston increased their lead to 13–7
He had opened up a small lead over his opponent.

give

in the lead, into the lead
We were struggling to stay in the lead.

lead over
This win gives the team a two-point lead over their closest rival.

romantic
female, male

play
Her big break came when she was chosen to play the lead in a Broadway musical.

sing
She sings lead on four tracks.

character, role
actor, actress, dancer, singer, vocalist, vocals
guitar, guitarist

good, promising, solid
Some promising leads are already emerging.
They have several solid leads in their investigation.

new
possible
The police are following every possible lead.

false
It turned out to be a false lead.

have
find, get
Did you find any leads when you searched it?
At last we got a lead on the McCreary case.

follow, pursue
give

lead as to
He said that he has a lead as to where Dylan may be.

lead on
leads on the murderer's identity

Lead is used with these nouns as the subject:
flight, footpath, footprint, general, idea, lane, nerve, passage, path, pipe, road, route, street, track, trail, tunnel, wire

Lead is used with these nouns as the object:
army, assault, attack, band, boycott, brigade, campaign, charge, church, class, coalition, congregation, contingent, convoy, country, coup, crew, crusade, delegation, demonstration, development, discussion, division, effort, enquiry, existence, expedition, faction, field, fight, follower, force, group, horse, hunt, initiative, insurrection, investigation, league, life, lifestyle, march, mob, movement, mutiny, nation, negotiation, opposition, orchestra, pack, panel, parade, party, poll, pony, prayer, procession, project, protest, race, rebel, rebellion, regime, research, retreat, revival, revolt, revolution, rising, search, seminar, side, singing, squad, struggle, syndicate, task force, team, tour, tribute, troops, uprising, way, workshop, world, worship