Lend is the verb everyone accepts: "Could you lend me your ladder?" Loan is the noun: "He took out a loan to buy the van." Loan is also used as a verb, especially in American English and about money or artworks — "the museum loaned us the painting" — but lend is never wrong, so it is the safer choice.
The core difference
Split by part of speech first. The action is lending; the thing lent is a loan. "She lent me the deposit" describes the act; "she gave me a loan" describes the arrangement. That much is uncontroversial.
The argument is only about loan used as a verb — "she loaned me the deposit" — and the honest answer is that it depends where you are and what you are writing.
Where loan-as-a-verb stands
It is fully standard in American English and has been in continuous use for centuries. It is entirely normal in two contexts everywhere, including Britain:
- Formal financial transactions: "the bank loaned the company £2m."
- Objects lent for display or use: "the collection was loaned to the gallery", "a player loaned to Leeds for the season."
British usage guides have long objected to it in everyday contexts, and many British readers still find "loan me a fiver" jarring where an American would not notice. That is a preference about register, not a rule of grammar — but it is a real preference, held by real editors.
The test
If the sentence is figurative, only lend will do. You cannot loan a hand, loan an ear, loan weight to an argument or have a room loan itself to conversion. Try the substitution: if you can replace the verb with give temporarily and the object is a physical thing or money, either verb works; if the meaning is abstract, use lend.
Forms
Lend is irregular — lend, lent, lent. Loan is regular — loan, loaned, loaned. British writers who accept loaned as a verb still write lent in ordinary speech, so both forms coexist without difficulty.
What to actually do
Use lend as your default verb and loan as your default noun. That combination is correct in every variety of English and will never draw a comment. Reach for loan as a verb when the context is institutional — banks, museums, football clubs — where it sounds more natural than lend even to British ears.
Note also the idioms that fix each word in place: lend a hand, lend an ear, lend itself to, lending library on one side; student loan, loan shark, on loan, loanword on the other. None of these swap.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is "loaned me the money" incorrect?
Not incorrect, but it is regional in feel. It is fully standard American English and normal everywhere for banks and institutions; in casual British writing, lent is the safer choice.
Is it "lend a hand" or "loan a hand"?
Lend a hand. All the figurative uses — lend a hand, lend an ear, lend weight, lends itself to — take lend only.
What is the past tense of lend?
Lent. "He lent me his car." Loan, if you use it as a verb, takes the regular loaned.