| 100% | DARES | 5 | Lead-ins to games of chicken |
| 71% | DARE | 4 | One may lead to a game of chicken |
| 65% | DARE | 4 | Precursor to a game of chicken |
| 63% | PHONO | 5 | Lead-in to “graph,” in the early days of audio recording |
| 61% | CLOSED | 6 | Came in to pitch at the end of a game |
| 60% | ROADS | 5 | In a saying, all of them lead to Rome |
| 59% | ANYONES | 7 | Lead-in to guess or game |
| 59% | PRE | 3 | Lead-in to prom or game |
| 59% | SETPOINT | 8 | In tennis, the last one to win a group of games |
| 59% | HEARTS | 6 | Game in which players tend to avoid the queen of spades |
| 59% | ROADS | 5 | All of them lead to Rome, in a saying |
| 58% | PRE | 3 | Lead-in to game or set |
| 58% | HADTHECODENAMECROSSWORD | 23 | Negotiations leading to the surrender of German troops in Italy _____ |
| 58% | TIE | 3 | Type of score that leads to extra innings in baseball |
| 57% | IMHO | 4 | Lead-in to a point of view, online |
| 57% | HOO | 3 | Lead-in to boy or follower of yoo |
| 57% | IFEAR | 5 | Lead-in to a bit of bad news |
| 57% | ALAS | 4 | Lead-in to a bit of sad news |
| 57% | CHASE | 5 | Try to catch in a game of tag |
| 57% | SKY | 3 | "Scanner" lead-in to mean one of the biggest travel booking sites in the world |
| 57% | DERMA | 5 | Lead-in to the names of some skin products |
| 56% | OOH | 3 | Lead in to "la-la" |
| 56% | OOH | 3 | Lead in to la-la |
| 56% | CARAY | 5 | Hall-of-Fame sportscaster Harry who regularly led the Wrigley Field crowd in singing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" |
| 55% | INDIAN | 6 | ← Member of the only team to win this many games in a season |
| 55% | CARAY | 5 | Harry who led Wrigley crowds in "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" |
| 55% | AUTO | 4 | Lead-in to straddle, in the name of an online magazine |
| 55% | BIO | 3 | Lead-in to "degradable" for an environment-friendly type of material |
| 54% | ALOUS | 5 | Only trio of brothers to play together in the outfield in an MLB game |
| 54% | CHITS | 5 | Notes of indebtedness to the one who trounced you in the weekend poker game |