Why is “false” stronger than “misleading”?

Consider:

“The Earth is round.”

False means:

The proposition itself does not correspond to reality.

Misleading is different.

A statement can be individually true but produce a false impression.

Example

Suppose I say:

“Professor X published 50 articles.”

That is true.

But suppose I deliberately omit:

45 of those articles were minor pieces and the professor's major research contribution was very limited.

My statement isn't necessarily false.

But if I present it to create the impression:

“Professor X is an exceptionally influential scholar,”

it could be misleading.