Which to use
“peaked” is an adjective and “peeked” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #15,023
- “peaked” frequency rank
- #44,994
- “peeked” frequency rank
- 60017
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | peaked | peeked |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Having a peak or peaks. | simple past and past participle of peek |
Same sound, different letters: peaked vs peeked
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters. peaked and peeked follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Same sound, different spelling - peaked / peeked
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: peaked and peeked carry the same recorded pronunciation, /piːkt/. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by a single letter - a in “peaked” becomes e in “peeked”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60017, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
peaked is recorded at frequency rank #15,023, classified as anadj, pronounced /piːkt/. peeked is at rank #44,994, tagged as averb, pronounced /piːkt/.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 60017, this pair ranks #102,688 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of peaked vs peeked
Shared letters: dekp. Private to "peaked": a. Private to "peeked": -.
"peaked" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "peeked" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "peaked" for "peeked" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "peaked" or "peeked" show up more?
What to do next
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "peaked" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "peeked" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #102,688 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "peaked" and "peeked" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "peeked vs peeks". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #102,688 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.