Which to use
“peek” and “pique” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,262
- “peek” frequency rank
- #31,706
- “pique” frequency rank
- 42968
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | peek | pique |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To look slyly, or with the eyes half closed, or through a crevice; to peep. | To wound the pride of (someone); to excite to anger; to irritate, to offend. |
Same sound, different letters: peek vs pique
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 2 letters. peek runs 4 letters (CVVC) against pique's 5 (CVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - peek and pique
This is the hard kind. peek and pique are pronounced identically (/piːk/) and both work as averb. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42968, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
peek is recorded at frequency rank #11,262, classified as averb, pronounced /piːk/. pique is at rank #31,706, tagged as averb, pronounced /piːk/.
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 42968, this pair ranks #244,443 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of peek vs pique
Shared letters: ep. Private to "peek": k. Private to "pique": iqu.
"peek" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "pique" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "peek" for "pique" ever safe?
Frequency check: "peek" vs "pique" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
You've separated the homophone pair "peek" / "pique". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "peek" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pique" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #244,443 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "peek" and "pique" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pique vs piqued". 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 #244,443 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.