peekvspyeConfusable pair

Quick tell: peek is a verb, pye is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“peek” is a verb and “pye” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#11,262
“peek” frequency rank
#46,714
“pye” frequency rank
57976
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature peek pye
Definition To look slyly, or with the eyes half closed, or through a crevice; to peep. Archaic spelling of pie (pastry food).

Letter map: peek vs pye

Shared letters muted; letters that set peek and pye apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. peek runs 4 letters (CVVC) against pye's 3 (CVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
peek
3 ch
pye

Grammar separator: peek vs pye

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: peek is averb and pyeanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57976, 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/. pye is at rank #46,714, tagged as anoun.

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 57976, this pair ranks #115,675 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of peek vs pye

Shared letters: ep. Private to "peek": k. Private to "pye": y.

"peek" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "pye" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • peek ← epek · peekk · pek · peke · ppeek

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "peek" and "pye" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "peek" is a verb and "pye" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary English text, does "peek" or "pye" show up more?
"peek" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,262 in our English list, against #46,714 for "pye". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "peek" and "pye". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "peek" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pye" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #115,675 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "peek" and "pye" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "PPA vs pye". 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 #115,675 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list