peekedvspeeksWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“peeked” and “peeks” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#44,994
“peeked” frequency rank
#47,252
“peeks” frequency rank
92246
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature peeked peeks
Definition simple past and past participle of peek third-person singular simple present indicative of peek

Where the eye mixes peeked and peeks

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. peeked runs 6 letters (CVVCVC) against peeks's 5 (CVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
peeked
5 ch
peeks

Visual trap between peeked and peeks

A purely visual mix-up. peeked (/piːkt/) and peeks (/piːks/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 92246, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

peeked is recorded at frequency rank #44,994, classified as averb, pronounced /piːkt/. peeks is at rank #47,252, tagged as averb, pronounced /piːks/.

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 92246, this pair ranks #2,710 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of peeked vs peeks

Shared letters: ekp. Private to "peeked": d. Private to "peeks": s.

"peeked" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "peeks" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • peeked ← epeked · peeekd · peekde · peekedd · peekked · peked · pekeed · ppeeked
  • peeks ← epeks · peekks · peekss · peesk · pekes · peks · ppeeks

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "peeked" and "peeks" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/piːkt/ versus /piːks/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "peeked" vs "peeks" - which ranks higher?
"peeked" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #44,994 in our English list, against #47,252 for "peeks". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "peeked" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "peeks" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,710 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "peeked" and "peeks" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pecs 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 #2,710 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