Which to use
“peeked” and “poked” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #44,994
- “peeked” frequency rank
- #21,618
- “poked” frequency rank
- 66612
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | peeked | poked |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of peek | simple past and past participle of poke |
Where the eye mixes peeked and poked
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. peeked runs 6 letters (CVVCVC) against poked's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: peeked vs poked
A purely visual mix-up. peeked (/piːkt/) and poked (/pəʊkt/) 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 66612, 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/. poked is at rank #21,618, tagged as averb, pronounced /pəʊkt/.
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 66612, this pair ranks #67,192 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of peeked vs poked
Shared letters: dekp. Private to "peeked": -. Private to "poked": o.
"peeked" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "poked" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "peeked" and "poked" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "peeked" vs "poked" - which ranks higher?
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 "poked" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #67,192 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "peeked" and "poked" 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 #67,192 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.