Which to use
“piece” is a noun and “pique” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #975
- “piece” frequency rank
- #31,706
- “pique” frequency rank
- 32681
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | piece | pique |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A part of a larger whole, usually in such a form that it is able to be separated from other parts. | To wound the pride of (someone); to excite to anger; to irritate, to offend. |
Where the eye mixes piece and pique
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. piece (CVVCV) and pique (CVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between piece and pique
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: piece is /piːs/ while pique is /piːk/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32681, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
piece is recorded at frequency rank #975, classified as anoun, pronounced /piːs/. 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 32681, this pair ranks #335,804 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of piece vs pique
Shared letters: eip. Private to "piece": c. Private to "pique": qu.
"piece" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "pique" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "piece" for "pique" ever safe?
Frequency check: "piece" vs "pique" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "piece" 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 #335,804 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "piece" 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 #335,804 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.