# peak

> English word · Noun · IPA /piːk/ · frequency rank #2,847

## Definitions
1. A point; the sharp end or top of anything that terminates in a point; as, the peak, or front, of a cap.
2. The highest value reached by some quantity in a time period.
3. The top, or one of the tops, of a hill, mountain, or range, ending in a point.
4. The whole hill or mountain, especially when isolated.
5. visor (horizontal part of a cap sticking out in front and shading the wearer's eyes)
6. The upper aftermost corner of a fore-and-aft sail.
7. The narrow part of a vessel's bow, or the hold within it.
8. The extremity of an anchor fluke; the bill.
9. A local maximum of a function, e.g. for sine waves, each point at which the value of y is at its maximum.
10. Something of exceptional quality.

## Etymology
From earlier peake, peek, peke, from Middle English pek (in place names), itself an alteration of pike, pyke, pyk (“a sharp point, pike”), from Old English pīc, piic (“a pike, needle, pin, peak, pinnacle”), from Proto-West Germanic *pīk, from Proto-Germanic *pīkaz (“peak”).
Cognate with Dutch piek (“pike, point, summit, peak”), Danish pik (“pike, peak”), Swedish pik (“pike, lance, point, peak”), Norwegian pik (“peak, summit”). More at pike.

## Easily confused with
- **PK** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/peak-vs-pk)
- **per** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/peak-vs-per)
- **pet** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/peak-vs-pet)
- **pen** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/peak-vs-pen)
- **pee** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/peak-vs-pee)
- **PGA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/peak-vs-pga)
- **pep** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/peak-vs-pep)
- **peg** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/peak-vs-peg)
- **PSA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/peak-vs-psa)
- **pew** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/peak-vs-pew)
- **PLA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/peak-vs-pla)
- **pia** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/peak-vs-pia)
- **PTA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/peak-vs-pta)
- **PKK** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/peak-vs-pkk)
- **pes** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/peak-vs-pes)
- **PEI** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/peak-vs-pei)
- **PRA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/peak-vs-pra)
- **ped** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/peak-vs-ped)
- **PFA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/peak-vs-pfa)
- **poa** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/peak-vs-poa)

## Common misspellings (5)
`epak`, `paek`, `peakk`, `peka`, `ppeak`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/peak