piqued

/piːkt/

//piːkt// verb

"piqued" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“piqued” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #40,391 in English word frequency and used as a verb.

#40,391
frequency rank, English
6
letters
8
tracked misspellings
10
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - simple past and past participle of pique

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

piqued vs pissed
67% similar
piqued vs pitted
67% similar
piqued vs pied
67% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for piqued
PropertyValue
Headwordpiqued
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
IPA/piːkt/
Letters6
Frequency rank#40,391
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs10
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “piqued” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). piqued lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for piqued is 6 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /piːkt/. Corpus data places it at rank #40,391 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "simple past and past participle of pique".

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for piqued, with forms such as "ipqued", "piqeud", and "piqqued". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 10 confusable-pair relationships, "pissed", "pitted", "pied", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct English form is piqued, spelled P-I-Q-U-E-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    simple past and past participle of pique

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: ipqued,piqeud,piqqued,piqude,piquedd,piuqed,ppiqued,pqiued

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of piqued - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

ipqued2piqeud2piqqued1piqude2piquedd1piuqed2ppiqued1pqiued2
Edit distance from "piqued"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "piqued"?
"piqued" is spelled P-I-Q-U-E-D. The IPA pronunciation is /piːkt/.
What does "piqued" mean?
As a verb, "piqued" means: simple past and past participle of pique
What words are commonly confused with "piqued"?
"piqued" is commonly confused with "pissed", "pitted", "pied". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "piqued"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "piqued" is /piːkt/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "piqued" come from?
"piqued" is a English word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “piqued”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is P-I-Q-U-E-D - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as /piːkt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Don't mix it up with “pissed” - see the side-by-side comparison. piqued vs pissed
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list