pique

\pik\

/\pik\/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“pique” has 6 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #5,061. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#5,061
frequency rank, French
6,826
“P” headwords
6
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Sorte d’arme formée d’un long bois dont le bout est garni d’un fer plat et pointu.

Corpus desk

Index FR-pique · pique · French

pique · rank #5,061 · 6 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #5,061
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 6 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,826
  • PHOTO-FINISH physiquement

Nearest frequency peer: physiquement (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « pique »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « pique » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

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

pique vs pue
60% similar
pique vs pire
60% similar
pique vs piste
60% similar

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

Key facts for pique
PropertyValue
Headwordpique
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\pik\
Letters5
Frequency rank#5,061
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « pique »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).piquese place ici:

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

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « physiquement » (#5,060), « placés » (#5,062), « permanent » (#5,059). Parmi 6,826 lemmes en « P », « pique » est au #5,061. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 6 spelling variants around pique (IPA \pik\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #5,061 among 6,826 “P” headwords. Wiktionary lists 7 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for pique, with forms such as "ipque", "piqeu", and "piqque". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "pue", "pire", "piste", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is pique, spelled P-I-Q-U-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Sorte d’arme formée d’un long bois dont le bout est garni d’un fer plat et pointu.
  2. 2
    Soldat qui portait la pique dans un régiment.
  3. 3
    Mesure de longueur de la grandeur de cette arme.
  4. 4
    Objet piquant de forme pointue.
  5. 5
    Synonyme de bar commun, le poisson.
  6. 6
    Parole, expression volontairement blessante.
  7. 7
    Meuble représentant l’arme du même nom dans les armoiries. À rapprocher de dard, épieu, javelot, lance et lance de tournoi.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how pique appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. […]; tous tenaient à la main droite ou des épées, ou des piques, ou des arquebuses, et quelques-uns, à la main gauche, des flambeaux qui répandaient sur cette scène un jour funèbre et vacillant, […].
  2. […] tous les hommes en état de porter les armes furent mis en activité. On s'enrôla sur les places publiques ; on fabriqua des fusils et des piques.

This word in other languages

pike(English)pica(Español)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ipque
  • piqeu
  • piqque
  • piuqe
  • ppique
  • pqiue

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of pique - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

ipque2piqeu2piqque1piuqe2ppique1pqiue2
Edit distance from "pique"

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 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "pique"?
"pique" is spelled P-I-Q-U-E. The IPA pronunciation is \pik\.
What does "pique" mean?
As a noun, "pique" means: Sorte d’arme formée d’un long bois dont le bout est garni d’un fer plat et pointu.
What words are commonly confused with "pique"?
"pique" is commonly confused with "pue", "pire", "piste". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "pique"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "pique" is \pik\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "pique" come from?
"pique" is a French 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.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "pique", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

plats#5,063Oscar#5,055rangs#5,070Lucas#5,048

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).

appart6 variantsassaut6 variantsasile6 variantsalice6 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list