Which to use
“pâque” and “pique” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #31,666
- “pâque” frequency rank
- #5,061
- “pique” frequency rank
- 36727
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pâque | pique |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Variante orthographique de Pâque. | Sorte d’arme formée d’un long bois dont le bout est garni d’un fer plat et pointu. |
Where the eye mixes pâque and pique
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. pâque and pique follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between pâque and pique
A purely visual mix-up. pâque (\pɑk\) and pique (\pik\) 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 a single letter - â in “pâque” becomes i in “pique”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36727, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pâque is recorded at frequency rank #31,666, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɑk\. pique is at rank #5,061, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pik\.
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 36727, this pair ranks #267,542 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pâque vs pique
Shared letters: epqu. Private to "pâque": â. Private to "pique": i.
"pâque" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "pique" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- pique ← ipque · piqeu · piqque · piuqe · ppique · pqiue
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pâque" for "pique" ever safe?
Frequency check: "pâque" vs "pique" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "pâque" 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 #267,542 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pâque" and "pique" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pâque vs pasque". 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 #267,542 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.