Peak, peek, or pique: how to use each one

The short answer

Peak, peek, and pique sound alike but do three different jobs. Peak is usually a noun or verb meaning the highest point, as in the mountain's peak or sales peaked in July. Peek is a verb or noun meaning a quick, often secretive look, as in take a peek inside the box. Pique is mostly a verb meaning to arouse or provoke, most often paired with interest or curiosity, as in the trailer piqued my interest.

• Peak: highest point
• Peek: a quick look
• Pique: to arouse interest or provoke a feeling

What each word means

Peak describes the top or maximum of something, whether a literal mountain peak or a figurative peak in performance, prices, or demand. It can also work as a verb, as in her career peaked in her thirties, meaning it reached its highest point and, often, began to level off or decline afterward. Peak can also work as an adjective, as in peak season or peak hours.

Peek describes a brief, careful, or curious look, often one meant to be unnoticed, as in she took a peek through the curtains. Pique, by contrast, means to stir up a feeling, most commonly curiosity, interest, or irritation, and it comes from a French word related to pricking or provoking. As a noun, a fit of pique describes a brief spell of irritation or wounded pride.

Common confusion: pique your interest

The phrase that causes the most trouble is pique someone's interest, which is frequently misspelled as peak someone's interest or peek someone's interest. The headline piqued her curiosity, not: the headline peaked her curiosity. Since the meaning is to provoke or arouse interest, pique is the only correct choice, even though peak looks more familiar and shows up far more often in everyday reading. The same rule applies to pique someone's curiosity.

All three in one context

They reached the peak just before sunset, and stopped to take a peek at the view below, which piqued their interest in climbing the next ridge too. Each word does a separate job in that sentence: peak names the summit, peek names the brief glance downward, and pique names the spark of curiosity that followed once they saw what lay beyond the ridge in the fading light.

Remember it

Picture the three words as a tiny story: you climb to the peak, take a peek at the view, and feel your curiosity piqued. Pique is the odd one out in spelling, and it is also the least common of the three, so if a sentence is about curiosity or interest being stirred, and you are tempted to write peak or peek, stop and check for pique instead.