“The story peaked my interest.”
Confusables Entry 1352 / 1605 60-second read
Pique vs. Peak / Peek
To stir up versus a summit versus a look.
The comparisoni
“The story piqued my interest — pique means to stimulate. Peak is a summit; peek is a glance.”
The ruleii
¶
PIQUE = provoke. PEAK = summit. PEEK = look.
PIQUE comes from French — to prick or provoke. The idiom is "pique someone's interest." Modern writers default to "peaked" because it looks ordinary; it's a misspelling of an uncommon word.
Memory aidiii
Remember it like this
IQU in pIQUe = the prick that stirs.