Is It Peaked, Peeked Or Piqued My Interest? Curious?

You might use the set expression, piqued my interest.

But I’m sure you have seen different verbs before the word interest when you are reading.

The problem, of course, is that the words peak, peek and pique are homonyms. When we are speaking, these words don’t cause us any problems because they sound the same.

However, in writing, it’s better to do a quick check. Always make sure you are using the correct word before you publish anything.

Why is piqued my interest correct?

There are a lot of confusing words, and the word pique is a strange one.

The word’s origin is from the mid 16th century. It derives from the French verb piquer, which means to prick or irritate.

These two meanings still apply to the word, but now one is for the noun and the other for the verb.

When you use pique as a noun, it has the meaning of a feeling or sense of irritation or displeasure resulting from an insult that affects one’s pride.

The common expression is, he left in a fit of pique.

But pique as a verb is totally different. It means to arouse interest or curiosity in something.

So you would say, my curiosity was piqued.

That’s why we collocate the verb pique with curiosity and interest.

You can also use expressions with a similar meaning, such as it aroused or pricked my curiosity or it stirred my interest.

Why peaked and peeked are incorrect

You often see the expression using these two verbs.

In fact, I noticed this error while I was reading, and it piqued my interest enough to write this short article.

Peaked my interest is wrong. The word peak as a noun means the top point of a mountain or a similarly shaped object.

Whip egg whites to stiff peaks.

The verb peak means to reach the highest point either literally or metaphorically.

He reached the peak of his career in the seventies.

The word peek is more straightforward. The verb and noun both have the meaning of taking a quick look or glance at something.

I took a quick peek through the curtains to see what the neighbors were doing.

Therefore, neither peak nor peek work in the expression. You can’t reach the top of your interest or look at it quickly.

Other misused words you occasionally see in the expression are it picked my interest, it pricked my interest, or it pecked my interest.

These are not correct either. But it is understandable if a writer doesn’t take the time to check the word choice.

Always check your homonym use

English homonyms or homophones need extra attention when you are writing.

It’s easy to get a set expression wrong if you are deep in your thoughts and concentrating on writing your story, article, or blog post.

But readers notice.

People will be quick to criticize you, especially if you mistype set expressions.

You need to keep your mistakes to a bare/bear minimum.

Can you bear/bare with me for a few minutes?

He pored over/poured over the manuscript looking for errors.

To me, it’s a matter of principle/principal.

The only way to be sure you are correct is to refer to a good dictionary and thesaurus. Most computers have these two tools installed by default.

Writers have a vast selection of excellent free resources available online today.

Taking an extra minute to check set expressions is always good insurance.