Use piqued for feelings — someone piqued your interest, or felt piqued at a slight. Use peaked for shapes and appearances — a peaked roof, or a peaked, pale face. A handy hook: piqued rhymes with leaked, as in feelings that leak out; peaked rhymes with beaked, as in a pointed beak.
The core difference
Peaked describes a pointed shape or a pale, tired look, while piqued describes a feeling of mild annoyance or aroused interest.
- peaked — pointed, or looking pale and unwell: The cabin had a steeply peaked roof to shed snow.
- piqued — mildly annoyed or offended, or with interest stirred up: She felt piqued when her idea was dismissed without discussion.
How to tell them apart
The confusion usually comes from the fixed phrase "pique someone's interest," which people often misspell as "peak" or "peek" their interest. Since piqued is about a feeling being stirred or wounded, picture something being pricked — pique comes from the same idea as a small jab to the pride.
Peaked, by contrast, is about shape or appearance: a roof coming to a point, or a face looking drawn and pale, as if the colour has been worn off the top. If you can swap in "pointed" or "pale," you want peaked; if you can swap in "annoyed" or "stirred," you want piqued.
