Peaked My Interest or Piqued My Interest? Which is correct?

Vocabulary / By

You want to tell someone that they have gotten your attention. You are writing this in a letter, email, or social media post or you would just say it. “You have peaked my interest!” or is it, “You have piqued my interest!”?

If you are going to use this exact phrase, “piqued my interest” is the correct word spelling to you.

Both “peaked” and “piqued” sound the same when you say it out loud, so many people aren’t even aware that “piqued” exists when they go to write the phrase. Keep reading to learn more about the differences between peaked and piqued, as well as how you can use them both to express your interest.

Why Use “Piqued”?

The homophones, “piqued” and “peaked”, like “deer” and “dear” are two words that sound the same but mean two totally different things.

“Piqued” in the phrase, “piqued my interest” means to excite or arouse.

Example:

  • Speaker 1: Want to go talk to the best poker player in the world?
  • Speaker 2: Best poker player in the world? You have piqued my interest.

Notice that Speaker 2 is excited by the opportunity to speak with the best poker player in the world. The prospect of having a conversation with that person may even make Speaker 2 more interested in the activity than before.

Why We Don’t Use “Peaked”?

“Peaked” means to increase something to its high degree or form, like “the peak of a mountain” or “the highest peak of the building.”

If you are referring to interest, you would not usually want to use “peak” in this way.

Example:

  • Phrase: “You have peaked my interest.”
  • Meaning: “You have highest pointed my interest.”

Versus

  • Phrase: “You have piqued my interest.”
  • Meaning: “You have aroused my interest.”

Notice that “piqued” has a meaning that is closer to the emotion that you are trying to convey about your interest.

How to Use Peaked in Terms of Interest

If you want to use the word “peaked” to convey that you are interested in a subject. You could change the wording a little to make the meaning match the contact a little better.

Example:

  • Speaker 1: What to go to a concert?
  • Speaker 2: You’ve piqued my interest, but it depends on who it is.
  • Speaker 1: Cardi B
  • Speaker 2: Okay, now my interest is really peaked.

Note the two different ways they explain their interest. At first, the thought of a concert arouses their interest, then finding out that Cardi B is the performer heightens it to its highest level of interest.

Final Thoughts

Both “piqued” and “peaked” can be used to discuss your interest in something as long as you word the sentence to match the meaning of the word you are using. With that said, however, the phrase “Piqued my interest” will always be the correct spelling.

 

Conor
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