confuse
Americanverb (used with object)
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confuses,
present (3rd person singular)
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confused,
past participle, past
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confusing
present participle
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to perplex or bewilder.
The flood of questions confused me.
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to make unclear or indistinct.
The rumors and angry charges tended to confuse the issue.
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to fail to distinguish between; associate by mistake; confound.
to confuse dates;
He always confuses the twins.
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to disconcert or abash.
His candor confused her.
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to combine without order; jumble; disorder.
Try not to confuse the papers on the desk.
- Synonyms:
- disturb, disarrange, disarray
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Archaic. to bring to ruin or naught.
verb
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to bewilder; perplex
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to mix up (things, ideas, etc); jumble
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to make unclear
he confused his talk with irrelevant details
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to fail to recognize the difference between; mistake (one thing) for another
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to disconcert; embarrass
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to cause to become disordered
the enemy ranks were confused by gas
Synonym Usage
Confuse, disconcert, embarrass imply temporary interference with the clear working of one's mind. To confuse is to produce a general bewilderment: to confuse someone by giving complicated directions. To disconcert is to disturb one's mind by irritation, perplexities, etc.: to disconcert someone by asking irrelevant questions. To embarrass is to cause one to be ill at ease or uncomfortable, so that one's usual judgment and presence of mind desert one: to embarrass someone by unexpected rudeness.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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confusabilitynoun
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preconfuseverb (used with object)
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reconfuseverb (used with object)
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confusableadjective
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unconfusableadjective
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confusablyadverb
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unconfusablyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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confusesimple
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confusessimple
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have confusedperfect
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has confusedperfect
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am confusingprogressive
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are confusingprogressive
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is confusingprogressive
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have been confusingperfect progressive
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has been confusingperfect progressive
Past
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confusedsimple
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had confusedperfect
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was confusingprogressive
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were confusingprogressive
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had been confusingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of confuse
First recorded in 1300–50; from Old French confus “perplexed,” from Latin confūsus “mixed, poured,” past participle of confundere; see confound
Explanation
If you confuse two things, you are not correctly identifying them. If you confuse heartburn with a heart attack, you might end up at the emergency room instead of in the antacid aisle of the drugstore. To confuse can also mean to bewilder. If you tell a teacher that she's confusing you, you probably mean that she's being more complex than you can handle. A lot of people get confused by the differences among "their," "they're," and "there." To confuse the situation even further, there's "theirs" and "there's."
Vocabulary lists containing confuse
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Attackers can deliberately alter fake videos in subtle ways designed to confuse a detector and make manipulated footage appear authentic.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 1, 2026
‘Celebrity endorsements sell investments for the same reason they sell shoes: People confuse familiarity with trust.’
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026
Often they would motion Mosley from one spot to another, to confuse the defense.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
Nor should its members confuse remembering everything with understanding anything.
From Salon ● Sep. 8, 2026
The aim is to confuse the male moth and alter the normal behavior so that, in the welter of attractive scents, he cannot find the true scent trail leading to the female.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
That claim confuses the moral freedom of individuals with a particular religious or institutional order.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
“It confuses the market” that growth expectations didn’t get a lift despite AI-chip revenue jumping more than 143% from a year ago, Mulberry said.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 5, 2026
This creates what is known as the doorway effect, which confuses our brains.
From BBC ● May 29, 2026
Day trader Alex Henderson confuses his betrothed Ashley Carpenter with a shifting backstory involving frequent moves and overlapping dating histories, all attributed to his “nomadic lifestyle.”
From Salon ● Mar. 8, 2026
“Here and now confuses their equipment. You can’t ever say Logan County strangeness isn’t good for something.”
From "The Last Last-Day-of-Summer" by Lamar Giles
When Alexander, not yet 30 years old, crossed the Hindu Kush, his conquest tipped from plunder, expansion and avenging Persian invasions into an epic and increasingly confused fantasy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
Comic and writer Miranda Hart also thinks Grant could be a faithful, but admitted she is confused.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
Smith looked genuinely confused and asked what city that would be in.
From Salon ● Oct. 1, 2026
Smith, as you might expect, was confused by this line of questioning, stammering that he didn’t recall attending any Hawks games.
From Slate ● Sep. 29, 2026
I thought of Father’s final hours, alone and confused, in a hospital corridor.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
And, as I explained in my last column, bond gauges offer some confusing contradictions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026
“And I made all these missteps because I was also a kid. And then young adulthood was confusing because I had been waiting for everyone to get old enough to be friends with me.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026
Tulloch added this can be "confusing" because those removed from a tragedy can feel they do not have a right to grieve.
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026
This is where things get confusing, as three days after the Missouri Supreme Court issued its ruling, Hoskins ran to the U.S.
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026
It turned out he’d been given confusing instructions on his last visit to the clinic, and he hadn’t received his monthly five dollars.
From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
