mistake for

Idioms  

1. Take someone or something for someone or something else, as in I'm sorry, I mistook you for her sister, or Don't mistake that friendly smile for good intentions; he's a tough competitor. [c. 1600]

---

Example Sentences

He tells us about the origins of tumbleweeds and how they roll; why Ogden Nash mocked the oboe; what napalm is and what it does; and why it’s a mistake for scientists to write in Esperanto.

From The Wall Street Journal

"As many of you, I have not slept, and probably this has not helped, as well as my advanced age," said Correa do Lago, in his mid-sixties, apologizing as he blamed an honest mistake for missing Colombia's point of order.

From Barron's

The running joke that is “The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon” is that it teaches the SecUnit how to exhibit human behaviors in ways that people mistake for empathy, which the cyborg dismisses as a virus.

From Salon

Lammy said he had told Iran that it would be a "catastrophic mistake" for them to retaliate by firing at US bases, or by blockading the key shipping lane of the Strait of Hormuz.

From BBC

Vance told podcaster Theo Von that it was a "big mistake" for the Tesla and SpaceX CEO to attack the president.

From BBC