confuse
verb
Simple meaning
To mix up, muddle up.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kuhnfyoozSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
kənfˈjuz
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
transitive
To mix up, muddle up (one thing with another); to mistake (one thing for another).
“You are confusing me with the other candidate.”
transitive
To puzzle, perplex, baffle, bewilder (somebody); to afflict by being complicated, contradictory, or otherwise difficult to understand
transitive
To mix thoroughly; to confound; to disorder.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To mix up, muddle up (one thing with another); to mistake (one thing for another).
Used this way, confuse is a common word with a faintly unfavourable edge. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
“You are confusing me with the other candidate.”
- Emotional tone
- Slightly negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- Critical or judgemental
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- bedevil , rarer, so it draws attention
- befuddle , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use confuse
- “These questions confuse even the experts.”verb
- “The constant attention of the young man confused her.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Mentally confused.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.