confuse

/kənˈfjuːz/US/kənˈfjuz/

confuse verb: to puzzle, perplex, baffle, bewilder (somebody); to afflict by being complicated, contradictory, or otherwise difficult to understand.

Verb

confuse (third-person singular simple present confuses, present participle confusing, simple past and past participle confused)

(transitive) To puzzle, perplex, baffle, bewilder (somebody); to afflict by being complicated, contradictory, or otherwise difficult to understand.
- It confused me when I went to the office and nobody was there, but then I realised it was Sunday.
- "What confuses me is how other insurance companies knew about it," said Zhang, a 26-year-old government employee from Shandong.2018 August 23, Engen Tham, “Data dump: China sees surge in personal information up for sale”, in Reuters
(transitive) To mix up, muddle up (one thing with another); to mistake (one thing for another).
- People who say "hola" to Italians are confusing Italian with Spanish.
- Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley on Saturday questioned Donald Trump’s mental fitness after he appeared to confuse her with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi when talking about the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. […] “They’re saying he got confused. That he was talking about...2024 January 20, Ebony Davis, “Haley questions Trump’s mental fitness after he confuses her with Nancy Pelosi”, in CNN
(transitive) To mix thoroughly; to confound; to disorder.
- The dense fog utterly confused traffic on the highway.
(dated, transitive) To make uneasy and ashamed; to embarrass.
(obsolete, transitive) To rout; discomfit.
(intransitive) To be confused.

Adjective

confuse (comparative more confuse, superlative most confuse)

(obsolete) Synonym of confused.
- Moꝛe ouer take away oꝛdre from all thynges / what ſhulde than remayne? certes nothynge finally / except ſome man wolde imagine eftſones / Chaos: whiche of ſome is expounde a cõfuse mixture: […]1531, Thomas Elyot, “The Signification of a Publike Weale / and Why It Is Called in Latin Respublica”, in The Boke Named the Governour […], London: […] Tho[mas] Bertheleti, →OCLC, 1st boke, folio 2...
- The 11. article is ſo confuſe that it is harde to bring it into any certeine numbre of demandes.1577, William Fulke, “An Answer of a True Christian to a Counterfait Catholike”, in Two Treatises Written against the Papistes, […], London: […] Thomas Thomas Vautrollier […], →OCLC, page 34
Synonyms:

confused

confuse meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

confuse in Hindi

to confuse, perplex: घबराना ghabrānā, नाकों चने चबवाना nākõ cane cabvānā, उलझाना uljhānā
to confuse, bewilder, flummox, waffle: हड़बड़ाना haṛbaṛānā

confuse in Tamil

குழப்பு

confuse in Marathi

गोंधळ घालण्यासाठी, गोंधळात टाकणे, गोंधळात टाकण्यासाठी

confuse in Urdu

قافیہ تنگ کرنا

More languagesFewer languages

confuse in Bengali: ঘাবড়ান ghabṛano
confuse in Malayalam: കുഴക്കുക kuḻakkuka
confuse in Kannada: ಬೆಚ್ಚಳಿಸು, ಬೆಜ್ಜರಿಸು, ಸೊಗರಿಸು, ಕಂಗೆಡು
confuse in Gujarati: મૂંઝવણમાં મૂકવા, મૂંઝવણમાં મૂકવા માટે
confuse in Odia: ବିଭ୍ରାନ୍ତ କରିବା
confuse in Nepali: भ्रमित गर्ने, भ्रमित गर्न
confuse in Arabic: أَرْبَكَ ʔarbaka, حَيَّرَ ḥayyara

Examples of confuse in a sentence

[T]he moſt laudable languages are alwaies moſt plaine and diſtinct, and the barbarous moſt confuſe and indiſtinct: […]1589, [George Puttenham], “Of Cesure”, in The Arte of English Poesie. […], London: […] Richard Field, […], →OCLC, book II (The Second...
It was all one with them to ſay, in a confuſe general way, either that the Holy Ghoſt ſanctiſied the Receivers, in the uſe of the outward Symbols, or that He ſanctified the Symbols to their uſe: […]1737, Daniel Waterland, “Of the Consecration of the Elements of Bread and Wine in the Holy Communion”, in A Review of the Doctrine of the...

All 40 example sentences with confuse

Synonyms of confuse

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of confuse

Forms of confuse

Verb
third-person singular present	confuses
present participle	confusing
past participle	confused
past	confused
Adjective
comparative	more confuse
superlative	most confuse

Past tense of confuse: confused

Origin of confuse

Back-formation from confused, from Middle English confused (“frustrated, ruined”), from Anglo-Norman confus, from Latin cōnfūsus, past participle of cōnfundō.

From Middle English confus, from Old French confus, from Latin cōnfūsus, past participle of cōnfundō.

Words formed from confuse

Words that rhyme with confuse

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about confuse

What does confuse mean?: Confuse means to puzzle, perplex, baffle, bewilder (somebody); to afflict by being complicated, contradictory, or otherwise difficult to understand.
What is confuse in Hindi?: Confuse in Hindi is घबराना (ghabrānā), नाकों चने चबवाना (nākõ cane cabvānā), उलझाना (uljhānā). See Confuse meaning in Hindi.
How do you use confuse in a sentence?: [T]he moſt laudable languages are alwaies moſt plaine and diſtinct, and the barbarous moſt confuſe and indiſtinct: […]
What part of speech is confuse?: Confuse can be a verb or an adjective.
How do you pronounce confuse?: Confuse is pronounced /kənˈfjuːz/ (UK).
What is the past tense of confuse?: The past tense of confuse is confused.

Words near confuse in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: confuse (page history and authors); उलझाना (Hindi) (page history and authors); confuse (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); confuse (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); confuse (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ঘাবড়ান (Bengali) (page history and authors); കുഴക്കുക (Malayalam) (page history and authors); confuse (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); confuse (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); confuse (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); confuse (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-confuse.wav.

Cite this entry: “confuse.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/confuse. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.