wrong number

Noun

wrong number (plural wrong numbers)

1. A telephone number dialled by mistake, for example, by transposing digits.
   • I am sorry. You have the wrong number. — Oh. Is this 555-8986? — No. This is 555-8689. — Oh. Excuse me! — Okay. Bye.2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)
2. (broadly) A telephone call received from an unfamiliar caller, due to a mistake in the number dialled.
   • - Who was that on the phone?
     - It was just a wrong number.
3. (dated, idiomatic) An incorrect notion or understanding concerning a person or situation.
   • Codd said . . . when he had her fixed and tested her a few times he would take me up for a ride.
     "You got the wrong number," I says. "I don't feel flighty."1920, Ring Lardner, The Big Town
   • The readers probably expecting me to go on about how Johnny was real nostalgic about some kind of material security. . . . Well, the readers got the wrong number.1984, David Homel (translator), Jacques Renaud (author), Broke City (original French edition, Le cassé, 1964), p. 37 (Google preview)

   Synonyms:

   misapprehension, misinterpretation, misunderstanding