Crossword Dictionary
CONFUSE
jumble, confuse, mix up - v
assemble without order or sense; "She jumbles the words when she is supposed to write a sentence"
Synonyms
amaze, astonish, baffle, befuddle, bemuse, complicate, confound, daze, demoralize, disconcert, disorient, distract, embarrass, fluster, frustrate, involve, misinform, mislead, mortify, muddle, mystify, obscure, perplex, perturb, puzzle, trouble, unsettle, upset, worry
Examples
For the same reason it is erroneous to confuse " all existing" with a general idea.
In like manner it would be erroneous to confuse the sense of the expression as it obtains on the continent of Europe with what is understood under this term in England and America.
Many people confuse isotonic exercise with isometric exercise and picture squeezing and holding a muscle.
Etymology
1550s in a literal sense "mix or mingle things or ideas so as to render the elements indistinguishable;" from mid-18c. in the active, figurative sense of "perplex the mind or ideas of, discomfit in mind or feeling," but not in general use until after c. 1800. From 1862 as "erroneously regard as identical." It took over these senses from its older doublet, confound (q.v.).