confuse

To confuse is to make someone bewildered or unable to understand, or to mistake one thing for something else.

(verb)

When you explain something in a way that makes no sense, this is an example of a time when you confuse.
When you make a situation more complicated than it needs to be, this is an example of a time when you confuse a situation.
When you think that a black shirt looks blue, this is an example of a time when you confuse black for blue.

See confuse in Webster's New World College Dictionary

transitive verb confused, confusing

to mix up; jumble together; put into disorder
to mix up mentally; specif.,
1. to bewilder; perplex
2. to embarrass; disconcert; abash
3. to fail to distinguish between; mistake the identity of

Origin: ME confusen < confus, perplexed < OFr < L confusus, pp. of confundere: see confound

Related Forms:

See confuse in American Heritage Dictionary 4

verb con·fused, con·fus·ing, con·fus·es

verb, transitive

a. To cause to be unable to think with clarity or act with intelligence or understanding; throw off.
b. To cause to feel embarrassment.
a. To mistake (for another): confused effusiveness with affection.
b. To make opaque; blur: “The old labels … confuse debate instead of clarifying it” (Christopher Lasch).
c. To assemble without order or sense; jumble.
Archaic To bring to ruination.