confundir
to confuse
To confuse or mix things up
Encoding Strategies:
linguistic
confound
to surprise and confuse
+
-ir
verb suffix
Confundir means to confuse and is a direct cognate of the English word confound0, which means to cause surprise or confusion.
confundir
to confuse, to bewilder
To leave someone confused or disoriented.
Las instrucciones confundieron a todos los empleadosThe instructions confused all the employees
Tantas opciones me confundenSo many options bewilder me
to mix up, to mistake (one thing for another)
Here the confusion is between two things: you take one for the other.
Siempre confundo los nombres de los gemelosI always mix up the twins' names
La gente me confunde con mi hermanoPeople mistake me for my brother
confundirse
to get confused, to get mixed up, to make a mistake
The reflexive turns the confusion inward: you're not confusing someone else, you're the one confused.
Hay tantas calles parecidas que me confundíThere are so many similar streets that I got confused
Perdón, me confundíSorry, I made a mistake
to get the wrong one, to make a mistake (with de)
To pick the wrong one by mistake. Literally you're confused "about" something, implying you went ahead and tried the wrong one.
Me confundí de puerta y entré a la oficina equivocadaI got the wrong door and walked into the wrong office
Te confundiste de fecha; la reunión es mañanaYou got the wrong date; the meeting is tomorrow
to blend in, to merge
Two things blend so completely that they get confused with each other and can't be told apart.
El camaleón se confunde con las hojas del árbolThe chameleon blends in with the tree's leaves
Su voz se confundía con el ruido de la calleHer voice merged with the noise of the street