ENGLISH
REFERENCE

mistook

v.
B2 Upper Intermediate US //mɪˈstʊk// UK //mɪstˈʊk// mis·took Dialect Informal

v. the past tense of 'mistake'. It means you identified someone or something incorrectly or understood a situation the wrong way.

v. the past tense of 'mistake'. Refers to the act of incorrectly identifying a person or thing, or misinterpreting a situation or statement.


SIMPLE

I mistook him for his brother because they look so similar.

CONTEXTUAL

She mistook my silence for anger, though I was actually just tired from the long journey.

COMPLEX

The witness mistook the shadow of a passing car for a person entering the building, which complicated the initial police investigation.

Synonyms
Usage

The verb is transitive and often used with the preposition 'for' when identifying one thing as another.

Pitfall

I mistooked the timeI mistook the timeMistook is already the past tense form of the irregular verb 'mistake'; do not add '-ed'.

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