conˈfusable, a.
[f. confuse v. + -able.]
Capable of being, or liable to be, confused. Also as n. pl. (and with spelling -ible), things, esp. words, that may be confused.
| 1864 in Webster; and in subseq. Dicts. 1962 I. Murdoch Unofficial Rose xxxiv. 321 You are so adorably confusable. 1968 Punch 6 Nov. 641/1 Estimates are again difficult, particularly in the field of man⁓power, where actual production workers are easily confusable with Walter Cronkite and between four and nine thousand other journalists. 1971 Jrnl. Gen. Psychol. Jan. 159 Shorter line segments..were..necessary to define which of several confusable characters was actually presented. 1979 A. Room (title) Room's dictionary of confusibles. 1981 Amer. Speech LVI. 143 Readers may find that Room has missed some of their own pet confusables. 1985 Fortune 7 Jan. 74/3 As long as users avoid what researchers call confusables, such as ‘start’ and ‘stop’ or the rhyming letters of the alphabet. 1985 English Today Apr. 19/1 Much of this material deals with words or constructions which are often confused, and some even specialise in these ‘confusibles’. |