Basic Details
Word: Confusion
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: The feeling of not understanding something, or a situation where things are mixed up and nobody is sure what is happening.
Synonyms: muddle, puzzlement, chaos
Antonyms: clarity, order
How to Spell Confusion
Syllables: con - fu - sion
Tricky part: The ending sounds like zhun but is spelt sion, not tion, because the word comes from confuse.
Watch out for: confution, confushion, confusian
Memory tip: Start from the verb: confuse. Drop the e and add ion. The s in confuse stays, so it is confu-s-ion.
Usage Examples
Example 1: There was confusion when two buses arrived at the same stop.
Example 2: The new timetable caused confusion in our class.
Example 3: Her face showed confusion when the question was read in Tamil.
Fun Fact
Confusion comes from the Latin confundere, to pour together, just like colours that get mixed and can no longer be told apart.
Practise the CREST Way
Spell-o-Spell
Choose the correctly spelt word:
a) confusion
b) divison
c) ocasion
d) televison
Show answer
a) confusion. Confusion is spelt con-fu-sion; the other three each lose or change a letter.
Word Connection
Choose the antonym of the word: confusion
a) clarity
b) chaos
c) puzzle
d) muddle
Show answer
a) clarity. Clarity means things are clear, the opposite of being mixed up; the other three mean much the same as confusion.
Mingle-Mangle
Form a meaningful word from the jumbled letters:
snoucifon
a) confuison
b) confusion
c) confusoin
d) cunfosion
Show answer
b) confusion. Begin with con, then fu, then end with sion.
Word Cookie
Insert the correct letters to form a word:
c_nf_sion
a) o, o
b) a, u
c) o, u
d) u, o
Show answer
c) o, u. The word is built from confuse, so it is c-o-n-f-u-sion.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which sentence shows confusion?
a) Riya did not know which of the two gates to enter.
b) Riya smiled at her friend.
c) Riya finished her lunch quickly.
d) Riya walked straight to her seat.
Show answer
a) Riya did not know which of the two gates to enter.
2. Confusion is the noun made from which verb?
a) confess
b) confuse
c) confirm
d) conform
Show answer
b) confuse
