mistakes

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of mistake.

   The report contained several costly mistakes that delayed the launch.

   Good leaders own their mistakes and move forward.

   Note

   One spelling serves two parts of speech. As a noun it counts errors, and the same letters also spell the verb of misidentifying. The words around it tell them apart: a determiner or adjective in front (several mistakes, their mistakes) marks the noun, while a singular subject in front (the clerk mistakes) marks the verb. The plural also covers a pitcher's sense: pitches meant for a hard-to-hit spot that end up somewhere easy to hit.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of mistake.

   The new clerk frequently mistakes one customer for another.

   He mistakes confidence for competence in his coworkers.

   Note

   Present-day use is transitive and usually comes with for: someone mistakes confidence for competence, or one customer for another. Older English let the verb stand alone to mean simply "to err." It could also take a person as its object, meaning "to misunderstand them." Both uses are obsolete, so a sentence that stops at he mistakes now sounds unfinished. The subject in front of it separates this form from the plural noun.

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