Is it mistook or mistaken?
The irregular verb, mistake, (present tense) is both a noun and a verb, which makes things a bit trickier to understand in terms of verb conjugations. Still—make no mistake—knowledge is power, and we will explore the correct way to conjugate the verb forms of ‘mistake’ below.
She mistook his silence for disapproval.
I have never mistaken her for anyone else.
She mistaken his silence for disapproval.
I have never mistook her for anyone else.
To start with a definition, the noun mistake means “an action, decision or judgment that produces an unwanted or unintentional result: I’m not blaming you, we all make mistakes” (Cambridge dictionary).
The verb form of mistake means something slightly different, since it refers to an action or state of being: “to be wrong about or to fail to recognize something or someone: You can’t mistake their house – it has a bright red front door“.
What are the tenses of mistake?
| Word Form | Examples |
|---|---|
| Past Tense | She mistook his kindness for romantic interest. |
| Past Participle | She seems to have mistaken your intentions and believes you meant to offend her. |
| Other | He makes these mistakes all the time.
I will not make the same mistake again; I’ve learned my lesson. |
Which is correct: mistook or mistaken?
The answer is that both mistook and mistaken are correct past forms of the present tense verb, mistake. The contexts in which to use either past form, and their correct use, does slightly differ from each other. See the sentences below:
Past tense: I mistook my friend for someone else and called out the wrong name.
Past perfect: The police officer realized he had mistaken the suspect for someone else.
The participle form, mistaken, combines with the auxiliary verb had to form the past perfect tense. The past perfect tense (also called pluperfect) helps relay when some event in the past happened before something else, or some other past event. The simple past tense, which here uses mistook, is simpler: it refers to an event that began and ended at a point in the past.
Examples of mistake in the present tense (in sentences)
| Word Form | Examples |
|---|---|
| Other | I mistake her for my sister sometimes.
He often makes the same mistake in his math homework. The teacher points out the mistake in my essay. Making mistakes is a natural part of the learning process. Please double-check your work to avoid any mistakes in the final report. |
Examples of mistook in the past tense (in sentences)
| Word Form | Examples |
|---|---|
| Other | I mistook the time of the meeting and arrived an hour late.
She mistook his kindness for romantic interest. She mistook my intentions and got upset. I mistook my friend for someone else and called out the wrong name. They mistook my intentions and thought I was trying to cause trouble. |
The pattern: mistake/mistook/mistaken follows take/took/taken.
Examples of the past participle mistaken (in sentences)
| Word Form | Examples |
|---|---|
| Other | They realized they had mistaken the address and went back to the right location.
I have mistaken her for her twin sister on several occasions. He had mistaken the meeting time and arrived an hour late. The police officer realized he had mistaken the suspect for someone else. She seems to have mistaken your intentions and believes you meant to offend her. |
Synonyms and phrases
All of these words can convey a similar meaning to “mistake“, though there may be subtle differences in meaning. Make sure to choose the appropriate word for the specific context in which it’s used!
| Category | Examples |
|---|---|
| synonyms | blunder, lapse, miscalculation, misstep, aberration, fault, gaffe, inaccuracy, error, oversight, slip, snafu |
| phrases | an honest mistake, by mistake, everyone makes mistakes, mistake someone or something for someone else, make no mistake about it (to be absolutely certain) |
Origin of mistake
Mid-14c., “to commit an offense;” late 14c., “to misunderstand, misinterpret, take in a wrong sense,” from mis- (1) “badly, wrongly” + take (v.) or from a cognate Scandinavian source such as Old Norse mistaka “take in error, miscarry.”
Practice questions: Mistake conjugations
I ______ his silence for agreement and continued with the plan.
She has often been ______ for her twin sister over the phone.
You are ______ kindness for weakness if you think you can take advantage of her.
Do not ______ my quiet nature for a lack of passion.
He often ______ my intentions, which leads to arguments.
FAQs
What is the simple past of mistake?
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What is the past participle?
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Are mistook and mistaken correct past forms?
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When is mistook used correctly?
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When is mistaken used correctly?
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Sources
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Harper, Douglas. “Etymology of mistake.” Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/word/mistake. Accessed 28 July, 2023.
Yash, D. "How to Use Mistook or Mistaken (Irregular Verbs)." Grammarflex, Aug 24, 2025, https://grammarflex.com/mistook-or-mistaken/.
