Meaning of 'muddled up'

[wander]

English Error, Elementary Level

ESL/EFL Test #9 "Sorry, Wrong Number", question 8

Ah, you must have muddling up the last two digits because you obviously dialled 8 — 5 instead of 5 — 8.

(a) must
(b) muddling
(c) instead of

English Error, Elementary Level

ESL/EFL Test #9 "Sorry, Wrong Number", answer 8

Ah, you must have muddled up the last two digits because you obviously dialled 8 — 5 instead of 5 — 8.

Correct entry: muddled
The error was: (b) muddling
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I didn't undersand this sentence, please explain it. Thanks a lot

wander

[Alan]

Hi wander,

Muddled by itself means confused and usually suggests that things are not in the right order. In the sentence there is a reference to the telephone numbers being muddled up or in the wrong order. The person telephoning should have dialled the numbers like this: first 5 and then 8 but he actually dialled them like this: first 8 and then 5. In other words he muddled up the numbers and got them in the wrong order.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
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[Nathanael86]

Hi,

I didn't know the expression "to muddle up" so I thought of "mixed up". Would that be correct as well?

[Alan]

Hi,

'Mixed up' suggests often the idea of mixing together as in cooking with the idea of creating something. But it can also be used as an alternative to 'muddled up'.

Alan
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English as a Foreign Language
You can read my EFL story Phrasal Verbs/look