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# mistake

«mistake» in Mova's school dictionary: **wrong, like a wrong answer or a wrong action** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (a mistake, mistakes); verb (mistake, mistakes, mistook, mistaken, mistaking)

### meaning for a pupil

1) Something that is wrong, like a wrong answer or a wrong action. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mistake/#m1)

2) Something done that you later wish you had not done. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mistake/#m2)

3) Verb: to think one person or thing is another: «I mistook him for his brother». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mistake/#m3)

4) By mistake: without meaning to. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mistake/#m4)

### sense in the lessons

In school: everyone makes mistakes; mistakes help us learn; check your work for mistakes; correct mistakes in spelling and maths. In feelings: saying sorry and fixing a mistake is brave. In stories a mistake often starts the problem. Phrases: make a mistake, by mistake, a big mistake, spelling mistake, learn from mistakes, mistake for, there's no mistake.

### examples

- I made a mistake in my sum. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mistake/#x1)
- Check your work for spelling mistakes. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mistake/#x2)
- Everyone makes mistakes. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mistake/#x3)
- I took your pencil by mistake. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mistake/#x4)
- We learn from our mistakes. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mistake/#x5)
- She mistook the salt for sugar. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mistake/#x6)
- Opening the door to a stranger would be a mistake. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mistake/#x7)
- It's okay — it was a mistake, not on purpose. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mistake/#x8)
- ‘Oh, your majesty, it was a mistake! [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mistake/#x9)

### note

Countable: mistakes. We «make» a mistake, not «do» a mistake. Verb is irregular: mistook, mistaken. «Mistaken» also means «wrong»: «You are mistaken». In maths, finding where a mistake happened matters as much as the answer.

### In the corpora

- [Pocket money is a small regular amount given to children to practise choosing, saving and making mistakes with money.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/5-where-money-comes-from/8/)
- [A bank statement lists everything that went in and out of an account, and grown-ups check it for mistakes and fraud.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/7-cards-banks-and-apps/16/)
- [Everyone makes mistakes; owning up quickly makes them easier to fix, while hiding them tends to make them bigger.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/40-being-a-good-grown-up/16/)
- [Tense music, close-ups and slow motion make ordinary mistakes feel dangerous; turn the sound down and the drama shrinks.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/54-reality-tv-what-is-staged-and-what-is-real/13/)
- [Long extra explanations can hide mistakes, even when the main answer is right.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ai/4-stories-jokes-and-riddles/14/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «mistake» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mistake/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.