From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishmistake somebody/something for somebody/something phrasal verbRECOGNIZE#to wrongly think that one person or thing is someone or something else A woman mistook him for a well-known actor, and asked him for his autograph. The doctor mistook the symptoms for blood poisoning. → mistake→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
mistake for • And having said it, knew the mistake.• She was a lively one and no mistake.• One night she heard an ambulance approach the hospital and mistook it for a fire engine.• Could she have missed it by mistaking it for one of the panelled wardrobes?• But we should not mistake this for some grand ideology of privatizing government.• Do not mistake stick pressures for stick movement.• Some lay eggs among the stones, so camouflaged you would mistake them for the rocks themselves.• They have even taken up conversations for the other when some one mistook Kato for Wasswa or vice versa. 