Learn English – a less ambiguous word for “confuse” in context of describing two similar things

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What is the most natural way to express "confuse" in the sense of "unable to tell apart" as in following sentence:

John always confuses the twins and is never able to tell them apart.

I don't want it to sound like he is making the twins confused.

To make the question clear, I would like to add one more sentence where this discussion might be applicable
"Do not confuse activity with productivity".

Best Answer

Although one of the meanings of confuse fits your sentence, the word is ambiguous in this case and I wouldn't recommend using it (what I guess you already know, since you asked this question).

For one, I'd like to point out for you to realize that you can simply skip that part altogether and end up with:

John is never able to tell the twins apart.

What more do you need? Nothing, really. But if you feel like you do, I'd recommend:

John always mistakes the twins for one another and is never able to tell them apart.

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