A solitary thinker may be confused by some difficulty in a subject, or some mental defect; one is embarrassed in the presence of others, and because of their presence. A witness may be embarrassed by annoying personalities, so as to become confused in statements.

J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)

Example sentences

bewildered People were bewildered by the unexpected situation.
perplexed We were perplexed by the crossword puzzle clue.
muddled His English has a murky, muddled sound to it, don't you think?
confounded He was confounded at the sight of the teacher.
disorganized Tom told me that he thought Mary was disorganized.
garbled Many programs leave Japanese text garbled and unreadable.

Popularity over time

Word	1850 → 2019	Trend
confused		rising
bewildered		rising
perplexed		rising
muddled		rising
confounded		rising
disorganized		rising

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

By length

4 letters: lost¹, mazy
5 letters: upset², dazed¹, wooly²
6 letters: broken², abroad², woolly², addled², turbid², woolie
7 letters: complex², chaotic³, baffled², puzzled², stumped¹, muddled², jumbled², bemused², garbled², abashed²
8 letters: involved², inchoate³
9 letters: scattered², illogical⁴, perplexed², flustered², mystified³, befuddled³, fluttered²
10 letters: distracted³, bewildered³, incoherent⁴, disorderly⁴, disordered³, disjointed³, confounded³, nonplussed²
11 letters: complicated⁴, embarrassed³, disoriented⁵, promiscuous³, dumbfounded³, unconnected⁴
12 letters: disconnected⁴, disorganized⁴, disorganised, inarticulate⁵, disconcerted
13 letters: flabbergasted⁴, disorientated
14 letters: indiscriminate⁵

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (upset² = 2 syllables).

In other languages

Français: confus
Español: confuso