mishear

Definitions

1. To hear wrongly.
   ambitransitive
2. To misunderstand.

Equivalents

Examples

“I misheard when she asked for mints, and gave her mince instead.”

“And if any mishear or misutter it, even that also serves, since it warns.”

“When a slickly handsome drug dealer named Legrand (Michael Beach, in the film's most seductive performance), first meets the teen-ager on the playground, he mishears the name⟳ Manigault. "Did he say⟳ Nanny Goat?" Legrand asks, explaining the nickname in one quick, witty stroke.”

“Our report⟳ of a relative who, as a child, thought the classic version of the Lord's Prayer began "Our father, a chart in heaven, Harold be thy name⟳" stated that this type⟳ of mistake⟳ is known as an eggcorn. A number⟳ of readers have⟳ suggested that instances like⟳ this in which a whole phrase rather than just a word is misheard, should be called mondegreens rather than eggcorns.”

CEFR level