1. past tense and past participle of misidentify; incorrectly identified or recognized someone or something as being a different person or thing

Examples

• The witness misidentified the suspect in the police lineup.
• The rare bird was misidentified as a common sparrow by the amateur birdwatcher.
• Due to poor lighting, she misidentified her neighbor as a stranger.
• The fossil was initially misidentified as belonging to a different species.
• Security cameras misidentified the innocent man as the thief.
• The plant specimen had been misidentified in the herbarium records.