confuse vs mess up

confuse

verb
  • to puzzle, perplex, baffle, bewilder (somebody); to afflict by being complicated, contradictory, or otherwise difficult to understand 

  • To mix up, muddle up (one thing with another); to mistake (one thing for another). 

  • To mix thoroughly; to confound; to disorder. 

  • To be confused. 

mess up

verb
  • To discombobulate, utterly confuse, or confound psychologically; to throw into a state of mental disarray. 

  • To damage; injure. 

  • To manhandle; beat up; rough up. 

  • To make a mess of; to untidy, disorder, soil, or muss. 

  • To botch, bungle; to perform poorly on. 

  • To cause a problem with; to introduce an error or mistake in; to make muddled or confused; spoil; ruin. 

  • To cause (another person) to make unwanted mistakes in a given task, usually through distraction or obnoxious behavior. 

  • To make a mistake; to do something incorrectly; to perform poorly. 

How often have the words confuse and mess up occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )