What's the Difference between ERROR and MISTAKE?

by Ali Nourmuhammadi
(Tehran, Iran)

What's the Difference between ERROR and MISTAKE?

Ola's answer:

A mistake is something that you think or do which is not correct or which turns out to be unsuccessful.

For example, "Selling the house was a mistake. Now we don't have the house and I lost all the money" or "Do you think he cares? Big mistake . . ."

Mistake can also be a word, number, etc, that you write incorrectly.

For example, "That's a common spelling mistake" or "I think there is a mistake in the invoice. The price is too high!"

Error basically means the same thing as "mistake," only it tends to be more formal, or connected to computer/software issues.

For example, "We got an error message saying the password was incorrect" or "They have admitted committing an error of judgment."