Turmoil is much more intense, especially if you are speaking about emotional turmoil. It is a state of great confusion and is more extreme. Confusion is a lack of clarity about something. Take the two sentences for example: - There was some confusion as to who won the soccer game. - He was thrown into a state of turmoil after losing his job.

For example, political turmoil, military turmoil, civil turmoil, financial turmoil. Turmoil = situation of unrest, situation where unrest is happening and something like upheaval or war is going on. Confusion = when things are not clear, confusion of the mind, confusion of thought, confusion is something a person is feeling or thinking. Turmoil is something that happens in a country or city, on a large scale.

it is clear from all dictionary definitions Confusion = hesitancy about an event that might be or is about to happen. Turmoil = great confusion and ANXIETY. Thats why confusion is applied to people who are forgetful or are suffering from depression etc. Or unable to think or concentrate clearly. And turmoil is applied to people are in an extremely distressed emotional sate, or to extreme events like war and civil disobedience etc.

They are synonyms, but I would tend to use "confusion" more for a state of mind, and "turmoil" for some kind of external state or situation (e.g. the country was thrown into "turmoil", whereas "he was in a state of confusion").

Good question. Turmoil is more like chaos with confusion . It there is Instability ( violence, lawlessness, severe breakdown of the social or company structures ) and confusion we can say turmoil. Venezuela was thrown into turmoil because of the instability, chaos and confusion. So if you wanted one word that meant it all we can say Venezuela was thrown into turmoil. Confusion by itself can be a simple confusion over a math problem or school assignment, but has nothing to do with chaos , instability and turmoil.