Confusing means making it hard to understand what is meant. Confusing instructions, deeply confusing, that is confusing.
It describes the cause, and confused describes the person — confusing signs leave you confused. Mixing those up is one of the commonest learner errors and follows the same pattern as boring and bored. Confusingly is a very useful sentence adverb for pointing out an unhelpful similarity: confusingly, both are called the same thing. Note confusion, and confusable, which linguists use for words like these.
1adjectiveconfusingMaking it hard to understand what is meant.
“The road signs were so confusing that we got lost.”
synonyms: baffling, unclear
confusing is a quality of causing confusion.