Patriarch confused some sinners at first (5)
I believe the answer is:
moses
'patriarch' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both people as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe you can see an association between them that I can't see?
'confused some sinners at first' is the wordplay.
'confused' indicates an anagram.
'at first' suggests taking the first letters.
The first letter of 'sinners' is 's'.
'some' anagrammed gives 'mose'.
'mose'+'s'='MOSES'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for moses that I've seen before include "He received the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai" , "Prophet of the Old Testament" , "Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites on the Exodus" , "... this OT prophet" , "one found in bulrushes, too" .)