The verbs allude and elude sound similar, but their meanings are different.

Definitions

To allude to something means to make an indirect reference. Allude is followed by the word to. (Don't use allude as a synonym for name or refer.)

To elude means to evade or to escape understanding or attention.

Also see:

• Commonly Confused Words: Allusion and Illusion
• Commonly Confused Words: Allusive and Elusive

Examples

• Some passages in the New Testament allude to incidents and prophecies in the Old Testament.

• The meaning of this particular passage eludes me.

Usage Notes

• "Allude is typically used when a person or thing is mentioned in some connection without being identified. . . . Refer is used when a person or thing is being specifically named or identified in some way. . . .
  
  "Meanwhile don't get distracted by the near-homophoneelude. This means more or less the same as escape . . . and the subject of elude is usually something desired or aimed at."
  (Robert Allen, Common Errors and Problems in English. Penguin, 2008)
• "You can no more ALLUDE a former business associate whose job you procured than you can create the ALLUSION of an unprofitable year for the IRS. The words are 'ELUDE' and 'ILLUSION,' respectively. Don't make me repeat this. You can ALLUDE to or make an ALLUSION to The Art of War in an e-mail, and this is quite a different thing from REFERRING to or making a REFERENCE to a specific passage from the same book, because an ALLUSION is an indirect mention, and if you just pull the whole thing off your Quote-a-Day desk calendar, it's a REFERENCE."
  (Dennis DiClaudio, "Words and Expressions Commonly Misused by Insipid Brothers-in-Law." The McSweeney's Joke Book of Book Jokes. Vintage Books, 2008)

Practice

(a) At work, they didn't mention or even _____ to the problems they were having at home.

(b) As usual, James Bond managed to _____ the villains who were pursuing him.

Answers to Practice Exercises

Glossary of Usage: Index of Commonly Confused Words