It is his shortest and one of his most farcical comedies, with a major part of the humour coming from slapstick and mistaken identity, in addition to puns and word play.

When the Syracusans encounter the friends and families of their twins, a series of wild mishaps based on mistaken identities lead to wrongful beatings, a near-seduction, the arrest of Antipholus of Ephesus, and false accusations of infidelity, theft, madness, and demonic possession.

Because a law forbids merchants from Syracuse from entering Ephesus, elderly Syracusan trader Aegeon faces execution when he is discovered in the city.

On the same day, a poor woman without a job also gave birth to twin boys, and he purchased these as servants to his sons.

He is confounded when the identical Dromio of Ephesus appears almost immediately, denying any knowledge of the money and asking him home to dinner, where his wife is waiting.

Dromio of Ephesus returns to his mistress, Adriana, saying that her "husband" refused to come back to his house, and even pretended not to know her.

Antipholus of Ephesus returns home for dinner and is enraged to find that he is rudely refused entry to his own house by Dromio of Syracuse, who is keeping the gate.

As he is being led away, Dromio of Syracuse arrives, whereupon Antipholus dispatches him back to Adriana's house to get money for his bail.

The Syracusans enter, carrying swords, and everybody runs off for fear: believing that they are the Ephesians, out for vengeance after somehow escaping their bonds.

As William Warner's translation of the classical drama was entered into the Register of the Stationers Company on 10 June 1594, published in 1595, and dedicated to Lord Hunsdon, the patron of the Lord Chamberlain's Men, it has been supposed that Shakespeare might have seen the translation in manuscript before it was printed – though it is equally possible that he knew the play in the original Latin.

Charles Whitworth argues that The Comedy of Errors was written "in the latter part of 1594" on the basis of historical records and textual similarities with other plays Shakespeare wrote around this time.

[5] The play was not a particular favourite on the eighteenth-century stage because it failed to offer the kind of striking roles that actors such as David Garrick could exploit.

[6] Law professor Eric Heinze, however, argues that particularly notable in the play is a series of social relationships, which is in crisis as it sheds its feudal forms and confronts the market forces of early modern Europe.

[8] Like many of Shakespeare's plays, The Comedy of Errors was adapted and rewritten extensively, particularly from the 18th century on, with varying reception from audiences.

As the story opens, Alf and Bert have just arrived via ship at the same seaport where, unbeknownst to them, their married twin brothers Stan and Oliver live.

[citation needed] One nod to the movie's inspiration is a running gag: whenever Stan and Ollie say the same thing at the same time, they immediately perform a childhood ritual that begins: "Shakespeare...Longfellow..."[original research?]

The Three Stooges film A Merry Mix Up (1957) starring Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Joe Besser expands the confusion by telling the story of three sets of identical triplets: Bachelors Moe, Larry and Joe; husbands Max, Louie and Jack; and newly-engaged brothers Morris, Luke and Jeff.

Bette Midler and Lily Tomlin star in the film as two sets of twins separated at birth, much like the characters in Shakespeare's play.

The short film The Complete Walk: The Comedy of Errors was made in 2016 and starred Phil Davis, Omid Djalili and Boothby Graffoe.