You are in good company: so are many others. ISO 9000 (the bit not read by many) defines:
Verification:
confirmation, through the provision of objective evidence, that specified requirements have been fulfilled
Validation:
confirmation, through the provision of objective evidence, that the requirements for a specific intended use or application have been fulfilled
Teasing apart these definitions, ‘Validation’ replaces ‘specified requirements’ in Verification’ with ‘the requirements for a specific intended use or application’.
But surely ‘the requirements for a specific intended use or application’ are ‘specified requirements’!
Should this lead to even more confusion, then try:
Verification:
checking that a product, a process, a design, meets the stated specification. Some examples of verification: an internal drawing; chemical composition of an alloy; mechanical properties of a plastic; dimensions of a product; ‘sensitivity’ to ISO 10993-XX
Validation:
doing the tests on a product or process to show it produces the results it is intended to produce