Verbal Reasoning Double Meanings

A Double Meanings question gives you two pairs of words and a list of five answers. You find the single word that fits both pairs.

It is one spelling with two meanings, like bank. It is not about sound-alikes like pale and pail. Those are spelt differently. They never turn up here.

The shape of the question

This is how all 40 of our questions are built, and it is the usual shape in the exam too.

(edge side) (save store) border hoard rim bank deposit

border and rim fit the first bracket only.
hoard and deposit fit the second bracket only.
bank fits both. That is the answer.

Two for one bracket, two for the other, one that reaches across. A word that fits one bracket brilliantly is a wrong answer by design. Being sure about one side is the trap.

The method

Five beats: read both, name each one, sort and cross out, find the flip, prove it.

Cover the list with your hand. Read both brackets before you see a single option. Otherwise you meet four well-made traps before you know what you want.
Say what each bracket is about, in one word. "The first is about an edge. The second is about keeping."
Uncover the list, sort it, and cross out. Do not test it. Ask one question of each word: which bracket does this belong to? Deciding where a word belongs is much easier than deciding whether it fits everywhere. Then cross out everything that lands in one bracket. Four of them will. Do not stop to admire them.
Find the flip. The survivor usually changes its job between the brackets. A bank by the river. To bank your money. Sometimes it keeps its job and just means something else, like a trunk.
Prove it with two sentences, one per bracket. "We sat on the bank of the river." "I banked my birthday money."

About 25 to 30 seconds each.

💡 Worked example

Only one of the five answers goes equally well with both pairs of words. (edge side) (save store)

How to answer

A tell for the hardest ones

Look at what kind of words each bracket holds.

Say one bracket holds describing words and the other holds naming or doing words. Then the answer changes its job between them. That is how most of the hard ones are built.

(tomb plot) and (serious solemn) → grave
(book story) and (new original) → novel
(thin slim) and (tilt slant) → lean
(happy satisfied) and (matter substance) → content

So if nothing fits, flip each word. Try it as a thing, then as a describing word, then as something you do.

Watch for these traps

The perfect fit for one bracket. Much the most common, because in our questions four of the five options are exactly this. Border and rim really are excellent words for "edge, side". The relief of knowing one ends the search early. Every option is a good synonym. Being good is not the test.
"Two of them work, so I must be close." Each bracket usually has exactly two words waiting for it, and in our 40 it always does. So finding two is proof you are checking one bracket, not both. It feels like progress. It is the opposite.
Answering from the bracket you understand. Once a word fits the easy bracket, checking the other one feels like a formality. It is the only check that matters. Nothing gets marked until both sentences have been said.
The answer looks too plain. Bank. Pitch. Run. Long. Free. Fine. The answers are short ordinary words sitting among longer, fancier ones. A hard question is expected to have a hard answer. The plainest word is usually the one.
Never trying the second meaning. You hold one meaning for a word and never reach for the other. Fast means quick. It also means to go without food. Husky means hoarse. It is also a dog.

If you are torn between a common word and a rare one, take the common one.

Try these yourself

Now have a go yourself — tap the word that fits both pairs.

✏️ Question 1

Only one of the five answers goes equally well with both pairs of words. (preserve spread) (squeeze wedge)

✏️ Question 2

Only one of the five answers goes equally well with both pairs of words. (suitcase chest) (stem body)

✏️ Question 3

Only one of the five answers goes equally well with both pairs of words. (quick rapid) (starve abstain)

✏️ Question 4

Only one of the five answers goes equally well with both pairs of words. (ships navy) (swift nimble)

The complete 11+ question-type guide
VR: Closest Meaning — the skill the four wrong answers are built from
VR: Compound Words — two small words that join into one