How to Answer 11+ Double Meaning Questions

Some words do two jobs. A bat is a flying animal and a thing you hit a ball with; a ruler measures lines and runs a country. Double meaning questions are built on exactly these words: you are shown two pairs of words in brackets, and only one of the answer choices goes equally well with both pairs.

In the formats used in UK 11+ entrance exams the question looks like this: two bracketed pairs, such as (field ground) and (throw hurl), with five answers underneath. The first pair points at one meaning, the second pair points at a completely different meaning, and the answer is the single word that owns both — here it is pitch: a playing field, and to pitch a ball means to throw it.

Children find these questions hard for one honest reason: they know one meaning of the answer word and simply never think of the other. The method below is designed to shake that second meaning loose.

The method

1. Read both bracketed pairs and say what each one means. Pair one might mean "a kind of place"; pair two might mean "a kind of action". Notice that they are different — that difference is the whole puzzle.
2. Take the first answer choice and say it next to the first pair. Does it mean roughly the same as those two words?
3. Now say the same word next to the second pair. The answer has to fit BOTH sides — keep only a word that works twice.
4. Cross out every one-sided word. A word that matches only one pair is a decoy, however perfect it looks on its own side.
5. Before you cross out a word, ask: does it have a second meaning? Think of phrases you have heard — "a spell of rain", "the ship began to list", "fleet of foot". These questions love meanings that hide inside everyday sayings.
6. If two words survive, put each one into a short sentence for each pair. Only the real answer makes four sensible sentences.

Worked examples

Example 1

Which one word goes equally well with both pairs of words?

(surge swell) (gesture signal)

A. signal B. ripple C. surge D. gesture E. wave

1. Pair one is about water rising and moving; pair two is about something you do with your hand.
2. Signal, surge and gesture are copied straight from the brackets — each one covers its own side only.
3. A ripple is water, but you cannot ripple at a friend across the playground.
4. You can watch a wave roll in, and you can give someone a wave. It works twice.
5. The answer is E. wave.

Example 2

Only one of the five answers goes equally well with both pairs of words.

(preserve spread) (squeeze wedge)

A. butter B. cram C. jam D. honey E. squash

1. Pair one means something sweet you put on toast. Pair two means forcing something into a tight space.
2. Butter and honey fit the toast side only. Cram and squash fit the squeezing side only.
3. Jam does both: strawberry jam on toast, and jamming your kit into a PE bag.
4. The answer is C. jam.

Example 3

Only one of the five answers goes equally well with both pairs of words.

(ships navy) (swift nimble)

A. armada B. agile C. convoy D. fleet E. speedy

1. Pair one is about groups of ships. Pair two is about being quick and light on your feet.
2. Armada and convoy are ship words only. Agile and speedy are quickness words only.
3. That leaves fleet — a fleet of ships, and the old phrase "fleet of foot", meaning fast and nimble.
4. The answer is D. fleet.

The traps

The one-side wonder. Every question is stuffed with words that match one pair perfectly and ignore the other — butter for the toast pair, cram for the squeezing pair. If you stop checking after one side, these decoys win. Always test both.

The borrowed bracket word. Some options are simply words lifted from the brackets, like surge and gesture above. They feel safe because you have just read them — but a bracket word only ever covers its own pair, never both.

Rejecting a word because you only know one meaning. Grave seems to mean only a burial place — until you remember "grave news". If a surviving option seems wrong for one side, hunt through your memory for phrases before you cross it out. The rarer meaning is usually the one the question wants.

Try these yourself

1.

Which one word goes equally well with both pairs of words?

(stone pebble) (shake sway)

A. stone B. shake C. rock D. pebble E. sway

2.

Only one of the five answers goes equally well with both pairs of words.

(basket container) (hinder obstruct)

A. tub B. block C. hamper D. crate E. delay

3.

Only one of the five answers goes equally well with both pairs of words.

(tomb plot) (serious solemn)

A. crypt B. stern C. grave D. coffin E. earnest

Answers

• 1: C — a rock is a lump of stone, and to rock is to move back and forth.
• 2: C — a hamper is a big picnic basket, and to hamper someone is to get in their way.
• 3: C — a grave is a burial place, and grave news is very serious news.

Related

• the complete 11+ question-type guide
• VR: Word Analogies — copy a connection instead of juggling two meanings
• VR: Compound Words — two small words that join into one

All example questions come from the Brainblox question bank — practise this question type inside 15 arcade games, timed mock exams and focused practice. Brainblox is an independent app: not affiliated with, endorsed by or licensed by any exam board, school or assessment publisher, and it contains no past papers.