Verbal Reasoning Double Meanings
The TWICE method in under five minutes — one real question, solved step by step.
A Double Meanings question gives you two pairs of words in brackets and a list of five words. Exactly one of the five goes equally well with both pairs.
It is one spelling with two meanings, like bank. It is not about sound-alikes like pale and pail, which are spelt differently. Those never turn up here. The answer has to work twice.
The video above and the worked example below take apart the same question.
The method
Five steps: take in both brackets first, word for each bracket, in one bracket? It's out, check both meanings and each bracket, one sentence — their first letters spell TWICE, because the answer has to work twice.
- Step 1 of 5
Take in both brackets first
Read both brackets before you look at the options. Read the list first and you meet four well-made traps before you even know what you want. - Step 2 of 5
Word for each bracket
Say to yourself what each bracket is about, in one word. - Step 3 of 5
In one bracket? It's out
Now look at the list, and ask one question of each word: which bracket does this belong to? That is much easier than asking whether it fits everywhere. A word that belongs to one bracket only is out. - Step 4 of 5
Check both meanings
The word that is left must mean something different in each bracket. It often changes its job too, from a thing in one bracket to something you do in the other. But it does not have to. - Step 5 of 5
Each bracket, one sentence
Put the word into one sentence for each bracket. Both sentences have to work.
About 30 seconds each.
Four things to watch out for
We looked at all seven Double Meanings questions in GL's own practice papers.
- The perfect fit for one bracket. Nearly every wrong option in all seven is built like this. Border and rim really are excellent words for an edge. That is exactly why they are there. They fit one bracket only, so they are out.
- "Two of them work, so I'm close." Every list holds about two words for each bracket. Meadow and lawn both fit field and ground, but that only proves you are checking one bracket. Nothing counts until both sentences work.
- Only trying one meaning. Every one of GL's answers needs its less obvious meaning. You know fast means quick, so you never reach for the other one: to fast is to go without food. Try every meaning of each word.
- It can keep the same job. About as many of GL's answers keep their job as change it. Trunk is a thing in both brackets: a big box for clothes, and the main stem of a tree. A different meaning is what counts, not a different job.
Stuck? Any word that belongs to one bracket only is out. Choose from what is left, and never leave it blank.
Try these yourself
Now have a go yourself — tap the word that fits both pairs.
Related
- 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
All example questions come from the Brainblox question bank — practise this question type inside 25+ learning 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.