Meaning & use
twin
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Meanings
nouncountable
One of two children or animals born at the same time to the same mother.
Grammar: Countable: use 'a twin' or 'twins' for two or more. Often used in the plural: 'They are twins.'
Patterns
- be a twin
- have twins
- identical twins
- fraternal twins
She gave birth to twins last week.
My brother and I are twins, but we don't look alike.
The study followed 500 pairs of twins over twenty years.
adjectivebefore a noun
Used before a noun to describe two similar things that are paired or matching.
Grammar: Always used before a noun: 'twin towers', 'twin beds'.
Patterns
- twin towers
- twin beds
- twin engines
- twin sisters
The hotel room had twin beds.
The plane has twin engines, one on each wing.
They bought twin desks for their home office.
Word forms
| plural | twins |
|---|
Common combinations
- identical twin
- Identical twins share the same DNA.
- fraternal twin
- Fraternal twins can be a boy and a girl.
- twin brother/sister
- My twin sister lives in another city.
- twin beds
- The room has twin beds, perfect for friends sharing.
- twin towers
- The twin towers dominated the skyline.
Word family
- twinning noun
- The act of pairing two towns or the birth of twins.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'twin' correctly?
Choose one answer.
The adjective 'twin' is used before a noun to mean matching or paired, as in 'twin towers'. Option An is wrong because a twin sister is the same age, not older. Option C uses 'twin' as a verb, which is not standard. Option D uses 'twin' as an adjective after 'are', but it should be a noun: 'They are twins.'
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “twin”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.