Pattern
Different Meanings
Every clue points at a different sense of the same answer word. There is no shared topic, only a shared dictionary entry.
Example. Piano (the instrument), soft (a music marking), and gentle (a playing style) all touch separate senses of the word soft or the family around it. The answer is the one word that carries every sense.
How Different Meanings works
Recognition guide
These puzzles stall people because the clues look unrelated on purpose. Write a one-word domain label next to each clue: music, law, sport, kitchen. When the labels clash but the clue shapes match, you are almost certainly on a multi-meaning answer.
Short words with busy dictionaries win here: key, scale, current, draft, pad, bridge, profile, bar. If your candidate only covers four clues with a stretch on the fifth, keep looking.
Matching puzzles
Puzzles using Different Meanings
Solve these cold first, then compare your reasoning with the explanation on each page.
Related on this site
Study this shape further
The eight patterns, named
A recognition lesson covering every pattern page on this site.
How the five clues are built
Why clue order feels deceptive and how to re-rank it in your head.
Flip the lens: categories
Same puzzles, different question: what is this round about.
Difficulty levels
See how hard each twist lands across the database.
Today's puzzle
Test the pattern you just studied on the live round.