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Despite looking very much alike, no two people are exactly the same; not even identical twins. And I don’t mean the fact that they have different personalities. They often differ in regards to their appearance, too, and sometimes – quite significantly.
Identical twins of the ‘Ask Reddit’ community recently shared what are the main differences between them and their sibling, showing that the dissimilarities can range from a unique mole to one twin looking like the other “if he hadn't left the Mormon church”, as one netizen put it. Quite a few identical twins—as well as friends and family of twins—shared their stories, so if you’re curious about the differences they described, scroll down to find them on the list below.
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#1
I know a set of twins who are in their mid thirties, usually when they age some differences can be spotted. But not these two, they are absolutely identical, have the same job, dress the same for work (they have corporate jobs and the company’s policy is not very rigid so they have room to dress differently, but choose not to). Same hair cut, same glasses, same weight, similar birhmarks, go to the same gym, it’s really hard to tell them apart.
Except on weekends. One is queer and the other is super traditional straight. If you meet them at a family funcion or a party probably one will be wearing makeup so you know who is who.
Oerff On Tour 1 year ago
Turn of the century, I often went to a gay club. There I met twin brothers, one gay, one straight. Often straight girls would come there, who felt safe there from being constantly hit on by guys. And a lot would shamelessly flirt with gay guys, which of course *mostly* went nowhere. But when the gay twin was hit upon by said girls, he would secretly swap with his brother. Lo and behold, straight twin got more laid than his gay twin, picking up a partner IN A GAY CLUB. They were not only identical, but also drop dead gorgeous.
Ziggle 1 year ago
They never said he was gay, they said he was queer. Not all queer people are gay.
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Ziggle 1 year ago
Why? If they know the twin couple personally and have gone to non-work events where the two are completely different, then it is just stating reality not a prejudice. Don't look too deep into this or try to start fights where none are warranted. It's not that serious. And I say that as a member of the queer community.
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#2
My twin and I both had cancer.
She died and I survived.
Brigitte 1 year ago
This hits very close. I had an identical twin, my sister died Dec 2022 of breast cancer. She was 42. After her diagnosis we had us tested and we have that genetic anomaly that increases risks of breast and ovarian cancer. For her it was too late but I had preventive treatment - my breasts and ovaries were removed. Nobody gets tested just so, you only discover you have a genetic mutation when it's too late. So basically she saved my life. I miss her every day. Girls, please get checked and go to a geneticist. It's not cheap but it's worth it.
Colleen Glim 1 year ago
Get your Pap smears too. Uncomfortable and embarrassing but mine saved my life
Load More Replies... Tracey Johnston 1 year ago
This hits close. My mom and my aunt are identical twins. Both had cancer. My aunt recently died.
#3
Me and my twin are complete opposites. I have a pixie cut and she has long hair. I am a musician and she is a mathematician. I am gay and she is straight. I am extroverted and she is introverted. Despite being so different, we are best friends and have so much in common.
CrunChewy McSandybutt 1 year ago
It would be interesting to read a study about the "mirror image" phenomenon that so many identical twins have.
Kit Black 1 year ago
It's literally just when the zygote split completely vs continuing to divide as one entity.
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#4
I dated an identical twin. They had matching birth marks in several places. And they were all mirror image. One left handed, one right. Etc.
#5
My wife is an identical twin. When we first started dating I could tell them apart from their voices, smell, makeup, and eyes. However, when they swam or took a very recent bath they were damn near impossible to tell apart. No smell and no makeup. If they were silent it was tough.
Now 20 years later the twin became an alcoholic and turned to food as a coping mechanism. My wife isn’t little but she doesn't look at all like her sister anymore. .
#6
I have a male friend who is gay and very well groomed. He has an identical twin who is straight, not as well groomed, and 20lbs heavier. It's like seeing an alternate reality of my friend if he hadn't left the Mormon church
KillerKiwi 1 year ago
Hmmm. I don’t remember the last time I saw a Mormon dad without a dad bod.
#7
My brother unlocked my iPhone with Face ID on the first try. Took me 6 attempts to unlock his Samsung phone.
#8
We’re mirror image; I’m left handed and he’s right handed.
Our personalities are also opposites in many ways with me being more outgoing vs him being reserved, he enjoys sports and I enjoy gaming, etc etc.
Big Chungus 1 year ago
My sister and I are twins and mirrored, she is left handed and I am right, she is a bit more free spirited and I am very reserved, she doesn't want kids and I have a kid, she is the best aunt though in the world
#9
I’m not a twin, but I know a set of teenage twins who are such a delight. One recently came out as gay. He’s always been artistic and very social. His brother is more of a “tough guy” but kinda shy. And he (other twin) is still a bit young to show any interest in dating, romance, etc., but everything indicates he’s straight.
The lovely thing is how unified and kind hearted they are. They’re both physically strong, and they don’t tolerate anyone bulling anyone. I’m told by their parents that at their school it’s known not to let “the twins” find out you’ve been bullying anyone, or the bully will answer to them. They don’t initiate physical fights but they will issue some warnings for sure.
#10
I’m trans he’s not, now my dads got a boy and a girl :D.
Fellfromthemoon 1 year ago
I am wondering wherther OP has two fathers or a single father, just left out an apostrophe.
Rosie Bannister 1 year ago
they defiinitely left out an apostrophe. the position is the issue.
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veryvenasaur 1 year ago
that's a pretty cruel thing to say. What makes you think that the dad is unhappy.
Load More Replies... #11
I like to joke that my brother soaked up all the artistic juices in the womb as my mother is an astoundingly good artist and incredibly creative. He's an incredible artist and writer, as for me on the other hand... Stick figures, and even those he does better than me.
Other than that, we're pretty much the same person.
#12
My breasts are about 3-4 cup sizes larger than hers 😅 we have no idea why.
Trillian 1 year ago
Me too. Who would want to carry around melons all their life?
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#13
My cousins are identical twins.
One is 130 lbs. The other is 320 lbs.
#14
I have identical twins. One has a freckle on her chin and the other doesn't. Makes it really easy to tell them apart lol.
Yellow dot 1 year ago
One day the no-freckle twin should take a little pen and recreate the freckle, have some fun!
Viking74 1 year ago
I had VERY identical twin sisters (even dressed identically, same hairstyle and had the same circle of friends) in my class for a whole year (Grade 7) during the pandemic who also could be told apart by the mole that one of them had on her cheek. But... we all wore masks the whole damn time! I never knew who was who... : )
duckie 1 year ago
When we used to meet my identical twin cousins when they were kids, we always asked the parents what made them different at the time. Usually one had a distinct freckle, lost a tooth or a scratch somewhere that the other one didn't. So for that current visit we'd know which is which.
#15
Mirror image twin here as well.
I'm left-handed, and my brother is right-handed; our hair cowlick is on opposite sides of our heads, but those are the only differences between us.
We're both video game nerds.
#16
My twin sister is reckless: been arrested multiple times, always trying new d***s, sleeping with anyone unprotected
I work in compliance and policy lol it’s always a good time arguing morality v. legality with her.
#17
We let our personalities start to shine from an early age. I knew 2 other sets of twins and even in college, they were still incredibly similar — whereas my brother and I really dressed differently. I dyed my hair black and rocked out, he went a bit more stylish gamer route. After growing up being dressed in the same clothes, or he in red and me in blue, our folks really allowed us to express ourselves. I found it weird that other twins around us didn’t. They were like living the same life almost.
Over the years, we look more like brothers than twins now. I am really into my fitness, and he his games and computers. Our bodies look nothing alike; our facial features show we’re the same but nothing else really.
That, and I have a few more birth marks on my chest and arms.
#18
Our personalities. He's the extrovert, I'm not. I have a sternum, he doesn't. Kinda. So he has a concave chest while I have essentially an extra bone in mine.
We each had major TMJ/jaw correctional surgery when we were 16 (literally the next day after the other). But one of us had extra small bones in his face that the other one didn't have. And then there were just extra small bones that both of us had. So, there might've been a third at one point.
Technically we don't know if we're identical or fraternal but between the chest thing and face thing, I think it's a safe assumption that we're identical. It's also highly likely that we were conjoined at one point before getting separated prior to being born.
Beth Wheeler 1 year ago
Maybe there was a triplet that they each absorbed parts of. It's really weird but it happens.
Pencil McGovern 1 year ago
I had no idea that conjoined twins could naturally separate before birth. Incredibly interesting.
Meaghan Stewart 1 year ago
My dad who is a twin had two sets of wisdom teeth and tonsils so we strongly suspect there was a third at one point.
#19
Not me, but my father and uncle.
A few differences:
My uncle has a much harsher accent compared to my father. They were raised in the same house.
My uncle has a lot more belly flub than my father.
My uncle is basically blind and has stupidly high prescription. My father has some astigmatism but otherwise perfect eyesight.
My father gets paid significantly more despite them working in similar fields.
My uncle tends to delay and complain, my father likes to take command and get things done.
As someone who has seen both my entire life, I can tell you who is who instantly, but to a lot of people, you put them side by side and they tend to forget who is who.
#20
I still have a baby tooth and he doesn't. My adult tooth never came in to make it loose so still in at 36 years while that never happened with my brother.
Joanne Mendonza-Earle 1 year ago
My husband found out last year he has an undescended extra tooth too! He's over 60!
Dorian Gabriel 1 year ago
I had a baby premolar that was grafted to the bone somehow. Just always like that. The adult couldn't grow so it was peeking out painfully to the side. The tooth had to basically be crowbarred out, and a pretty hardcore saw was involved at some point. Felt like the dentist was trying to pull out my whole jawbone, it was welded so solidly.
ObsidianAce_ 1 year ago
Dang, you got to keep yours?? My dentist had it removed because there was a concern it would get weak/break as it wasn’t meant to stay for so long… it shattered as they tried to extract it lol
#22
Though me and my sister are identical, people who know at least one of us really well can usually tell us apart. We used to have phases where we looked super alike, then not so alike, then alike again etc. I like to describe it as “we have the same features arranged slightly differently”. E.g. one of us opens her eyes wider than the other, I have a cartilage bump on my nose, and so on.
We understand each other super well, have extremely similar interests and senses of humor, but we often disagree on stuff like…personal philosophy, worldview etc. We just aren’t the same person lol. Though sometimes when meeting other sets of identical twins I feel like my sister and I are a little more independent than some? We didn’t attend university together on purpose, we have separate social lives..We’re both artists, but aim to work in different fields, have our own unique styles and bodies of work etc. I’ve met some twins that agree on drawing the same thing, have the same or highly similar styles, or just basically share an art career. We are still incredibly close, just like I said, not the same person.
#23
One of us is not a raging narcissist a*****e.
#24
We have different shoe sizes. I'm 38/UK 5 while she's 39 UK 5.5. Very annoying as it's the only thing we can't share.
#25
A pair of twins I know are fairly discernible. One has a big spot of acne on his nose for years; the other does not. They wear their hair very differently. They also never style their hair, it always looks tangled but ends up differently. One is very sarcastic, the other is wholesome. They play clarinet, bagpipes, trumpet, saxophone and flute. They do everything together. I don’t know how. They work the same jobs at the same shift, are in the same band, same university. The wholesome one has dabbled into Shakespeare and the study of performance more than the sarcastic one who dabbles into circuitry despite being the twin who is not an electrical engineering major. I love those guys and hope to beat them in our school’s rivalry competitions.
#26
Identical twin here. I have type 1 diabetes and my twin brother doesn’t.
Panda McPandaface 1 year ago
The list is 'Biggest Differences' not 'How Do People Tell You Apart'.
Load More Replies... #27
My aunts are identical twins and my dad and I are the only one's (aside from the two of them) who can tell them apart even in old baby pictures. The older aunt has more hooded eyes. To me it's incredibly obvious, but nobody else seems to see it.
Now that they're in their 60s they dye and wear their hair differently and one recently underwent treatment for breast cancer, so they don't look alike standing right next to each other. Still, they get mistaken in the grocery store and other places like that all the time.
UKGrandad 1 year ago
"..my dad and I are the only one's (aside from the two of them) who can tell them apart.." I once heard someone ask a set of twins how they knew which one was which. After 30- or-so seconds of silence I swear I heard the penny drop in his head.
Panda McPandaface 1 year ago
Just copied, pasted and didn't remove the incorrect the apostrophe eh?
Load More Replies... #28
I’m an identical twin. I was born with brachydactyly type d in one thumb (runs in the family) while my twin was born with both thumbs being normal.
#29
My identical twin and I have very different mouths, also noses but that’s bc his has been broken a couple times.
#31
I was born.
Senjo Krane 1 year ago
A lot of times one twin will die in utero. It's more common than you might think.
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#32
The way we treat others. I build them up, she tears them down.
#33
He's a show-er and I'm a grower.
#34
I am an identical twin. I am Christian, but lean left politically. My twin (we are both girls) is atheist but leans right politically.
#35
He's left-handed, I'm right-handed.
He's taller than me by an inch or so.
My voice is deeper.
My right jaw clicks when I open my mouth past a certain extent because of assault from years back whereas his jaw is fine.
Ineke Pronk 1 year ago
neither are the "my twin died" ones, but they are differences
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#36
I have 12 year old identical sons. One has a cowlick at the front of his hairline, so that helps if their hair isn't super short.
One hit puberty earlier so they're pretty different in height and weight right now. They've been mostly the same size before this year.
#37
I have heterochromia and she doesn’t. We both had blue eyes as toddlers until mine spontaneously changed, so our youngest photos are the most difficult to distinguish.
#38
My twin and I are also mirror twins. I have a mole on the front of my neck, they have it on the back. I'm left handed, they are right handed, they got all the allergies, I didn't.
Huddo's sister 1 year ago
I feel so disappointed sometimes that I inherited all the allergies (and more) while most of my siblings didn't (my sister has hay fever)!
#39
I am hard of hearing and they are not.
We’re twins but we’re also both our own person with our own experiences and have always been treated as such by our family. There are lots of differences and many similarities too.
#40
Identical twin here.
I was born missing half a vertebra in my back and have a weird spleen.
Our eyesight is vastly different — I have had crazy bad near-sightedness since 5th grade (like our dad) whereas my twin just got glasses a few years ago for an astigmatism (like our mother).
She’s outgoing, social, upbeat, with classic style. I’m a lot more introverted, intense, and broody with a cyberpunk/punk style.
If anyone cares, she tests as an ENFP and I’m an eNFJ.
#43
Im not a twin but i’m the mom of newborn identical twins, and one of my babies has a birthmark and the other doesn’t.
#44
Food preference. I'm a foodie willing to try anything at least once, and he's a fast food junkie that wants quick meals without waits.
#45
My identical twin sister enjoys working with young children as a school teacher, while I work as a nurse and prefer working with the older population.
#46
My wife is an identical twin. She prefers vanilla ice cream (so do I). Her twin prefers chocolate. We did 23 and Me DNA tests a few years back and one of the things it tells you is whether you prefer chocolate or vanilla ice cream. I was very curious in her result knowing that difference between her and her twin sister. We got the results. For me it said, you prefer vanilla. For her, it said, you have a 50/50 chance to prefer vanilla or chocolate. Between that and everything else in those DNA results being 100% accurate, I was totally sold on those products being legit from that moment on.
#47
Her love for pink, her health. I have been chronically ill since we were born but she’s always been healthy thankfully.
#48
Not a twin but my neighbors are, one is an athletic guy who's kinda fallen in with a bad crowd, and the other is a geography nerd/gamer.
#49
Literally everything. We are completely different. She’s super extroverted and I’m really introverted and all that.
#51
My left vocal cord is paralysed due to doctors messing up during surgery and my sister is all g!
#52
My brother has a slightly rounder face and less rounded, smaller eye sockets.
Our muscle insertions seem to be even very similar, size of our genitals, where we carry weight the most, etc.
He has slightly more body hair but only by a small amount.
Both of us have the same toe that overlaps but his can affect him rarely in negative ways whereas mine does not.
What do you think ?
Keith Lancaster 1 year ago
Somebody I know, accidentally (when he was an adult) found his twin's grave after growing up not knowing that he had one. It turns out that the other twin died after a few hours and his parents never found the right time to tell the surviving one.
howdylee 1 year ago
My younger kids are twins. They had TTTS (look it up and learn something new!) so one was the donor and will always be smaller and one was the recipient and will always be slightly larger. 3lbs14oz vs 5lbs in a newborn is huge difference! I never had to worry about mixing them up. They look similar, just one has a rounder/fuller face.
Panda McPandaface 1 year ago
Or you could have just told us - we'd still have learnt something but of course you wouldn't have had the feeling of superiority.
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Sarah Pryde 1 year ago
I am an identical twin and we are DEFINETLY mirror image....Im left handed, shes right, im queer, shes straight, we are both loud but im probably the more outgoing of the two of us....I love to travel and shes a homebody, etc etc etc
Doodles1983 1 year ago
Identical nephews. One was born with 6 toes on one foot. But easy to tell apart without it these days. I also dated an identical twin and they never looked alike to me. You learn their faces and nuances well and it's easy.
Samsquatch & Monko 1 year ago
People used to think my younger sister was my twin until i got a haircut
Huddo's sister 1 year ago
When I was in high school, a number of people either thought my younger brother was my twin or my boyfriend, depending on whether they thought we looked alike, which was weird.
Load More Replies... Keith Lancaster 1 year ago
Somebody I know, accidentally (when he was an adult) found his twin's grave after growing up not knowing that he had one. It turns out that the other twin died after a few hours and his parents never found the right time to tell the surviving one.
howdylee 1 year ago
My younger kids are twins. They had TTTS (look it up and learn something new!) so one was the donor and will always be smaller and one was the recipient and will always be slightly larger. 3lbs14oz vs 5lbs in a newborn is huge difference! I never had to worry about mixing them up. They look similar, just one has a rounder/fuller face.
Panda McPandaface 1 year ago
Or you could have just told us - we'd still have learnt something but of course you wouldn't have had the feeling of superiority.
Load More Replies... Sarah Pryde 1 year ago
I am an identical twin and we are DEFINETLY mirror image....Im left handed, shes right, im queer, shes straight, we are both loud but im probably the more outgoing of the two of us....I love to travel and shes a homebody, etc etc etc
Doodles1983 1 year ago
Identical nephews. One was born with 6 toes on one foot. But easy to tell apart without it these days. I also dated an identical twin and they never looked alike to me. You learn their faces and nuances well and it's easy.
Samsquatch & Monko 1 year ago
People used to think my younger sister was my twin until i got a haircut
Huddo's sister 1 year ago
When I was in high school, a number of people either thought my younger brother was my twin or my boyfriend, depending on whether they thought we looked alike, which was weird.
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