When you’re a twin, everyone and their mother seems to wonder what it’s like to have a look-alike sibling. Is the “twin sixth sense” real? How did your family tell you apart growing up?
Below, fraternal and identical twins break down those and other common questions people have about the twin experience.
1. We’re used to people mixing us up (even our parents do it).
“We get it, it can be a little confusing at first. It’s rare but even our parents or brother will mistake one of us for the other, but we just laugh it off. We understand that it’s a mistake and it can take time to pick up on differences.” ― Allie Byers, a 24-year-old identical twin from Austin, Texas
2. Identical twins don’t always look completely identical.
“While some pairs of twins look exactly alike, some don’t ― especially when they grow up! There are two types of twins: monozygotic (or identical twins) develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two embryos. Dizygotic (or fraternal twins) means that they develop from two different eggs. In fraternal twins, each twin is fertilized by its own sperm cell. In our case, we are identical twins, but we definitely have different features and facial structures.” ― Gabby Byers, a 24-year-old identical twin from Austin, Texas
