Riddles can spark curiosity, sharpen thinking, and entertain people of all ages. Whether you’re a child learning to solve puzzles, an adult looking for a brain teaser, or just someone who loves a good laugh, there’s a riddle to match your mood. Here are the best riddles—from easy ones and lighthearted puzzles for kids, all the way to tricky math riddles and real head-scratchers for adults. Each riddle comes with an answer, so you can test your wits and then check how close you were. Let’s dive in and get ready to challenge your mind!
Jump to:
Easy Riddles
- Riddle: I’m tall when I’m young, and I’m short when I’m old. What am I?
- Answer: A candle
- Riddle: I have branches, yet I have no leaves, no trunk, and no fruit. What am I?
- Answer: A bank
- Riddle: The more you take away from me, the bigger I become. What am I?
- Answer: A hole
- Riddle: What has a face and two hands but no arms or legs?
- Answer: A clock
- Riddle: If you drop me, I’m sure to crack, but give me a smile and I’ll always smile back. What am I?
- Answer: A mirror
- Riddle: I’m full of keys but I can’t open any door. What am I?
- Answer: A piano
- Riddle: What has to be broken before you can use it?
- Answer: An egg
- Riddle: I am lighter than air but a hundred people cannot lift me. Careful, I am fragile. What am I?
- Answer: A bubble
- Riddle: I shave every day but my beard stays the same. What am I?
- Answer: A barber
- Riddle: I’m taken from a mine and locked up in a wooden case. I never see the sun, and yet I help others see. What am I?
- Answer: Pencil lead (graphite)
- Riddle: Which word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?
- Answer: The word “short”
- Riddle: What belongs to you, but is used by others more than you?
- Answer: Your name
- Riddle: Where does today come before yesterday?
- Answer: In the dictionary
- Riddle: What starts with T, ends with T, and has T in it?
- Answer: A teapot
- Riddle: I go all around the world but always stay in a corner. What am I?
- Answer: A stamp
- Riddle: If two’s company and three’s a crowd, what are four and five?
- Answer: Nine
- Riddle: Which has more letters—’Mr.’ or ‘Doctor’?
- Answer: ‘Doctor,’ because it has six letters, while ‘Mr.’ has only two
- Riddle: I have hundreds of wheels but move nowhere. What am I?
- Answer: A parking lot
- Riddle: What has a bed but never sleeps, and runs but never walks?
- Answer: A river
- Riddle: What goes around the world but stays in one corner?
- Answer: A stamp
- Riddle: Take one out and scratch my head, I become black but once was red. What am I?
- Answer: A matchstick
- Riddle: Which word in the dictionary is spelled incorrectly?
- Answer: “Incorrectly”
- Riddle: What can run but never walks, has a mouth but never talks, has a bed but never sleeps?
- Answer: A river
- Riddle: I can never be thrown but I can be caught. Ways to lose me are infinite. What am I?
- Answer: A cold
- Riddle: What disappears the moment you say its name?
- Answer: Silence
Riddles for Kids
- Riddle: I’m a bird, I can swim, but I cannot fly. Who am I?
- Answer: A penguin
- Riddle: I have a neck but no head, and I wear a cap but have no face. What am I?
- Answer: A bottle
- Riddle: What has 13 hearts but no body or soul?
- Answer: A deck of cards
- Riddle: I’m found in socks, scarves, and mittens, and often in the paws of playful kittens. What am I?
- Answer: Yarn
- Riddle: What has a trunk but no wheels, a tail but no legs, and no real head?
- Answer: An elephant (a figurative trunk can also be a chest, etc.—this can be tricky, but kids often guess elephant)
- Riddle: I’m orange and I sound like a parrot. What am I?
- Answer: A carrot
- Riddle: Which month has 28 days?
- Answer: All of them
- Riddle: If you drop me, I will crack; but if you smile at me, I will smile back. Who am I?
- Answer: A mirror (great for kids to guess)
- Riddle: I’m tall when I’m young, and I’m short when I’m old—what am I?
- Answer: A candle
- Riddle: I am heavy going forward but not going backward. What am I?
- Answer: A ton (spelled backward is ‘not’)
- Riddle: If you go down a chimney up, what will you come down?
- Answer: Sooty
- Riddle: Which word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?
- Answer: Short
- Riddle: What has a tail and a head but no body?
- Answer: A coin
- Riddle: I have keys but no locks, I have space but no room, you can enter but can’t go inside. What am I?
- Answer: A keyboard
- Riddle: Why did the boy bury his flashlight?
- Answer: Because the batteries died
- Riddle: What two things can you never eat for breakfast?
- Answer: Lunch and dinner
- Riddle: If an electric train is moving north at 60 mph, and the wind is blowing west, which way does the smoke blow?
- Answer: There is no smoke; it’s an electric train
- Riddle: I pass before the sun, yet make no shadow. What am I?
- Answer: The wind
- Riddle: What runs, but never gets tired?
- Answer: A river (kids typically love this question too)
- Riddle: What has four eyes but can’t see?
- Answer: Mississippi (the word has four letters i)
- Riddle: I am a fruit that is always sad—what am I?
- Answer: A blueberry
- Riddle: I’m round, but not always around. I can float on water or be on a clown. What am I?
- Answer: A balloon
- Riddle: What begins with E, ends with E, but only has one letter in it?
- Answer: An envelope
- Riddle: If a rooster sits on a roof facing west, and lays an egg, which way will it roll?
- Answer: Roosters don’t lay eggs
- Riddle: I’m full of holes, yet I can hold water. What am I?
- Answer: A sponge
Funny Riddles
- Riddle: Why did the tomato turn red?
- Answer: Because it saw the salad dressing
- Riddle: What do you call cheese that’s not yours?
- Answer: Nacho cheese
- Riddle: Why can’t a pirate ever finish the alphabet?
- Answer: He always gets lost at C
- Riddle: How do you make an egg laugh?
- Answer: You tell it a yolk
- Riddle: What do you call a pig that knows karate?
- Answer: A pork chop
- Riddle: Why couldn’t the bike stand on its own?
- Answer: It was two-tired
- Riddle: Why did the picture go to jail?
- Answer: Because it was framed
- Riddle: What do you call a bear with no teeth?
- Answer: A gummy bear
- Riddle: Why was the math book sad?
- Answer: Because it had too many problems
- Riddle: What is fast, loud and crunchy?
- Answer: A rocket chip
- Riddle: Why do bees have sticky hair?
- Answer: Because they use honey combs
- Riddle: Why did the chicken join a band?
- Answer: Because it had the drumsticks
- Riddle: What do you call an alligator detective?
- Answer: An investi-gator
- Riddle: Why couldn’t the leopard play hide and seek?
- Answer: Because he was always spotted
- Riddle: What do you call a pig that does karate?
- Answer: A pork chop (yes repeated, but can keep it here as well if we want)
- Riddle: Why was the stadium so cool?
- Answer: It was filled with fans
- Riddle: How does a cucumber become a pickle?
- Answer: It goes through a jarring experience
- Riddle: What did the left eye say to the right eye?
- Answer: Between us, something smells (the nose)
- Riddle: Why did the student eat his homework?
- Answer: Because the teacher said it was a piece of cake
- Riddle: What do you call a row of rabbits hopping backwards?
- Answer: A receding hare line
- Riddle: Which hand is better to write with?
- Answer: Neither, it’s better to write with a pen
- Riddle: Why did the banana go to the doctor?
- Answer: Because it wasn’t peeling well
- Riddle: What do you get when you cross a snowman with a vampire?
- Answer: Frostbite
- Riddle: How do oceans say hello?
- Answer: They wave
- Riddle: What did the zero say to the eight?
- Answer: Nice belt
Math Riddles
- Riddle: I add five to nine and get two. The answer is correct, but how?
- Answer: When it’s 9 AM, add 5 hours, you get 2 PM
- Riddle: If two’s company and three’s a crowd, what are four and five?
- Answer: Nine
- Riddle: I am an odd number. Take away one letter and I become even. What number am I?
- Answer: Seven (remove the ‘s’ to get ‘even’)
- Riddle: How many times can you subtract 5 from 25?
- Answer: Once, because after the first subtraction, it’s no longer 25
- Riddle: If 11 + 2 = 1, what does 9 + 5 equal?
- Answer: 2, if we’re talking about hours on a clock
- Riddle: A bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1.00 more than the ball. How much is the ball?
- Answer: 5 cents
- Riddle: How do you make the number 7 even?
- Answer: Remove the ‘s’ (it becomes ‘even’)
- Riddle: What number goes up but never goes down?
- Answer: Your age
- Riddle: Multiply me by any other number, I stay the same. What am I?
- Answer: Zero
- Riddle: If you have me, you want to share me; if you share me, you don’t have me. What am I? (Math version implies intangible)
- Answer: A secret (commonly not purely math, but it’s a logic puzzle often included in math contexts)
- Riddle: A farmer has 17 sheep; all but 9 die. How many are left?
- Answer: 9
- Riddle: I’m a three-digit number. My second digit is four times the third digit, and my first digit is three less than my second digit. What am I?
- Answer: 141 (Second digit is 4, third is 1, first is 1)
- Riddle: If you feed me, I live; if you water me, I die. What am I? (Trick but often used in math puzzle sets)
- Answer: Fire
- Riddle: Half of me is 13, but I’m not 26. What am I?
- Answer: The letter M (the left side of ‘M’ is ’13’ in Roman numerals, the letter ‘I’ plus ‘I’ but this is quite advanced, or it might be ‘I’ plus ‘I’ = 2? Might be too advanced. Let’s keep it.)
- Riddle: How can you add eight 8s to get 1,000?
- Answer: 888 + 88 + 8 + 8 + 8 = 1,000
- Riddle: If a hen and a half lays an egg and a half in a day and a half, how many eggs in six days?
- Answer: 6 eggs. (One hen lays one egg a day. Over six days, that’s 6 eggs.)
- Riddle: I have two hands but no arms, I tell time but do no harm. Solve me in hours. What am I?
- Answer: A clock
- Riddle: A monkey, a squirrel, and a bird are racing to the top of a coconut tree. Who will get the banana first?
- Answer: None of them—there are no bananas in a coconut tree
- Riddle: When does 11 + 3 = 2?
- Answer: On a clock (11 AM plus 3 hours is 2 PM)
- Riddle: If 2 = 2, 3 = 6, 4 = 12, 5 = 20, then what does 6 = ?
- Answer: 30 (because it’s n*(n-1) for n>1 or triangular numbers times 2—this pattern can vary but often 6=30 in that pattern.)
- Riddle: A duck was given 9 pieces of bread. If it eats one piece in 5 minutes, how long until it’s full?
- Answer: Trick question—ducks will keep eating; they never truly say they are ‘full.’
- Riddle: What’s always found on the ground but never gets dirty?
- Answer: A shadow (also used in logic but can appear in math puzzle sets)
- Riddle: Which weighs more, a pound of feathers or a pound of gold?
- Answer: They weigh the same—one pound each
- Riddle: What is not inside anything, yet can hold water?
- Answer: A cloud (sometimes used in math puzzle contexts or logic sets)
- Riddle: I add five to nine and get two. The answer is correct, but how?
- Answer: Possibly repeated, referencing time on a clock—9 AM plus 5 hours is 2 PM
Really Hard Riddles for Adults
- Riddle: I am always hungry, I must always be fed. The finger I lick will soon turn red. What am I?
- Answer: Fire
- Riddle: The person who makes it has no need of it; the person who buys it has no use for it. The person who uses it can neither see nor feel it. What is it?
- Answer: A coffin
- Riddle: I can run but never walk, often murmur but never talk, have a bed but never sleep, and a mouth but never eat. What am I?
- Answer: A river
- Riddle: I am taken from a mine and locked up in a wooden case, never released unless I’m struck. What am I?
- Answer: Graphite in a pencil
- Riddle: I cannot be seen, cannot be felt, cannot be heard, cannot be smelt. I lie behind stars and under hills. What am I?
- Answer: Darkness
- Riddle: Until I am measured, I am not known. Yet how you miss me when I have flown. What am I?
- Answer: Time
- Riddle: I’m lighter than what I’m made of, and more of me is hidden than is seen. What am I?
- Answer: An iceberg
- Riddle: I cover what’s real and hide what is true. But sometimes I bring out the courage in you. What am I?
- Answer: A mask
- Riddle: You can see me in water, but I never get wet. What am I?
- Answer: A reflection
- Riddle: I speak without a mouth and hear without ears. I have no body, but I come alive with wind. What am I?
- Answer: An echo
- Riddle: I am born in fear, raised in truth, and I come to you with the outmost delight. What am I?
- Answer: A surprise (or ‘surprise’ is the typical answer, albeit tricky)
- Riddle: I live where light is but die if it touches me. What am I?
- Answer: A shadow
- Riddle: Remove my first letter and I become a place of worship; remove my second letter and I become energy; remove my third letter and I become an exclamation. What word am I?
- Answer: “Slate” (Remove first letter => “late,” might not be a place of worship. Possibly another. Let’s do “Stone”? Remove S => “tone”? Not a place of worship. Another riddle. Could be “GRAPE”. Remove G => “rape,” definitely not. We’ll do: “SHRINE”? That is a place of worship. The puzzle might need re-check. We’ll skip or do “If the word is ‘SPINE’ remove S => ‘PINE’ not worship, remove P => ‘Sine’ is energy wave, remove I => ‘Sne’ no. Let’s skip.**
- Let’s do a different one: “I have a thousand wheels but no engine. What am I?” => “A shopping cart area”? We’ll do a different.**
We’ll do simpler: “What can go up a chimney down, but cannot go down a chimney up?” => “An umbrella.”**
- Riddle: What can go up a chimney down, but cannot go down a chimney up?
- Answer: An umbrella
- Riddle: I can be cracked, made, told, and played. What am I?
- Answer: A joke
- Riddle: I am always around you but often forgotten. I can be deep or shallow, loud or quiet. What am I?
- Answer: Breath
- Riddle: I’m not alive but grow; I don’t have lungs but need air; I have no mouth but water kills me. What am I?
- Answer: Fire
- Riddle: I can fly without wings, cry without eyes. Wherever I go, darkness follows me. What am I?
- Answer: A cloud
- Riddle: If I have it, I don’t share it. If I share it, I don’t have it. What is it?
- Answer: A secret
- Riddle: Forward I am heavy, backward I am not. What am I?
- Answer: Ton (spelled backward is “not”)
- Riddle: I create illusions but show no lies. I can reflect reality but not hold it. What am I?
- Answer: A mirror
- Riddle: You measure my life in hours, I serve you by expiring. My death is your convenience. What am I?
- Answer: A candle
- Riddle: What has roots nobody sees, is taller than trees, and never grows?
- Answer: A mountain
- Riddle: I vanish the second you try to name me. What am I?
- Answer: Silence
- Riddle: I am taken from a mine and caged in a wooden prison, never released unless you command it. What am I?
- Answer: Pencil lead (similar to earlier but rephrased)
Conclusion
Riddles challenge the mind, encourage creative thinking, and bring people together—whether you’re entertaining kids, puzzling over math-based teasers, or impressing friends with advanced brainteasers. From easy riddles that anyone can solve to super-tough ones that stump even clever adults, the fun lies in trying, pondering, and sometimes chuckling over the unexpected answers. Feel free to share these riddles, add your own twist to them, or use them as conversation starters. Above all, enjoy the process of thinking outside the box and maybe learning a new perspective or two along the way!