Brace yourself for a journey that will test your wit, challenge your reasoning, and ignite the sparks of curiosity within you. Whether you’re seeking an intellectual challenge, looking for entertainment, or just eager to sharpen your problem-solving skills, these tricky riddles will exercise your brain and challenge your perception. From funny wordplay to clever logic and brain teasers, put yourself and others to the test and find out! Don’t worry, answers are included.
Table of Contents
Best Tricky Riddles
Riddle: What is so fragile that saying its name breaks it?
Answer: Silence.
Riddle: Mr. Taylor has four daughters and each has a brother. In total, how many children does Mr. Taylor have?
Answer: Five children because all of his daughters have the same brother.
Riddle: What two things can you never have for breakfast?
Answer: Lunch and dinner.
Riddle: I possess a halo of water, walls of stone, and a tongue of wood. Long I have stood; what am I?
Answer: Castle.
Riddle: What is the capital in France?
Answer: The letter F is the only capital letter in France.
Riddle: What can run but never walk, have a mouth but never talk, have a head that never weeps, and a bed that never sleeps?
Answer: A river.
Riddle: What does man love more than life, hate more than any type of mortal strife; that which contented men desire; the poor have, the rich require; the miser spends, the spendthrift saves, and all men carry to their graves?
Answer: Nothing.
Riddle: If an electric train is moving north at 55 mph and the winds blowing east at 70 mph, which way does the smoke blow?
Answer: An electric train doesn’t emit smoke.
Riddle: If a red house is made of red bricks, and a yellow house is made of yellow bricks, what is a greenhouse made of?
Answer: All greenhouses are made of glass.
Riddle: How many letters are in the alphabet?
Answer: Eleven letters are in “the alphabet”.
Riddle: How do you fix a cracked pumpkin?
Answer: With a pumpkin patch.
Riddle: How can you throw a ball as hard as you can only to have it come back to you without it bouncing off of anything?
Answer: Throw the ball straight into the air.
Riddle: What can never be put in a saucepan?
Answer: It’s lid.
Riddle: I am the beginning of the end of time and space that surrounds everything and every place. What am I?
Answer: The letter “E”.
Riddle: What can you catch but never throw?
Answer: A cold.
Riddle: What has only two words, but thousands of letters?
Answer: A Post Office.
Riddle: What can travel around the world without moving from its corner?
Answer: A stamp.
Riddle: There are 6 sisters. Each sister has 1 brother. How many brothers are in the sister’s family?
Answer: 1 brother.
Riddle: What kind of room has no walls or corners?
Answer: A mushroom.
Riddle: What can fill an entire room without taking up any space?
Answer: Light.
Riddle: When is a door no longer a door?
Answer: When it’s ajar.
Riddle: The first two letters signify a male, the first three letters signify a female, the first four letters signify a great person, while the entire word signifies a great woman.
Answer: Heroine.
Riddle: What begins with an “e” and only contains one letter?
Answer: An envelope.
Riddle: A man attending his mother’s funeral, sees a woman in another pew, and experiences love at first sight. He tries to find her but has no luck. A few weeks later, he kills his sister. Why does he kill his sister?
Answer: He kills his sister in hopes of seeing the woman at her funeral.
Riddle: You see a boat filled with people. It has not sunk, but you don’t see a single person on the ship when you look again. Why?
Answer: They were all married.
Riddle: What has ten letters and starts with gas?
Answer: An automobile.
Riddle: What English word has three consecutive double letters?
Answer: Bookkeeper.
Riddle: If you eat this you will die. What is it?
Answer: Nothing.
Riddle: Which letter of the alphabet has the most water?
Answer: The “C.”
Riddle: A is the brother of B. B is the brother of C. C is the father of D. How is D related to A?
Answer: A is D’s aunt.
Riddle: What two words, added together, contain the most letters?
Answer: Post office.
Riddle: There is a single-story blue house where everything is blue; the doors, windows, couch, television, kitchen, etc. are blue. What color is the carpet on the stairs in this house?
Answer: There are no stairs, it’s a one-story house.
Riddle: What type of cheese is made backward?
Answer: Edam.
Riddle: A woman shoots her husband and then holds him underwater for five minutes. Next, she hangs him but right after, they enjoy a nice dinner together. How is this possible?
Answer: She took a photo of her husband and then developed it in her darkroom before dinner.
Short Tricky Riddles
Riddle: What can fill a room but takes up no space?
Answer: Light.
Riddle: What has roots that no one sees and looms much taller than trees? Up it goes but yet it never grows; what is it?
Answer: Mountain.
Riddle: Mr. and Mrs. Mustard have six daughters and each daughter has one brother. How many people are in the Mustard family?
Answer: There are nine Mustards in the family. Since each daughter shares the same brother, there are six girls, one boy, and Mr. and Mrs. Mustard.
Riddle: I am laced twice in eternity and always within sight. What could I be?
Answer: The letter “T”.
Riddle: If 11 plus two equals one, what does nine plus five equal?
Answer: 11 a.m. plus two hours = 1 p.m., 9 a.m. plus five hours = 2 p.m.
Riddle: Two fathers and two sons come home from the mall. Yet when they arrive home, only three people get out of the car. How is this possible?
Answer: They are a grandfather, father, and son.
Riddle: I am four times as old as my daughter. In 20 years’ time, I shall be twice as old as her. How old are we now?
Answer: I am 40 and my daughter is 10.
Riddle: What is able to go up a chimney when down but unable to go down a chimney when up?
Answer: An umbrella.
Riddle: A girl has as many brothers as sisters, but each brother has only half as many brothers as sisters. How many brothers and sisters are there in the family?
Answer: Four sisters and three brothers.
Riddle: A dog crosses the river without getting wet, and without using a bridge or boat. How?
Answer: The river was frozen.
Riddle: What jumps when walking and sits when standing?
Answer: A kangaroo.
Riddle: First, think of the color of the clouds. Next, think of the color of snow. Now, think of the color of a bright, full moon. Now, answer quickly: What do cows drink?
Answer: Water.
Riddle: If you eat me, my sender will eat you. What am I?
Answer: Fishhook.
Riddle: What has a head, a tail, is brown and has no legs?
Answer: A penny.
Riddle: I can shave every day but my beard never changes. What am I?
Answer: A barber.
Riddle: What breaks yet never falls, and what falls yet never breaks?
Answer: Day and night.
Riddle: Two girls were born to the same mother, on the same day, at the same time, in the same month, and in the same year, however, they’re not twins. How is this possible?
Answer: The two girls are a part of a set of triplets.
Riddle: A man looks at a painting in a museum and says, “Brothers and sisters, I have none, but that man’s father is my father’s son.” Who is in the painting?
Answer: The man’s son.
Riddle: Three different doctors said that Paul is their brother yet Paul claims he has no brothers. Who is lying?
Answer: No one is lying because the three doctors are Paul’s sisters.
Riddle: The person who makes it has no need for 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 exemplify a rare case where today comes before yesterday. What am I?
Answer: A dictionary.
Riddle: It can’t be seen, can’t be felt, can’t be heard, and can’t be smelled. It lies behind stars and under hills, and empty holes it fills. What is it?
Answer: The dark.
Riddle: Which English word is the odd one out: Stun, Ton, Evil, Letter, Mood, Bad, Strap, Snap, and Straw?
Answer: Letter as it is the only one that does not spell another word when it’s written backward.
Riddle: An electric train is headed east. Where does the smoke go?
Answer: Electric trains don’t produce any smoke!
Riddle: Which word has three consecutive double letters?
Answer: Bookkeeper.
Riddle: Where does today come before yesterday?
Answer: In the dictionary.
Riddle: What four-letter word can be written forward, backward, or upside down, and can still be read from left to right?
Answer: Noon.
Riddle: I am born tall and grow short with age. What could I be?
Answer: A pencil.
Riddle: What is at the end of the rainbow?
Answer: The letter W!
Riddle: The person who makes it and the person who buys it have no use for it and the person who uses it never sees it or feels it. What is it?
Answer: Coffin.
Riddle: What is seen in the middle of March and April that can’t be seen at the beginning or end of either month?
Answer: The letter R.
Riddle: The more these are taken, the more they are left behind. What are they?
Answer: Footsteps.
Riddle: What word in the dictionary is spelled incorrectly?
Answer: “Incorrectly.”
Riddle: Humans purchase me to eat but then never eat me. What am I?
Answer: Plates and silverware.
Riddle: What belongs to you, but everyone else uses it?
Answer: Your name.
Riddle: A man runs away from home, turns left three times, and ends up back at home facing a man in a mask. Who is wearing the mask?
Answer: The man in the mask is a catcher because this is a game of baseball.
Riddle: How far can you walk into the forest?
Answer: Halfway. After that, you’re walking out.
Riddle: I fly without wings and cry without eyes. Wherever I lead, darkness follows. What could I be?
Answer: A cloud.
Riddle: Before Mt. Everest was discovered, what was the tallest mountain peak in the world?
Answer: It was still Mt. Everest.