problem solving riddles

114+ Challenging Problem Riddles to Test Your Problem-Solving Skills

Welcome to the realm of Problem Riddles, where your problem-solving skills will be put to the test through puzzles that require more than just a straightforward answer. These riddles are crafted not only to entertain but to challenge your logical thinking, creativity, and sometimes, your ability to think outside the box.

In this collection, you’ll encounter scenarios that mimic real-life problems or abstract challenges that require you to untangle knots of logic, interpret clues in unexpected ways, or even redefine the problem itself to find a solution.

Whether you’re here to sharpen your mind, discover new ways to approach problems, or simply enjoy the satisfaction of solving a complex puzzle, Problem Riddles promises to engage your brain in a workout of wit and wisdom. Buckle up for a mental journey where every riddle is a problem waiting for your unique solution.

Problem Riddles With Answers

Tricky problem riddles.

1. Three switches control three light bulbs in a room. Each switch corresponds to one of the light bulbs, but none are labelled. How can you figure out which switch corresponds to which light bulb in only three trips to the room?

Answer: Turn switch 1 to the “on” position for 5 minutes. Turn switch 1 to the “off” position and turn switch 2 to the “on” position. Now, enter the room.

2. You are standing in a room with two doors. One door leads to certain death, and the other door leads to freedom. There are two guards, one standing in front of each door. One guard always tells the truth, and the other guard always lies. You don’t know which guard is which or which door leads to freedom. You can ask one question to one guard. What question should you ask?

Answer: Ask a guard, “If I were to ask the other guard which door leads to freedom, what would they say?”

3. A farmer has 100 feet of fencing and wants to enclose a rectangular area of his land. What dimensions should he use to maximize the area?

Answer: 25 x 25 square.

4. You have 8 balls, and one of them will be slightly heavier or lighter than the others. How can you find the heavier or lighter ball in only 2 weighings?

Answer: Weigh 3 balls against 3 balls. If one side is heavier, take 2 balls from the heavier side and weigh them against each other.

5. How can you measure 9 minutes using two 7-minute hourglasses?

Answer: Start both hourglasses. When the first one finishes, flip it over.

6. A bat and a ball together cost $1.10. The bat costs $1.00 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?

Answer: 5 cents.

7. You have 12 bottles of wine, and one of them is poisoned. How can you find the poisoned bottle in only 3 tastings?

Answer: Divide the bottles into groups of 4.

8. A snail is at the bottom of a 20-foot well. Each day, it climbs up 3 feet, but at night, it slips back 2 feet. How many days will it take for the snail to reach the top?

Answer: 18 days.

9. What can you break, even if you never pick it up or touch it?

Answer: A promise.

10. You have two ropes that each take 30 minutes to burn from one end to the other. However, the ropes do not burn at a consistent rate. How can you measure 45 minutes using these ropes?

Answer: Light rope 1 from both ends and rope 2 from one end.

11. A group of five people are wearing hats, and each hat is either white or black. Each person can see the hats of the other four people, but not their own. How can the people figure out what color their own hat is?

Answer: Each person should look at the hats of the other four people and then raise their hand if they see an odd number of white hats.

12. You have 8 coins, and one of them is counterfeit (i.e., either heavier or lighter). How can you find the counterfeit coin in only two weighings?

Answer: Weigh 4 coins against 4 coins.

13. What starts with an E, ends with an E, but only contains one letter?

Answer: An envelope.

14. How can you make the number 100 using only the numbers 4, 4, 9, and 9?

Answer: 99 + 4/4.

15. You have two boxes, one with only white balls and the other with only black balls. You must pick one ball from one box, but you don’t know which box is which. How can you ensure you pick a white ball?

Hard Problem Riddles

1. I have keys but open no locks, I have space but no room, you can enter, but you can’t go outside. What am I? Answer: A keyboard.

2. The more you take, the more you leave behind. What am I? Answer: Footsteps.

3. I am taken from a mine, and shut up in a wooden case, from which I am never released, and yet I am used by almost everyone. What am I? Answer: Pencil lead.

4. I speak without a mouth and hear without ears. I have no body, but I come alive with the wind. What am I? Answer: An echo.

5. A man rode into town on Friday. He stayed for three nights and left on Friday. How is this possible? Answer: His horse’s name is Friday.

6. I have cities, but no houses. I have mountains, but no trees. I have water, but no fish. What am I? Answer: A map.

7. If you have me, you want to share me. If you share me, you haven’t got me. What am I? Answer: A secret.

8. What disappears as soon as you say its name? Answer: Silence.

9. I am heavy forward, but backward I am not. What am I? Answer: A ton.

10. You see a boat filled with people. It has not sunk, but when you look again you don’t see a single person on the boat. Why? Answer: All the people were married.

11. I can fly without wings. I can cry without eyes. Wherever I go, darkness flies. What am I? Answer: A cloud.

12. A man is pushing his car along a road when he comes to a hotel. He shouts, “I’m bankrupt!” Why? Answer: He’s playing Monopoly.

13. What has a face but no eyes, nose, or mouth? Answer: A clock.

14. What can you catch but not throw? Answer: A cold.

15. What goes around the world but stays in a corner? Answer: A stamp.

16. What has to be broken before you can use it? Answer: An egg.

17. What has a thumb but no fingers? Answer: A glove.

Tricky Logic Riddles

1. I am an odd number. Take away one letter, and I become even. What number am I? Answer: Seven.

2. What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years? Answer: The letter “M.”

3. I speak without a mouth and hear without ears. I have no body, but I come alive with the wind. What am I? Answer: An echo.

4. I have keys but no locks. I have space but no room. You can enter, but you can’t go outside. What am I? Answer: A keyboard.

5. The more you take, the more you leave behind. What am I? Answer: Footsteps.

6. What has many needles but doesn’t sew? Answer: A cactus.

7. I’m light as a feather, yet the strongest man can’t hold me for much longer than a minute. What am I? Answer: Your breath.

8. What has one eye but can’t see? Answer: A needle.

9. What can travel around the world while staying in a corner? Answer: A stamp.

10. What has a heart that doesn’t beat? Answer: An artichoke.

11. I can be cracked, made, told, and played. What am I? Answer: A joke.

12. What has a head, a tail, is brown, and has no legs? Answer: A penny.

13. I can fill a room, yet I take up no space. What am I? Answer: Light.

14. I am not alive, but I grow; I don’t have lungs, but I need air; I don’t have a mouth, but water kills me. What am I? Answer: Fire.

15. What has many keys but can’t open a single lock? Answer: A piano.

16. What has legs but doesn’t walk? Answer: A table.

17. I have branches, but no fruit, trunk, or leaves. What am I? Answer: A bank.

18. What runs, but never walks. Often murmurs, never talks. Has a bed, but never sleeps. Has a mouth, but never eats? Answer: A river.

19. What is always in front of you but can’t be seen? Answer: The future.

20. I am taken from a mine, and shut up in a wooden case, from which I am never released, and yet I am used by almost every person. What am I? Answer: Pencil lead.

Logical Riddles With Answers

1. I speak without a mouth and hear without ears. I have no body, but I come alive with the wind. What am I? Answer: An echo.

2. You see a small, old, wooden boat with a 6-person capacity label. There are 5 sailors on board, but you can still fit one more person. Why? Answer: Because the 5 sailors weigh less than the boat’s capacity.

3. A bus driver was heading down a street in Colorado when he went right past a stop sign without stopping. He turned left where there was a “No Left Turn” sign, and he went the wrong way on a one-way street. He passed a policeman on the corner, but the policeman did nothing. Why not? Answer: The bus driver was walking.

4. If you have me, you want to share me. If you share me, you no longer have me. What am I? Answer: A secret.

5. In a one-story pink house, there was a pink person, a pink cat, a pink fish, a pink computer, a pink chair, a pink table, a pink telephone, a pink shower – everything was pink! What color were the stairs? Answer: There were no stairs.

7. A man is found murdered in a room with 53 bicycles. How did the police know that only one of the four suspects was responsible for the murder? Answer: The murderer left a bike tire track.

8. I have keys but open no locks. Space but no room. You can enter, but there’s no exit. What am I? Answer: A keyboard.

9. A man walks into a bar and asks for a glass of water. The bartender pulls out a gun and points it at him. The man says, “Thank you,” and leaves. Why? Answer: The man had hiccups.

10. How can you physically stand behind your father while he is standing behind you? Answer: By standing back-to-back.

11. If there are three apples and you take away two, how many do you have? Answer: The two you took.

12. What can travel around the world while staying in a corner? Answer: A stamp.

13. You’re in a dark room with a candle, a wood stove, and a gas lamp. You only have one match. What do you light first? Answer: The match.

14. A rooster lays an egg at the very top of a pointed roof. Which side is the egg going to roll off on? Answer: Roosters don’t lay eggs.

15. I have a large money box, 10 inches wide and 5 inches tall. Just by inserting a 1 rupee coin into it, I can make it 11 inches high. How? Answer: By standing the box on its side.

16. A truck driver is going down a one-way street the wrong way. He passes a policeman on the corner, but the policeman does nothing. Why not? Answer: The truck driver was walking.

17. What can fill a room but takes up no space? Answer: Light or sound.

18. What has a heart that doesn’t beat? Answer: An artichoke.

19. You have two coins that add up to 30 cents. One of them is not a nickel. What are the two coins? Answer: A quarter and a nickel.

20. If a blue house is made out of blue bricks, a red house is made out of red bricks, and a pink house is made out of pink bricks, what is a greenhouse made of? Answer: Glass.

21. What has keys but can’t open locks? Answer: A piano.

22. What has legs but can’t walk? Answer: A table.

23. What runs but never walks? Answer: A river.

24. What has a face but no eyes, nose, or mouth? Answer: A clock.

25. What can you catch but not throw? Answer: A cold.

26. What goes around the world but stays in a corner? Answer: A stamp.

27. What has to be broken before you can use it? Answer: An egg.

28. What has a thumb but no fingers? Answer: A glove.

29. I am always coming but never arrive. What am I? Answer: Tomorrow.

30. What is always in front of you but can’t be seen? Answer: The future.

Word Problem Riddles

1. I am a three-digit number. My tens digit is five more than my ones digit. My hundreds digit is eight less than my tens digit. What number am I? Answer: 194.

2. A man is looking at a photograph of someone. His friend asks who it is. The man replies, “Brothers and sisters, I have none. But that man’s father is my father’s son.” Who is in the photograph? Answer: The man’s son.

3. You have a 5-liter jug and a 3-liter jug, but you need exactly 4 liters of water. How can you measure exactly 4 liters using only these jugs? Answer: Fill the 5-liter jug, pour water into the 3-liter jug, empty it, pour the remaining 2 liters into the 3-liter jug, fill the 5-liter jug, and transfer the remaining water.

4. Two fathers and two sons sat down to eat eggs for breakfast. They ate exactly three eggs, each person ate exactly one egg. How is this possible? Answer: A grandfather, father, and son.

5. I am an odd number. Take away one letter, and I become even. What number am I? Answer: Seven.

6. A boy was asked to spell cow in thirteen letters. What did he write? Answer: S-e-e o d-o-u-b-l-e y-o-u.

7. A mother has 6 daughters and each of them has a brother. How many children does the mother have in total? Answer: Seven.

8. You are in a dark room with a candle, a wood stove, and a gas lamp. You have only one match. Which do you light first? Answer: The match.

9. There are three doors in front of you. Door #1 has a raging fire behind it. Door #2 has a sniper ready to shoot. Door #3 has a lion that hasn’t eaten in three years. Which door do you choose? Answer: Door #3.

10. A train leaves Chicago traveling at 60 miles per hour. Another train leaves New York City at 70 miles per hour. They are 800 miles apart. How long until they meet? Answer: 5 hours.

Final Thoughts

Problem riddles are more than just a fun challenge; they stimulate critical thinking, improve problem-solving skills, and enhance cognitive flexibility. Through puzzling over a variety of questions, we learn to think outside conventional boundaries, approaching problems from fresh perspectives.

These riddles engage our minds by requiring logic, creativity, and patience, often leading to that satisfying aha! moment once we uncover the answer. They are valuable not only for entertainment but also for building mental resilience and a sharper, more adaptable mindset.

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105 Tricky Riddles for Adults (With Answers!) to Test Your Smarts

These brain-teasers range from super-easy to downright mind-boggling.

Easy Riddles

Math riddles, funny riddles, hard riddles.

Similar to knowing how to juggle, having a wide knowledge of trivia facts or being overall great at telling jokes , keeping an arsenal of tricky and hilarious riddles for adults on hand will always serve as a great icebreaker. Luckily, if you’re running low on impressive brain teasers to share at your next work event or to entertain your family and friends, we have a great list of puzzling questions for you to try out (with the answers included!).

Ranging from super-tough head-scratchers to unbelievably easy queries, these riddles are just as fun for adults to solve as they are for kids . We've got everything from funny riddles for when you need a quick laugh to math riddles that will keep your mind sharp and help you learn a little along the way.

So get ready to put your logic and problem solving skills to the test and try your hand at the riddles below. Be sure to let us know which was your favorite in the comments!

Q: I'm not a blanket, yet I cover the ground; a crystal from heaven that doesn't make a sound. What am I?

A: Snowflake.

Q: I'm sweet and cold with a stick to hold; a treat on a hot day, worth more than gold. What am I?

A: Popsicle.

Q: What has a head but no brain?

A: A lettuce.

Q: Why do cats make good warriors?

A: Because they’ve got nine lives.

Q: I have a neck, but no head. I have two arms, but no hands. What am I?

A: A shirt.

Q: What word contains 26 letters but only has three syllables?

A: The alphabet.

Q: What comes down but never goes up?

Q: What five-letter word typed in all capital letters can be read the same upside down?

Q: The more you take, the more you leave behind. What am I?

A: Footsteps.

Q: David's father has three sons: Snap, Crackle and _____?

Q: What is more useful when it is broken?

Q: I am easy to lift, but hard to throw. What am I?

A: A feather.

Q: Where do you take a sick boat?

A: To the dock -tor.

Q: Which fish costs the most?

A: A goldfish.

Q: What goes up, but never comes down?

Q: A cowboy rode into town on Friday. He stayed for three nights and rode out on Friday. How is this possible?

A: His horse's name is Friday.

Q: What has a neck but no head?

A: A bottle.

Q: What is full of holes but still holds water?

A: A sponge.

Q: How do you spell COW in thirteen letters?

A: SEE O DOUBLE YOU.

Q: Why is Europe like a frying pan?

A: Because it has Greece at the bottom.

Q: What do the numbers 11, 69 and 88 all have in common?

A: They all read the same way when placed upside down.

Q: If 2 is company and 3 is a crowd, what are 4 and 5?

Q: I add 5 to 9 and get 2. The answer is correct, so what am I?

A: A clock. When it is 9 a.m., adding 5 hours would make it 2 p.m.

Q: Rachel goes to the supermarket and buys 10 tomatoes. Unfortunately, on the way back home, all but 9 get ruined. How many tomatoes are left in a good condition?

Q: What is 3/7 chicken, 2/3 cat, and 2/4 goat?

A: Chicago!

Q: If a zookeeper had 100 pairs of animals in her zoo, and two pairs of babies are born for each one of the original animals, then (sadly) 23 animals don’t survive, how many animals do you have left in total?

A: 977 animals (100 x 2 = 200; 200 + 800 = 1000; 1000 – 23 = 977)

Q: I saw my math teacher with a piece of graph paper yesterday.

A: I think he must be plotting something.

Q: If you multiply this number by any other number, the answer will always be the same. What number is this?

Q: I am an odd number. Take away a letter and I become even. What number am I?

Q: What three numbers give the same result when multiplied and added together?

A: 1, 2, and 3 (1 + 2 + 3 = 6 and 1 x 2 x 3 = 6).

Q: What's a single-digit number with no value?

Q: A tree doubled in height each year until it reached its maximum height over the course of ten years. How many years did it take for the tree to reach half its maximum height?

A: Nine years.

Q: How can you drop a raw egg from a height onto a concrete floor without cracking it?

A: Concrete floors are very hard to crack.

Q: What do you call a bear with no teeth?

A: A gummy bear.

Q: What has many rings but no fingers?

A: A phone.

Q: What can you break without touching it?

A: A promise.

Q: I sometimes run, but I can’t walk. What am I?

Q: It has keys, but no locks. It has space, but no room. You can enter, but can’t go inside. What is it?

A: A keyboard.

Q: I have pointed fangs, and I sit and wait. I have piercing force, and I crunch with weight. I grab my victims, but they do not fight. I join them each with a single, quick bite. What am I?

A: A stapler.

Q: Pronounced as one letter, And written with three, two letters there are, and two only in me. I’m double, I’m single, I’m black blue and gray, I’m read from both ends, and the same either way. What am I?

Q: Who has married many women but was never married?

A: The priest.

Q: Forward, I am heavy; backward, I am not. What am I?

Q: What can you hold in your right hand, but never in your left hand?

A: Your left hand.

Q: If two snakes marry, what will their towels say?

A: Hiss and hers.

Q: What does a man do only once in his lifetime, but women do once a year after they are 29?

A: Turn 30.

Q: Ask this question all day long, but always get completely different answers, and yet all the answers will be correct. What is the question?

A: What time is it?

Q: What loses its head in the morning but gets it back at night?

A: A pillow.

Q: Four cars come to a four-way stop, each coming from a different direction. They can’t decide who got there first, so they all go forward at the same time. All four cars go, but none crash into each other. How is this possible?

A: They all made right-hand turns.

Q: I have a head like a cat and feet like a cat, but I am not a cat. What am I?

A: A kitten.

Q: Who makes it, has no need of it. Who buys it, has no use for it. Who uses it can neither see nor feel it. What is it?

A: A coffin.

Q: What has hands but cannot clap?

A: A clock.

Q: Paul's height is six feet, he's an assistant at a butcher's shop, and wears size 9 shoes. What does he weigh?

Q: What gets broken without being held?

Q: Poor people have it. Rich people need it. If you eat it you die. What is it?

A: Nothing.

Q: What is the longest word in the dictionary?

A: Smiles, because there is a mile between each ‘s’.

Q: Throw away the outside and cook the inside, then eat the outside and throw away the inside. What is it?

A: Corn on the cob.

Q: What is at the end of a rainbow?

A: The letter W!

Q: What kind of tree can you carry in your hand?

Q: They come out at night without being called, and are lost in the day without being stolen. What are they?

Q: What is always in front of you, but can’t be seen?

A: The future.

Q: You’ll find me in Mercury, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus. But never Neptune, or Venus. What am I?

A: The letter “R”.

Q: How many months have 28 days?

A: Every month has 28 days.

Q: I can be cracked, made, told and played. What am I?

Q: I cannot talk, but I always reply when spoken to. What am I?

A: An echo.

Q: When is the top of a mountain similar to a savings account?

A: When it peaks one’s interest.

Q: A man goes out for a walk during a storm with nothing to protect him from the rain. He doesn’t have a hat, a hood or an umbrella. But by the end of his walk, there isn’t a single wet hair on his head. Why doesn’t the man have wet hair?

A: He’s bald.

Q: I love to dance and twist. I shake my tail as I sail away. When I fly wingless into the sky. What am I?

Q: When you stop to look, you can always see me. But if you try to touch me, you can never feel me. Although you walk towards me, I remain the same distance from you. What am I?

A: The horizon.

Q: You see a boat filled with people. It has not sunk. But when you look back, you don’t see a single person on the boat. Why?

A: All the people on board are married.

Q: What is it that no one wants to have, but no one wants to lose either?

A: A lawsuit.

Q: I welcome the day with a show of light, I stealthily came here in the night.I bathe the earthy stuff at dawn, But by noon, alas! I'm gone.

A: The morning dew.

Q: What goes through cities and fields, but never moves?

Q: What can be touched but can't be seen?

A: Someone’s heart.

Q: In a bus, there is a 26-year-old pregnant lady, a 30-year-old policeman, a 52-year-old random woman, and the driver who is 65 years old. Who is the youngest?

A: The baby of the pregnant lady.

Q: When it is alive we sing, when it is dead we clap our hands. What is it?

A: A birthday candle.

Q: What can go through glass without breaking it?

Q: What gets bigger the more you take away?

Q: I have no life, but I can die. What am I?

A: A battery.

Q: What kind of room has no walls, door or windows?

A: A mushroom.

Q: It belongs to you, but your friends use it more. What is it?

A: Your name.

Q: What two things can you never eat for breakfast?

A: Lunch and dinner.

Q: I make a loud sound when I’m changing. When I do change, I get bigger but weigh less. What am I?

A: Popcorn.

Q: I’m orange, I wear a green hat and I sound like a parrot. What am I?

A: A carrot.

Q: What runs all around a backyard, yet never moves?

A: A fence.

Q: Take off my skin — I won't cry, but you will! What am I?

A: An onion.

Q: What invention lets you look right through a wall?

A: A window.

Q: What is always on its way but never arrives?

A: Tomorrow.

Q: Two girls were born to the same mother, on the same day, at the same time, in the same month and year, and yet they're not twins. How can this be?

A: The two babies are two of a set of triplets.

Q: What has a bottom at the top?

A: Your legs.

Q: What can you catch but never throw?

Q: What has many teeth but cannot bite?

Q: What has branches, but no fruit, trunk or leaves?

Q: What thrives when you feed it but dies when you water it?

Q: What do you buy to eat but never consume?

A: Cutlery.

Q: Two fathers and two sons are in a car, yet there are only three people in the car. How?

A: They are grandfather, father, and son.

Q: A bus driver goes the wrong way down a one-way street. He passes the cops, but they don’t stop him. Why?

A: He was walking.

Q: If an electric train is traveling south, then which way is the smoke going?

A: There is no smoke — it's an electric train.

Q: Where is the only place where today comes before yesterday?

A: The dictionary.

Q: What can you put in a bucket to make it weigh less?

Q: How can kids drink beer and not get drunk?

A: By sticking to root beer.

Q: What is black when it’s clean and white when it’s dirty?

A: A chalkboard.

Q: I have one eye but am unable to see. What am I?

A: A needle.

Q: What two keys can’t open any door?

A: A monkey and a donkey.

Q: A man and his boss have the same parents but are not siblings. How is this possible?

A: He’s self-employed.

Cameron (she/her) is a staff writer for Good Housekeeping , where she covers everything from holidays to food. She is a graduate of Syracuse University, where she received a B.A. in magazine journalism. In her spare-time she can be found scrolling TikTok for the latest cleaning hacks and restaurant openings, binge-watching seasons of Project Runway or online shopping.

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20 Tough Riddles for Adults That Will Have You Scratching Your Head

Put your logic and math skills to the test. No cheating!

Who says mind-bending logic puzzles are just for kids? We’ve come up with 20 brand-new riddles for adults to test your critical thinking, mathematics, and logic skills. With difficulties ranging from easy, to moderate, to hard, there’s something here for everyone.

So go grab a pencil and a piece of scratch paper and prepare to rip your hair out (and we really do mean that in the best way possible). When you think you’ve got the right answer, click the link at the bottom of each riddle to find the solution. Got it wrong? No worries, you have 19 other riddles to test out.

Navigate Through Our Riddles:

Puzzmo / The King’s Orders / How Many Eggs? / The Gold Chain / Pickleball / Circuit Breaker / Two Trains, Two Grandmas / Ant Math / Peppermint Patty / Great American Rail Trail / A Cruel SAT Problem / Movie Stars Cross a River / Tribute to a Math Genius / One Belt, One Earth / Elbow Tapping / Whiskey Problem / Doodle Problem / Stumping Scientists / What ’ s On Her Forehead? / Keanu for President / Who Opened the Lockers?

Riddle No. 1: The King’s Orders Make for One Hell of a Brain Teaser

Difficulty: easy.

King Nupe of the kingdom Catan dotes on his two daughters so much that he decides the kingdom would be better off with more girls than boys, and he makes the following decree: All child-bearing couples must continue to bear children until they have a daughter!

But to avoid overpopulation, he makes an additional decree: All child-bearing couples will stop having children once they have a daughter! His subjects immediately begin following his orders.

After many years, what’s the expected ratio of girls to boys in Catan?

The likelihood of each baby born being a girl is, of course, 50 percent.

Ready for the solution? Click here to see if you’re right .

Riddle No. 2: How Many Eggs Does This Hen Lay?

This problem is in honor of my dad, Harold Feiveson. It’s due to him that I love math puzzles, and this is one of the first problems (of many) that he gave me when I was growing up.

A hen and a half lays an egg and a half in a day and a half. How many eggs does one hen lay in one day?

Riddle No. 3: The Gold Chain Math Problem Is Deceptively Simple

Difficulty: moderate.

You’re rummaging around your great grandmother’s attic when you find five short chains each made of four gold links. It occurs to you that if you combined them all into one big loop of 20 links, you’d have an incredible necklace. So you bring it into a jeweler, who tells you the cost of making the necklace will be $10 for each gold link that she has to break and then reseal.

How much will it cost?

Riddle No. 4: Try to Solve This Pickleball Puzzle

Difficulty: 🚨hard🚨.

Kenny, Abby, and Ned got together for a round-robin pickleball tournament, where, as usual, the winner stays on after each game to play the person who sat out that game. At the end of their pickleball afternoon, Abby is exhausted, having played the last seven straight games. Kenny, who is less winded, tallies up the games played:

Kenny played eight games

Abby played 12 games

Ned played 14 games

Who won the fourth game against whom?

How many total games were played?

Riddle No. 5: Our Circuit Breaker Riddle Is Pure Evil. Sorry.

The circuit breaker box in your new house is in an inconvenient corner of your basement. To your chagrin, you discover none of the 100 circuit breakers is labeled, and you face the daunting prospect of matching each circuit breaker to its respective light. (Suppose each circuit breaker maps to only one light.)

To start with, you switch all 100 lights in the house to “on,” and then you head down to your basement to begin the onerous mapping process. On every trip to your basement, you can switch any number of circuit breakers on or off. You can then roam the hallways of your house to discover which lights are on and which are off.

What is the minimum number of trips you need to make to the basement to map every circuit breaker to every light?

The solution does not involve either switching on or off the light switches in your house or feeling how hot the lightbulbs are. You might want to try solving for the case of 10 unlabeled circuit breakers first.

Riddle No. 6: Two Trains. Two Grandmas. Can You Solve This Tricky Math Riddle?

Jesse’s two grandmothers want to see him every weekend, but they live on opposite sides of town. As a compromise, he tells them that every Sunday, he’ll head to the subway station nearest to his apartment at a random time of the day and will hop on the next train that arrives.

If it happens to be the train traveling north, he’ll visit his Grandma Erica uptown, and if it happens to be the train traveling south, he’ll visit his Grandma Cara downtown. Both of his grandmothers are okay with this plan, since they know both the northbound and southbound trains run every 20 minutes.

But after a few months of doing this, Grandma Cara complains that she sees him only one out of five Sundays. Jesse promises he’s indeed heading to the station at a random time each day. How can this be?

The trains always arrive at their scheduled times.

Riddle No. 7: Here’s a Really F@*#ing Hard Math Problem About Ants

Max and Rose are ant siblings. They love to race each other, but always tie, since they actually crawl at the exact same speed. So they decide to create a race where one of them (hopefully) will win.

For this race, each of them will start at the bottom corner of a cuboid, and then crawl as fast as they can to reach a crumb at the opposite corner. The measurements of their cuboids are as pictured:

If they both take the shortest possible route to reach their crumb, who will reach their crumb first? (Don’t forget they’re ants, so of course they can climb anywhere on the edges or surface of the cuboid.)

Remember: Think outside the box.

Riddle No. 8: This Peppermint Patty Riddle Is Practically Impossible

You’re facing your friend, Caryn, in a “candy-off,” which works as follows: There’s a pile of 100 caramels and one peppermint patty. You and Caryn will go back and forth taking at least one and no more than five caramels from the candy pile in each turn. The person who removes the last caramel will also get the peppermint patty. And you love peppermint patties.

Suppose Caryn lets you decide who goes first. Who should you choose in order to make sure you win the peppermint patty?

First, solve for a pile of 10 caramels.

Riddle No. 9: Can You Solve the Great American Rail-Trail Riddle?

This problem was suggested by the physicist P. Jeffrey Ungar.

Finally, the Great American Rail-Trail across the whole country is complete! Go ahead, pat yourself on the back—you’ve just installed the longest handrail in the history of the world, with 4,000 miles from beginning to end. But just after the opening ceremony, your assistant reminds you that the metal you used for the handrail expands slightly in summer, so that its length will increase by one inch in total.

“Ha!” you say, “One inch in a 4,000 mile handrail? That’s nothing!” But … are you right?

Let’s suppose when the handrail expands, it buckles upward at its weakest point, which is in the center. How much higher will pedestrians in the middle of the country have to reach in summer to grab the handrail? That is, in the figure below, what is h ? (For the purposes of this question, ignore the curvature of the Earth and assume the trail is a straight line.)

Pythagoras is a fascinating historical figure.

Riddle No. 10: This Riddle Is Like an Especially Cruel SAT Problem. Can You Find the Answer?

Amanda lives with her teenage son, Matt, in the countryside—a car ride away from Matt’s school. Every afternoon, Amanda leaves the house at the same time, drives to the school at a constant speed, picks Matt up exactly when his chess club ends at 5 p.m., and then they immediately return home together at the same constant speed. But one day, Matt isn’t feeling well, so he leaves chess practice early and starts to head home on his portable scooter.

After Matt has been scooting for an hour, Amanda comes across him in her car (on her usual route to pick him up), and they return together, arriving home 40 minutes earlier than they usually do. How much chess practice did Matt miss?

Consider the case where Amanda meets Matt exactly as she’s leaving their house.

Riddle No. 11: Can You Get These 3 Movie Stars Across the River?

Three movie stars, Chloe, Lexa, and Jon, are filming a movie in the Amazon. They’re very famous and very high-maintenance, so their agents are always with them. One day, after filming a scene deep in the rainforest, the three actors and their agents decide to head back to home base by foot. Suddenly, they come to a large river.

On the riverbank, they find a small rowboat, but it’s only big enough to hold two of them at one time. The catch? None of the agents are comfortable leaving their movie star with any other agents if they’re not there as well. They don’t trust that the other agents won’t try to poach their star.

For example, Chloe’s agent is okay if Chloe and Lexa are alone in the boat or on one of the riverbanks, but definitely not okay if Lexa’s agent is also with them. So how can they all get across the river?

There isn’t just one way to solve this problem.

Riddle No. 12: This Ludicrously Hard Riddle Is Our Tribute to a Late Math Genius. Can You Figure It Out?

On April 11, John Horton Conway , a brilliant mathematician who had an intense and playful love of puzzles and games, died of complications from COVID-19. Conway is the inventor of one of my favorite legendary problems (not for the faint of heart) and, famously, the Game of Life . I created this problem in his honor.

Carol was creating a family tree, but had trouble tracking down her mother’s birthdate. The only clue she found was a letter written from her grandfather to her grandmother on the day her mother was born. Unfortunately, some of the characters were smudged out, represented here with a “___” . (The length of the line does not reflect the number of smudged characters.)

“Dear Virginia,

Little did I know when I headed to work this Monday morning, that by evening we would have a beautiful baby girl. And on our wedding anniversary, no less! It makes me think back to that incredible weekend day, J___ 27th, 19___ , when we first shared our vow to create a family together, and, well, here we are! Happy eighth anniversary, my love.

Love, Edwin”

The question: When was Carol’s mother born?

This problem is inspired by Conway’s Doomsday Rule .

Riddle No. 13: To Solve This Twisty Math Riddle, You Just Need One Belt and One Earth

Imagine you have a very long belt. Well, extremely long, really … in fact, it’s just long enough that it can wrap snugly around the circumference of our entire planet. (For the sake of simplicity, let’s suppose Earth is perfectly round, with no mountains, oceans, or other barriers in the way of the belt.)

Naturally, you’re very proud of your belt. But then your brother, Peter, shows up—and to your disgruntlement, he produces a belt that’s just a bit longer than yours. He brags his belt is longer by exactly his height: 6 feet.

If Peter were also to wrap his belt around the circumference of Earth, how far above the surface could he suspend the belt if he pulled it tautly and uniformly?

Earth’s circumference is about 25,000 miles, or 130 million feet … but you don’t need to know that to solve this problem.

Riddle No. 14: This Elbow Tapping Riddle Is Diabolical. Good Luck Solving It.

In some future time, when the shelter-in-place bans are lifted, a married couple, Florian and Julia, head over to a bar to celebrate their newfound freedom.

They find four other couples there who had the same idea.

Eager for social contact, every person in the five couples enthusiastically taps elbows (the new handshake) with each person they haven’t yet met .

It actually turns out many of the people had known each other prior, so when Julia asks everyone how many elbows they each tapped, she remarkably gets nine different answers!

The question: How many elbows did Florian tap?

What nine answers did Julia hear?

Riddle No. 15: You’ll Need a Drink After Trying to Solve This Whisky Riddle

Alan and Claire live by the old Scottish saying, “Never have whisky without water, nor water without whisky!” So one day, when Alan has in front of him a glass of whisky, and Claire has in front of her a same-sized glass of water, Alan takes a spoonful of his whisky and puts it in Claire’s water. Claire stirs her whisky-tinted water, and then puts a spoonful of this mixture back into Alan’s whisky to make sure they have exactly the same amount to drink.

So: Is there more water in Alan’s whisky, or more whisky in Claire’s water? And does it matter how well Claire stirred?

The size of the spoon does not matter.

Riddle No. 16: The Doodle Problem Is a Lot Harder Than It Looks. Can You Solve It?

This week’s riddle is relatively simple—but sinister all the same.

The question: Can you make 100 by interspersing any number of pluses and minuses within the string of digits 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1? You can’t change the order of the digits! So what’s the least number of pluses and minuses needed to make 100?

For instance, 98 - 7 - 6 + 54 - 32 shows one way of interspersing pluses and minuses, but since it equals 107, it’s not a solution.

I call this a “doodle problem”: one that’s best worked on during meetings where you might be doodling otherwise.

You might want to start looking for solutions that use a total of seven pluses and minuses (although there are ways to use fewer).

Ready for the solution? Click here to see if you’re right.

Riddle No. 17: This Math Puzzle Stumped Every Scientist but One. Think You Can Crack It?

Difficulty: hard.

In honor of Freeman Dyson, the renowned physicist who died last month , here’s a legendary tale demonstrating his quick wit and incredible brain power.

One day, in a gathering of top scientists, one of them wondered out loud whether there exists an integer that you could exactly double by moving its last digit to its front. For instance, 265 would satisfy this if 526 were its exact double—which it isn’t.

After apparently just five seconds , Dyson responded, “Of course there is, but the smallest such number has 18 digits.”

This left some of the smartest scientists in the world puzzling over how he could have figured this out so quickly.

So given Dyson’s hint, what is the smallest such number?

My second grader has recently learned how to add a 3-digit number to itself using the classic vertical method:

18-digit numbers, of course, can be added in the same way.

Riddle No. 18: Figure Out What’s on Her Forehead

Cecilia loves testing the logic of her very logical friends Jaya, Julian, and Levi, so she announces:

“I’ll write a positive number on each of your foreheads. None of the numbers are the same, and two of the numbers add up to the third.”

She scribbles the numbers on their heads, then turns to Jaya and asks her what her number is. Jaya sees Julian has 20 on his forehead, and Levi has 30 on his. She thinks for a moment and then says, “I don’t know what my number is.” Julian pipes in, “I also don’t know my number,” and then Levi exclaims, “Me neither!” Cecilia gleefully says, “I’ve finally stumped you guys!”

“Not so fast!” Jaya says. “Now I know my number!”

What is Jaya’s number?

Jaya could be one of two numbers, but only one of those numbers would lead to Julian and Levi both not knowing their numbers. Why?

Riddle No. 19: Can You Get Keanu Reeves Elected As President?

It’s 2024, and there are five candidates running in the democratic primary: Taylor Swift, Oprah Winfrey, Mark Cuban, Keanu Reeves, and Dwayne Johnson. (Hey, it could happen.) As usual, the first primary is in Iowa.

In an effort to overcome its embarrassment after the 2020 caucus debacle , the Iowa Democratic Party has just announced a new, foolproof way of finding the best candidate: there will be four consecutive elections.

First, candidate 1 will run against candidate 2. Next, the winner of that will run against candidate 3, then that winner will run against candidate 4, and finally the winner of that election will run against the final candidate. By the transitive property, the winner of this last election must be the best candidate ... so says the Iowa Democratic Party.

Candidate Keanu has been feeling pretty low, as he knows he is ranked near the bottom by most voters, and at the top by none. In fact, he knows the Iowa population is divided into five equal groups, and that their preferences are as follows:

Keanu is childhood friends with Bill S. Preston, Esq., the new head of the Iowa Democratic Party. Preston, confident that the order of the candidates doesn’t matter for the outcome, tells Keanu he can choose the voting order of the candidates.

So what order should Keanu choose?

How would Keanu fare in one-to-one races against each candidate?

Riddle No. 20: Who Opened All These Damn Lockers?

There are 100 lockers that line the main hallway of Chelm High School. Every night, the school principal makes sure all the lockers are closed so that there will be an orderly start to the next day. One day, 100 mischievous students decide that they will play a prank.

The students all meet before school starts and line up. The first student then walks down the hallway, and opens every locker. The next student follows by closing every other locker (starting at the second locker). Student 3 then goes to every third locker (starting with the third) and opens it if it’s closed, and closes it if it’s open. Student 4 follows by opening every fourth locker if it’s closed and closing it if it’s open. This goes on and on until Student 100 finally goes to the hundredth locker. When the principal arrives later in the morning, which lockers does she find open?

Make sure you pay attention to all of the factors.

Laura Feiveson is an economist for the government, a storyteller, and a lifelong enthusiast of math puzzles.  She lives in Washington, DC with her husband and two daughters. 

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• Logic Riddles

by Dr. Riddles | Dec 10, 2017 | For Adults , For Kids , Math & Logic

Logic Riddles and Answers

Show answer.

3 (the grandmother is also a mother; the mother is also a daughter) – OR – 2 (both people are mothers and daughters and one is a grandmother)

Hard Logic Riddles

If you are someone you know has an Einsteinian brain, then these hard logic riddles will truly put it to the test. Engaging in sustained, focused logical thinking is a difficult pursuit and this collection will certainly include a logic riddle or two that will strain your brain to its fullest. And if you are just so smart that you make Einstein look like a moron, then you might enjoy this collection of extremely hard riddles .

Short Logic Riddles

You’ve reached the end! But it doesn’t have to be. Try some of these   funny riddles  or short riddles !

Really like logic? Ever considered learning how to become an attorney ?

More Riddles

• Long Riddles
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• Riddles for Kids
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• Math & Logic
• Unique & Fun

LOGIC PUZZLES (WITH ANSWERS)

Test your ingenuity and knowledge with these logic puzzles. Deduction is the key so get your thinking cap dusted off and start logically working through our puzzling content. Sharpen Your Mind and Put Your Problem Solving Skills to Work.

• Logic Puzzles

Logic Puzzles to Solve

You'll like these riddle puzzles on days that end with Y. You'll like these logic puzzles are available on days that end with Y. How many days can you try out our logic puzzles? Answer: Every day!

You Walk Up To A Mountain That Has Two Paths

What Weighs More A Pound Of Feathers Or A Pound Of Stones?

A logician with some time to kill in a small town decided to get a haircut.

George, Helen, And Steve Are Drinking Coffee

Little tommy tittletat riddle.

A Fox, A Goose And A Sack Of Corn

Math equation riddle.

Which One Does Not Belong?

If you have two coins which total 35 cents and one of the coins is not a dim, open me, and you can me without a mirror riddle, i am a 5 letter word take away the first letter and i am a place's name, redo what has been undone, which side of the turkey has the most feathers, what only works the first time you use it, bus stop riddle, number of chairs, what's 3/7 chicken, 2/3 cat, and 2/4 goat, i can hold you prisoner, if you see me, i see you. if you move, then i'll move too, the wise daughter riddle, search riddles, follow riddles, share riddles.

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130+ Riddles for Kids and Adults (With Answers)

Here is the best list of riddles for anyone, of any age, looking to challenge their critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

Updated 8 months ago, May 6, 2024

Riddles have been around for centuries with the word “riddle” meaning a statement or question that presents a puzzle that must be solved in order to achieve the answer. The word originates from the same word as “read”; stemming from the Old English word “ræ̅dan” which means “to interpret or guess.” Over many years, it developed into Middle English redel, evolving into the meaning of “to understand or interpret symbols.” However, as the word has changed throughout the years, the meaning has remained the same.

If you’re looking for a good riddle, you’ve come to the right place. Riddles are fun for kids and adults of all ages who are looking to test their genius and are trying to challenge their critical thinking and problem-solving skills. There are tons of fun brain teasers and riddles out there; ones that are simple and easy for a child to solve, ones that require a detailed explanation in order for the answer to make sense, and ones that are so tricky that they might be nearly impossible to solve.

Here is a full list of easy, tricky, challenging, and funny riddles that kids, math students, teens, and adults will enjoy:

Easy Riddles for Kids

Easy, simple riddles are great for kids both in and out of the classroom. By incorporating easy riddles in the lesson plans or adding a math riddle to the end of a math quiz, or playing a math-related guessing game with your child, they can learn and elevate their thinking in a fun, untraditional way. Kids can challenge themselves and strengthen their problem-solving abilities without even realizing it!

Here are some riddles that a child will find easy to answer:

Riddle: Which word is least like the others? Third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth? Answer: Third, it is the only one not ending in “th”.

Riddle: What is the last thing you take off before bed? Answer: Your feet from the floor!

Riddle: 1 rabbit saw 9 elephants while going to the river. Every elephant saw 3 monkeys going toward the river. Each monkey had 1 parrot in each hand. How many animals are going towards the river? Answer: 10 animals are going towards the river. (1 rabbit + 3 monkeys + 6 parrots)

Riddle: You bought me for dinner but never eat me. What am I? Solution: Silverware.

Riddle: What word in the English language has three consecutive double letters? (Clue: it’s a compound word.) Answer: Bookkeeper.

Riddle: How many letters are in the alphabet? Answer: There are 11 letters in “the alphabet.”

Riddle: What kind of room has no windows or doors? Answer: A mushroom!

Riddle: What has to be broken before you can use it? Answer: An egg.

Riddle: I’m tall when I’m young, and I’m short when I’m old. What am I? Answer: A candle.

Riddle: Which month of the year has 28 days? Answer: All of them.

Riddle: What is full of holes but still can hold water? Answer: A sponge.

Riddle: What question can you never answer yes to? Answer: Are you asleep yet?

Riddle: What is always in front of you but can’t be seen? Answer: The future.

Riddle: There’s a one-story house in which everything is yellow. Yellow walls, yellow doors, yellow furniture. What color are the stairs? Answer: There aren’t any because it’s a one-story house.

Riddle: What can you break, even if you never pick it up or touch it? Answer: A promise.

Riddle: What goes up but never comes down? Answer: Your age.

Riddle: A man walks outside into the pouring rain yet not a hair on his head gets wet. How is this possible? Answer: He’s bald.

Riddle: What gets wet as it continues to dry? Answer: A towel.

Riddle: What can you keep after giving it to someone? Answer: Your word.

Riddle: I shave every day but my beard never changes. What am I? Answer: A barber.

Riddle: You see a boat full of people yet there is not a single person on board. How is this possible? Answer: All of those onboard are married.

Riddle: You walk into a dark room holding a match and find a kerosene lamp, a candle, and a fireplace. Which do you light first? Answer: The match.

Riddle: A man dies of old age on his 25th birthday. How is this possible? Answer: He was born on leap day, February 29th.

Riddle: I have branches but no fruit, trunk, or leaves. What am I? Answer: A bank.

Riddle: What can’t talk but will reply when spoken to? Answer: An echo.

Riddle: The more of this there is, the less you see. What is it? Answer: Darkness.

Riddle: What has many keys but can never open a lock? Answer: A piano.

Riddle: What can you hold in your left hand but not in your right? Answer: Your right elbow.

Riddle: What is black when it’s clean and white when it’s dirty? Answer: A chalkboard.

Riddle: What gets bigger when more of it is taken away? Answer: A hole.

Riddle: I’m lighter than a feather yet the strongest person can’t hold me for more than six minutes. What am I? Answer: Your breath.

Riddle: Where does today come before yesterday? Answer: In the dictionary.

Riddle: What invention allows people to look right through a wall? Answer: A window.

Riddle: If you’ve got it, you’ll want to share it but once you’ve shared it, you haven’t kept it. What is it? Answer: A secret.

Riddle: What can’t be put in a saucepan? Answer: Its lid.

Riddle: What continues to go up and down without moving? Answer: Stairs.

Riddle: If you’re running in a race and you pass the person in second place, what place are you now in? Answer: Second place.

Riddle: It belongs to you but others use it more than you do. What is it? Answer: Your name.

Riddle: What would you find in the middle of Toronto? Answer: The letter “o”.

Riddle: Which word is always spelled incorrectly in the dictionary? Answer: Incorrectly.

Tricky Riddles (Best Riddles)

Here are some examples of riddles that are quite tricky for kids and easier for teens and adults to answer:

Riddle: There is a single-story yellow and pink house and everything is yellow and pink: yellow bricks, yellow doors, yellow windows, yellow walls, a pink cat, a pink fish, a pink computer, a pink chair, a pink table, a pink telephone, a pink shower. What color is the staircase? Answer: There are no stairs. It’s a one-story house.

Riddle: You walk into a creepy house by yourself. There is no electricity, plumbing, or ventilation. Inside you notice 3 doors with numbers on them. Once you open the doors you will die a particular way. Door #1 You’ll be eaten by a lion who is hungry. Door #2 You’ll be stabbed to death. Door #3 There is an electric chair waiting for you. Which door do you pick? Answer: Door #3, since there is no electricity to harm you.

Riddle: All 5 sisters are busy. Ann is reading a book, Rose is cooking, Katy is playing chess, and Mary is doing the laundry. What is the 5th sister doing? Answer: She’s playing chess, of course!

Riddle: Three doctors said that Robert is their brother. Robert says he has no brothers. Who’s lying? Answer: No one is lying– Robert has 3 sisters who all happen to be doctors.

Riddle: Mom and dad have four daughters, and each daughter has one brother. How many people are in the family? Answer: 7– each daughter has the same brother.

Riddle: A man was found murdered on Sunday morning. His wife immediately called the police. The police went to the crime scene and question the wife and staff and got these alibis: The wife said she was sleeping, the cook was eating breakfast, the gardener was picking vegetables, the maid was getting the mail, the butler was cleaning the closet. The police instantly arrested the murderer. Who did it and how did they know? Answer: It was the Maid. She said she was getting the mail but there’s no mail on Sundays!

Riddle: I am an odd number but once you take away a letter, I become even. What number am I? Answer: Seven.

Riddle: If two’s a company and three’s a crowd, what are four and five? Answer: Nine.

Riddle: What three numbers, none of which are zero, give the same result whether they’re added or multiplied? Answer: One, two, and three.

Riddle: Which is heavier: a ton of bricks or a ton of feathers? Answer: Neither because they both weigh a ton.

Riddle: Two fathers and two sons are in a car yet there are only three people in the car. How is this possible? Answer: They are a grandfather, father, and son.

Riddle: A girl goes to the store and buys one dozen eggs. As she walks home, all but three break. How many eggs are left unbroken? Answer: Three.

Riddle: If there are five apples and you take away three, how many apples do you have? Answer: Three.

Riddle: Which five-letter word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it? Answer: Short.

Riddle: What begins with “e” and only contains one letter? Answer: An envelope.

Riddle: There is a word I know, six letters it contains but, remove one letter, and twelve remains. What is the word? Answer: Dozens.

Riddle: You see me once in June, twice in November, and not at all in May. What am I? Answer: The letter “e”.

Riddle: There is a word that could be written forward, backward, or upsidedown and can still be read left to right. What is the word? Answer: NOON.

Riddle: Forward I am heavy but backward I am not. What am I? Answer: The word “ton”.

Riddle: What five-letter word has one left when two are removed? Answer: Stone.

Riddle: What is at the end of everything? Answer: The letter “g”.

Riddle: What word is pronounced the same if you remove four of its five letters? Answer: Queue.

Riddle: There is a house. One enters it blind and comes out seeing. What is it? Answer: A school.

Riddle: As I was going to St. Ives, I met a man with seven wives; each wife had seven sacks; each sack had seven cats; each cat had seven kits; kits, cats, sacks, and wives. How many were there going to St. Ives?” Answer: One.

• Funny Riddles

Find a fun riddle in this group to stir up laughter with friends and family:

Riddle: What has many eyes but is unable to see? Answer: A potato.

Riddle: What has many needles but doesn’t sew? Answer: A Christmas tree.

Riddle: I have hands but I can’t clap. What am I? Answer: A clock.

Riddle: I have legs but I am unable to walk. What am I? Answer: A table.

Riddle: I have one head, one foot, and four legs. What am I? Answer: A bed.

Riddle: I have one eye but am unable to see. What am I? Answer: A needle.

Riddle: What is 3/7 chicken, 2/3 cat, and 2/4 goat? Answer: Chicago.

Riddle: What can you catch but never throw? Answer: A cold.

Riddle: Which band never plays music? Answer: A rubber band.

Riddle: I have many teeth but will never bite. What am I? Answer: A comb.

Riddle: What has many words but is never able to speak? Answer: A book.

Riddle: What runs in the backyard but never actually moves? Answer: A fence.

Riddle: What is able to travel the world without leaving its place? Answer: A stamp.

Riddle: I have a thumb and four fingers but am not a hand. What am I? Answer: A glove.

Riddle: I have a head and a tail but no body. What am I? Answer: A coin.

Riddle: What building has the most stories? Answer: The library.

Riddle: What tastes better than it smells? Answer: Your tongue.

Riddle: What has 13 hearts but no other organs? Answer: A deck of cards.

Riddle: I have many ears but am unable to hear. What am I? Answer: A cornfield.

Riddle: Which coat goes on best when wet? Answer: A coat of paint.

Riddle: What has a bottom at the top? Answer: Your legs.

Riddle: What has four wheels and flies? Answer: A garbage truck.

Challenging/Hard Riddles

Here are a few great riddles to try out if you’re looking to really elevate your thinking:

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: A man is looking at a picture of a man on the wall and states, “Brothers and sisters I have none, but this man’s father is my father’s son.” Who is the man in the picture in relation to the man looking at the picture? Answer: The man in the picture is his son (the man’s son). Since he doesn’t have any brothers or sisters, the statement my father’s son is himself. A shortened version would be this man’s father is myself, so he is the father of the man in the picture.

Riddle: Four hang, four sprang, two point the way, two to ward off dogs, one dangles after, always rather dirty. What am I? Answer: A cow.

Riddle: A man is found hanging dead from the ceiling of a room. The room’s dimensions are 15 x 15 x 15. The man is only 6ft tall and the rope was only 2ft long. There are no windows and only one door into the room. The door is bolted shut from the inside and there is a puddle of water under the man. How did he kill himself? Answer: The man stood on a block of ice.

Riddle: The answer I give is yes, but what I mean is no. What was the question? Answer: “Do you mind?”

Riddle: What is so fragile that saying its name breaks it? Answer: Silence.

Riddle: What can run but never walk, have a mouth that never speaks, have a head that never weeps, and have a bed but never sleeps? Answer: A river.

Riddle: What we caught, we threw away. We kept what we didn’t catch. What was it that we kept? Answer: Lice.

Riddle: A man calls his dog from the opposite side of a river. The dog crosses the river without a bridge or a boat and manages to not get wet. How is this possible? Answer: The river was frozen.

Riddle: What fills a room without taking up any space? Answer: Light.

Riddle: Drop me and I’m sure to crack but lend me a smile and I’ll certainly smile back. What am I? Answer: A mirror.

Riddle: The more you take, the more you leave behind. What are they? Answer: Footsteps.

Riddle: People make me, save me, change me, and raise me. What am I? Answer: Money.

Riddle: What breaks but never falls and falls but never breaks? Answer: Day and night.

Riddle: What runs through cities and fields but never moves? Answer: A road.

Riddle: I am always hungry and will die if not fed but whatever I touch will turn to red. What am I? Answer: Fire.

Riddle: With pointed fangs, I sit and wait. With piercing force, I crunch out fate. Over bloodless victims proclaiming my might, eternally joining in a single bite. What am I? Answer: Stapler.

Riddle: I have mountains with no stone, lakes with no water, cities with no buildings, and towns with no people. What am I? Answer: A map.

Riddle: I speak without a mouth and hear without ears. I have no body but come alive with the wind. What am I? Answer: An echo.

Riddle: You measure my life in hours and I serve you by expiring. I’m quick when I’m thin but slow when I’m fat and the wind is my mortal enemy. What am I? Answer: Candle.

Riddle: A woman shoots her husband then holds him underwater for five minutes. Next, she hangs him. Right after, they enjoy dinner together. How is this possible? Answer: She took a picture of him and developed it in a dark room prior to dinner.

Riddle: I come from a mine but always get surrounded by wood. Everyone uses me. What am I? Answer: Pencil lead.

Riddle: I have keys but no locks and space with no rooms. You can enter but you can’t go outside. What am I? Answer: A keyboard.

Riddle: A is the brother of B. B is the brother of C. C is the father of D. So, how is D related to A? Answer: A is D’s uncle.

Riddle: What are the next three letters in this combination: OTTFFSS? Answer: E N T (eight, nine, and ten).

Riddle: First, think of the color of clouds. Next, think of the color of snow. Now, think of the color of a full bright moon. What do cows drink? Answer: Water.

Riddle: First you eat me, and then you get eaten. What am I? Answer: A fishhook.

Riddle: What can you hold in your right hand but never in your left hand? Answer: Your left hand.

Riddle: How can you physically stand behind your father if he is standing behind you? Answer: You and your father are back-to-back.

Riddle: I have a neck with no head and two arms with no hands. What am I? Answer: A shirt.

Riddle: If eleven plus two equals one, what does nine plus five equal? Answer: Two.

Riddle: Once you are given one, you either have two or none? Answer: A choice.

Riddle: There was a man who was born before his father, killed his mother, and married his sister. There was nothing wrong with what he had done, why? Answer: His father was in front of him when he was born, therefore he was born before him. His mother died while giving birth to him. Finally, he grew up to be a minister and married his sister at her ceremony.

Riddle: Which English verb becomes past tense just by rearranging the letters? Answer: “Eat” which can turn into “ate”.

Riddle: I am never scared but became petrified and can’t live in a house but would die to make one. What am I? Answer: A tree.

Riddle: It has five wheels though often thought of as four but you cannot use it without that one more. What is it? Answer: A car.

Riddle: Different lights make me strange by changing me into different sizes. What am I? Answer: I am the pupil of an eye.

Riddle: My thunder comes before the lightning; my lightning comes before clouds; my rain dries all the land it touches. What am I? Answer: A volcano.

Riddle: How high do you have to count before you use the letter “a” in the English spelling of the whole number? Answer: One thousand.

Love Riddles

Riddle: What’s mine that only you can have? Answer: My heart.

Riddle: What did the fish say to the bait on Valentine’s Day? Answer: We should totally hook up!

Riddle: What do you call two birds that are in love? Answer: “Tweet” hearts.

Riddle: What did the left eyebrow say to the right? Answer: You surprised to see me?

Famous Riddles & Brain Teasers

The following riddles have gone viral for how complicated they are. They’re not the best for any child (unless they have a super high IQ), but more so adults who are looking for a good brain teaser .

Einstein’s Hard Riddle

Now, if you’re really up for a challenge, here is Albert Einstein’s riddle, a logic puzzle that is believed to be developed when he was young. The best way to find the answer to this riddle is through logic and deductive reasoning.

Think you can solve it?

Riddle: Five houses painted five different colors stand in a row. One person of a different nationality lives in each house. The five homeowners all drink some type of beverage, smoke a certain cigar brand, and have a certain kind of pet. But none of the owners drink the same beverage, smoke the same type of cigar, or have the same pet.

Here are the clues:

• The Brit lives in the red house.
• The Swede keeps dogs as pets.
• The Dane drinks tea.
• The green house is on the immediate left of the white house.
• The green house’s owner drinks coffee.
• The owner who smokes Pall Mall rears birds.
• The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill.
• The owner living in the center house drinks milk.
• The Norwegian lives in the first house.
• The owner who smokes Blends lives next to the one who keeps cats.
• The owner who keeps the horse lives next to the one who smokes Dunhill.
• The owner who smokes Bluemasters drinks beer.
• The German smokes Prince.
• The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.
• The owner who smokes Blends lives next to the one who drinks water.

Now, the question is… Who owns the fish? Answer: The German in house #4 owns the fish.

The Sphinx Riddle

There is a mythological story of a Sphinx, a monster with the body of a lion and the head of a woman. Apparently, the Sphinx sat on top of a rock along the road to the city of Thebes, stopping travelers and proposing to them a riddle. The Sphinx claimed that whoever failed the riddle would be killed, and evidently, not pass through to the city.

Riddle: What animal walks on four legs in the morning, two legs during the day, and three legs in the evening?

Oedipus, the king of Thebes, figured out the answer to the riddle:

Answer: Man, who in childhood creeps on hands and knees, in manhood walks erect, and in old age with the aid of a staff. (Morning, day, and night are representative of the stages of life.)

Gollum’s Final Riddle in The Hobbit

Riddle: This thing all things devours; birds, beasts, trees, flowers; gnaws iron, bites steel; grinds hard stones to meal; slays kings, ruins towns, and beats mountain down. What is it? Answer: Time.

The Other Sphinx’s Riddle in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Riddle: First think of the person who lives in disguise, who deals in secrets and tells naught but lies. Next, tell me what’s always the last thing to mend, the middle of the middle and end of the end? And finally, give me the sound often heard during the search for a hard-to-find word. Now string them together, and answer me this, which creature would you be unwilling to kiss? Answer: A spider.

Another Riddle from The Hobbit

Riddle: Voiceless it cries, wingless it flies, toothless bites, and mouthless mutters. What is it? Answer: The wind.

The Rumored Favorite of Theodore Roosevelt

Riddle: I talk, but I do not speak my mind. I hear words, but I do not listen to thoughts. When I wake, all see me. When I sleep, all hear me. Many heads are on my shoulders. Many hands are at my feet. The strongest steel cannot break my visage, but the softest whisper can destroy me. The quietest whimper can be heard. Answer: An actor.

Here is the full list of easy, tricky, challenging, and funny riddles that kids, teens, and adults will enjoy:

More Riddles

• Short Riddles
• Riddles for Adults
• Riddles for Teens
• Riddles for Kids
• Tricky Riddles
• Hard Riddles
• Easy Riddles
• Math Riddles

Favorite Riddle Resources

• Household Scavenger Hunt Riddles
• Collection of Math Riddles
• Elementary Riddles

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Latest stories, 95 hard riddles (with answers) that'll leave you totally stumped, these brain teasers will sharpen your focus and get you out of your intellectual rut..

When was the last time you challenged yourself with a riddle? These puzzles are a fun way of testing your critical thinking skills, encouraging you to examine your assumptions, look for alternate meanings, and think more creatively. The brain-flexing value of a good riddle doesn't go away as you grow up either—brain teasers can help you stay sharp as you grow older. So read on for 95 hard riddles that will get your gears turning. Don't worry, answers are included!

RELATED: 111 Riddles for Adults: Funny, Challenging, and Weird .

Hardest Riddles Ever

• 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: You measure my life in hours, and I serve you by expiring. I'm quick when I'm thin and slow when I'm fat. The wind is my enemy. Answer: A candle.
• Riddle : I come from a mine and am surrounded by wood. I help others to express themselves. What am I? Answer : Pencil lead.
• Riddle: What is brown and has a tail, a head, and no legs? Answer: A penny
• Riddle: If all Wibbles are Criggles, all Borkins are Kwumblins, no Hoggles are Borkins, and all Criggles are Borkins, is it true that all Borkins are Criggles? Answer: No.
• Riddle : What English word has three consecutive double letters? Answer : Bookkeeper.
• Riddle : A bus driver goes the wrong way down a one-way street. He passes the cops, but they don't stop him. Why? Answer : He was walking.
• Riddle : Name the next three letters in this combination: OTTFFSS. Answer : ENT. Each represents the first letter of a number in a sequence beginning with "one." So what comes after six and seven? Eight, nine, and ten.
• Riddle: There came a bird featherless and sat on the trees leafless. There came a maiden speechless and ate the bird featherless, from off the trees leafless. What is it? Answer: Snow.
• Riddle: You don't know me yet, but you always miss me when I'm gone. What am I? Answer: Time.
• Riddle : Poor people have it. Rich people need it. If you eat it you die. What is it? Answer : Nothing.
• Riddle: I can fly but have no wings. I cry but have no eyes. What am I? Answer: A cloud.
• Riddle: Sam is outside a shop. She can't read the signs, but she knows she needs to go in to make a purchase. What store is she at? Answer: An eyeglass store.
• Riddle: What walks on four feet in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three at night? Answer: A man. The times of day represent a lifetime. He crawls as a baby, walks as an adult, and walks with a cane as an elderly man.

RELATED: Tongue Twisters So Good, Your Mouth May Never Be the Same .

Short, Hard Riddles

• Riddle : I have only two words but thousands of letters. What am I? Answer : The post office.
• Riddle : What can travel all around the world while remaining stuck in a corner? Answer : A stamp.
• Riddle : What can you hold in your right hand but never in your left? Answer: Your left hand.
• Riddle : What has many teeth but cannot bite? Answer : A comb.
• Riddle: You go at red and stop at green. What am I? Answer: A watermelon.
• Riddle : How much dirt is in a hole that measures four feet by four feet by five feet? Answer : None; holes are empty.
• Riddle : What can you fill with empty hands? Answer : Gloves.
• Riddle : What disappears the moment you say its name? Answer : Silence.
• Riddle : What kind of coat is best to put on wet? Answer : A coat of paint.
• Riddle: What type of cheese is made backward? Answer: Edam.
• Riddle: What is the one thing everyone can agree is between heaven and earth? Answer: The word "and."
• Riddle: I can make sounds, but I cannot be played. What am I? Answer: Your voice.
• Riddle: I am higher without a head. What am I? Answer: A pillow.
• Riddle: I have 13 hearts but no lungs or stomach. What am I? Answer: A deck of cards.
• Riddle: I am easy to lift but hard to throw. What am I? Answer: A feather.
• Riddle: When is "L" greater than "XL"? Answer: When you're using Roman numerals.

RELATED: 73 Brain Teasers for Adults That Will Definitely Leave You Stumped .

More Tricky Riddles for Adults

• Riddle: Without a bridle or a saddle, across a thing, I ride a-straddle. And those I ride, by help of me, though almost blind, are made to see. What am I? Answer: Eyeglasses.
• Riddle: George, Helen, and Steve are drinking coffee. Bert, Karen, and Dave are drinking Pepsi. Following this pattern, is Elizabeth drinking coffee or soda? Answer: Coffee, just like all the other names with two E's. Those with one "E" drink Pepsi.
• 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 have me, you want to share me. If you share me, you don't have me. What am I? Answer : A secret.
• Riddle: David's father has three sons: Snap, Crackle, and _____? Answer : David.
• Riddle: My thunder comes before the lightning. My lightning comes before the clouds. My rain dries all the land it touches. What am I? Answer: A volcano.
• Riddle : I have cities but not houses. I have mountains but no trees. I have coasts but no sand. What am I? Answer : A map.
• Riddle : I am something people love or hate. I change people's appearances and thoughts. If a person takes care of themself, I will go up even higher. Some people might want to try and hide me, but I will show. No matter how hard people try, I will never go down. What am I? Answer : Age.
• Riddle : You're in a dark room with a candle, a wood stove, and a gas lamp. You only have one match, so what do you light first? Answer : The match.
• Riddle : A woman was born in 1975 and died in 1975. At the age of her death, she was 22 years old. How is this possible? Answer : 1975 refers to the hospital room number, not the year.
• Riddle : Four cars come to a four-way stop, each coming from a different direction. They can't decide who got there first, so they all go forward at the same time. All four cars go, but none crash into each other. How is this possible? Answer : They all made right-hand turns.
• Riddle : I have keys but no locks. I have space but no room. You can enter, but you can't go outside. What am I? Answer : A computer keyboard.
• Riddle : A woman shoots her husband. She plunges him underwater for several minutes, then hangs him. Right after, they enjoy a lovely dinner. What happened? Answer : She took a picture of him and developed it in her dark room.
• Riddle : A is the brother of B. B is the brother of C. C is the father of D. So how is D related to A? Answer : A is D's uncle.
• Riddle : A butcher stands six feet and one inch tall and wears size 12 shoes . What does he weigh? Answer : Meat.
• 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: How can you physically stand behind your father while he is standing behind you? Answer: By standing back-to-back with him.

RELATED: 15 Logic Puzzles That Will Help You Stay Sharp (All Ages!) .

Math Riddles for Adults

• Riddle: When Billy is asked how old he is, he replies, "In two years, I will be twice as old as I was five years ago." How old is he? Answer: 12 years old.
• Riddle : How is seven different from the rest of the numbers between one and 10? Answer : Seven is the only one with two syllables.
• Riddle : Turn me on my side, and I am everything. Cut me in half, and I am nothing. What am I? Answer : The number eight.
• 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: 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—but they're not twins. How is this possible Answer: The girls are triplets.
• Riddle: A barrel of water weighed 60 pounds. Someone put something in it, and now it weighs 40 pounds. What did the person add? Answer: A hole.
• Riddle : I am an odd number. Take away a letter, and I become even. What number am I? Answer : Seven.
• Riddle: TEN = 20, 5, 14. MEN = 13, 5, 14. Using the same logic, what do WOMEN equal? Answer: WOMEN = 23, 15, 13, 5, 14. The numbers represent the letter's position in the English alphabet.
• Riddle: What would a math teacher be doing with a piece of graph paper? Answer: Plotting something.
• Riddle: How do eight eights add up to one thousand? Answer: 888 + 88 + 8 + 8 + 8 = 1000.
• 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: 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: What is 3/7 chicken, 2/3 cat, and 1/2 goat? Answers: Chicago.
• Riddle: If a zookeeper had 100 pairs of animals in her zoo, and two pairs of babies are born for each one of the original animals, then (sadly) 23 animals don't survive, how many animals do you have left in total? Answer: 977 animals (100 x 2 = 200; 200 + 800 = 1000; 1000 – 23 = 977).

RELATED: 85 Riddles for Kids (With Answers!) .

Funny Riddles

• Riddle: Who spends the day at the window, goes to the table for meals, and hides at night? Answer: A fly.
• Riddle : Which word in the dictionary is always spelled incorrectly? Answer : "Incorrectly."
• Riddle : It belongs to you, but everyone else uses it. Answer : Your name.
• Riddle : First you eat me, then you get eaten. What am I? Answer : A fishhook.
• Riddle: What color is the wind? Answer: Blew.
• Riddle : If two snakes marry, what will their towels say? Answer : "Hiss" and "hers."
• Riddle : Which fish costs the most? Answer : A goldfish.
• Riddle : Where do you take a sick boat? Answer : To the dock-tor.
• Riddle: Who has a neck and no head, two arms and no hands? Answer: A shirt.
• Riddle : You see a boat filled with people. It has not sunk, but when you look again, you don't see a single person on the boat. Why? Answer : All the passengers are married.
• Riddle : What gets bigger the more you take away? Answer : A hole.
• Riddle: What has ten letters and starts with gas? Answer: An automobile.
• Riddle: How can you drop a raw egg onto a concrete floor without cracking it? Answer: Concrete floors are very hard to crack.
• Riddle: What has a bottom at the top? Answer: Your legs.
• Riddle: Two men are in a desert. They both have backpacks on. One of the guys is dead. The guy who is alive has his backpack open, and the guy who is dead has his backpack closed. What is in the dead man's backpack? Answer: A parachute.
• Riddle: What tastes better than it smells? Answer: Your tongue.
• Riddle : What has four fingers and a thumb but isn't alive? Answer : A glove.
• Riddle: Two fathers and two sons are in a car, yet only three people are in the car. How? Answer: They are a grandfather, father, and son.

RELATED: 150+ Unpopular Opinions Guaranteed to Cause Offense .

Tough Riddles About Words and Linguistics

• Riddle: I belong in December, but not in any other month. I am not a holiday. What am I? Answer: The letter "D."
• Riddle: One of these words does not belong: Brawl, Carrot, Change, Clover, Proper, Sacred, Stone, Seventy, Swing, Travel. Answer: Carrot. It's the only word that does not become another word when you remove the first and last letters.
• Riddle: White bird, featherless. Flying out of paradise. Flying over sea and land. Dying in my hand. What is it? Answer: A snowflake.
• Riddle: What 5-letter word, if typed in all capital letters, can be read the same upside down? Answer: SWIMS.
• Riddle : How do you spell COW in thirteen letters? Answer : SEE O DOUBLE YOU.
• Riddle: I'm everywhere and a part of everyone. I am at the end of space and time and existence itself. What am I? Answer: The letter "E."
• 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: What word in the English language does the following: The first two letters signify a male, the first three letters signify a female, the first four letters signify a great, while the entire world signifies a great woman. What is the word? Answer: Heroine.
• Riddle : What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years? Answer : The letter "M."
• Riddle : What is the longest word in the dictionary? Answer : "Smiles," because there is a mile between each "s."
• Riddle : Where is the only place where today comes before yesterday? Answer : The dictionary.
• Riddle: How many letters are in the alphabet? Answer: There are 11 letters in the words "the alphabet."
• Riddle: It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, cannot be heard, cannot be smelt. It lies behind stars and under hills and empty holes it fills. It comes first and follows after, ends life, and kills laughter. Answer: Darkness.
• Riddle: With pointed fangs, I sit and wait; with piercing force, I crunch out fate. I grab victims, proclaiming might, and physically join with a single bite. What am I? Answer: A stapler.
• Riddle: If the prisoner tells a lie, he'll be hanged; if he tells the truth, he'll be beheaded. What can he say to save himself? Answer: "You will hang me."
• Riddle: What English word retains the same pronunciation, even after you take away four of its five letters? Answer: " Queue."

This story has been updated to include additional entries, fact-checking, and copy-editing.

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50 Mind-boggling Riddles To Knock You Off Your Intellectual Rut

Last Updated on August 9, 2024

Table of Contents

Riddles are a fun way to while quality time with our near and dear ones. They help sharpen our analytical and problem-solving skills, while also enhancing better collaboration and teamwork. Now, the beauty of riddles lie in solving the puzzles. The riddle questions can be as difficult as possible. But the answers shouldn’t be beyond the respondent’s intellectual scope. Fortunately, the solutions to many riddles are usually hidden in plain sight. You only need to think outside your intellectual rut to find them.

Hard Riddles

In this post, we unveil the 50 most mentally taxing riddles with pretty straightforward answers. 1. A bus driver goes the wrong way on a one-way street. He passes the cops, but they don’t stop him. Why? Answer: He was walking. 2. A girl fell off a 20-foot ladder. She wasn’t hurt. How? Answer: She fell off the bottom step. 3. A word I know, six letters it contains, removes one letter, and twelve remains. What am I? Answer: Dozens. 4. Dead on the field lie ten soldiers in white, felled by three eyes, black as night. What happened? Answer: A bowling ball knocked down ten pins 5. Grandpa went out for a walk and it started to rain . He didn’t bring an umbrella or a hat. His clothes got soaked, but not a hair on his head was wet. How is this possible? Answer: Grandpa’s bald! 6. How do football players stay cool during a game? Answer: They stand next to the fans. 7. I am always hungry and will die if not fed, but whatever I touch will soon turn red. What am I? Answer: Fire 8. I am an odd number. Take away a letter and I become even. What number am I? Answer: Seven 9. I am laced twice in eternity and always within sight. What could I be? Answer: The letter “T”. 10. I am the beginning of the end of time and space that surrounds everything and every place. What am I? Answer: The letter “E”. 11. I called my dog from the opposite side of the river. The dog crossed the river without getting wet, and without using a bridge, a boat, or a raft. How is that possible? Answer: The river was frozen. 12. I come from a mine and am surrounded by wood. I help others to express themselves. What am I? Answer: Pencil lead 13. I have lakes with no water, mountains with no stone and cities with no buildings. What am I? Answer: A map 14. I speak without a mouth and hear without ears. I have nobody but come alive with the wind. What am I? Answer: An echo. 15. 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. 16. I’m everywhere and a part of everyone. I am at the end of space and time and existence itself. What am I? Answer: The letter “e” 17. It is weightless, you can see it. If you put it in a barrel it will make it lighter? Answer: Hole 18. 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. 19. My thunder comes before the lightning. My lightning comes before the clouds. My rain dries all the land it touches. What am I? Answer: A volcano 20. Name three consecutive days without naming any of the seven days of the week. Answer: Yesterday, today, and tomorrow. 21. One of these words does not belong: Which is it and why? Brawl, Carrot, Change, Clover, Proper, Sacred, Stone, Seventy, Swing, Travel. Answer: Carrot. It’s the only word that does not become another word when you remove the first and last letters. 22. People in poverty have this. If you eat this you will die. What is it? Answer: Nothing. 23. People make me, save me, change me, raise me. What am I? Answer: Money 24. Ripped from my mother’s womb, beaten and burned, I become a blood-thirsty slayer. What am I? Answer: Iron ore 25. The more there is, the less you see. What am I? Answer: Darkness. 26. The more you take, the more you leave behind. What am I? Answer: Fingerprints. 27. 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 28. 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. 29. Three doctors all say Robert is their brother. Robert says he has no brothers. Who is lying ? Answer: No one—the doctors are Robert’s sisters. 30. 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. 31. Two in a corner, one in a room, zero in a house, but one in a shelter. What is it? Answer: The letter “r” 32. Two people were playing chess. They both won. How is this possible? Answer: They were playing two different games, against other opponents. 33. What breaks yet never falls, and what falls yet never breaks? Answer: Day and night 34. 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. 35. What does man love more than life, hate more than death or 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 36. What has a bottom at the top? Answer: Your legs 37. What is full of holes but still holds a lot of water? Answer: A sponge. 38. What is so fragile that saying its name breaks it? Answer: Silence. 39. What question can you never answer yes to? Answer: Are you asleep yet? 40. What two things can you never have for breakfast? Answer: Lunch and Dinner 41. What two words, added together, contain the most letters? Answer: Post office. 42. What word in the English language does the following: The first two letters signify a male, the first three letters signify a female, the first four letters signify a great, while the entire world signifies a great woman. What is the word? Answer: Heroine 43. What word in the English language uses all five vowels plus Y in alphabetical order, and uses each only once? Answer: Facetiously 44. What word is pronounced the same if you take away four of its five letters? Answer: Queue 45. What word of five letters has only one left when two letters are removed? Answer: Stone. 46. What word starts with E and ends with E but only has one letter in it? Answer: An envelope. 47. Where does today come before yesterday? Answer: In the dictionary. 48. Without a bridle or a saddle, across a thing I ride a-straddle. And those I ride, by help of me, though almost blind, are made to see. What am I? Answer: Eye glasses 49. You are in a dark room with a box of matches. On a table are a candle, an oil lamp, and a log of firewood. What do you light first? Answer: The match! Can’t light any of those things without a lit match. 50. You see a boat filled with people. You look again, but this time you don’t see a single person on the boat. Why? Answer: All the people on the boat are married.

There goes our collection of the 50 most mind-boggling riddles to knock you off your intellectual rut. As a parting shot, always remember to agree on a specific theme before every riddle session. That will give the respondent some head start. If the solutions prove too difficult to guess, consider giving the respondent some clue. And if they still can’t guess the answer right, demand that they give you an incentive in the form of a present. The gift can be real (such as cash) or abstract (like a beautiful city). If you’re satisfied with the present, say the answer aloud and proceed to the next riddle.

Posted by: Nikola Nikolovski

Nikola is a Wordpress expert who makes sure everything runs smoothly on our website. Wordpress optimization and on-site SEO are both his bread and butter.

100+ Riddles With Answers: Everything From Hard Riddles to Easy, Famous & Stupid Ones

• December 30, 2020

If brain teasers were a party, riddles would be the first name on the guest list.

Why? Because riddles are the ultimate brain game that can make you think. They have stood the test of time — witty, engaging, mysterious, and utterly satisfying — that stimulate your brain and put the cognitive thrusters to the full capacity.

So we collected the finest riddles and put them together in one list. The list includes everything from hard riddles to easy ones, from famous riddles to classics, from riddles for children to math riddles — all that’ll keep you busy and racking your brain all day long. And yes, we have included the answers too.

So shall we begin?

Easy Riddles

Let’s start with some easy riddles. These are great to warm you up without frustrating you while cracking the solution. Although you may need a little cognitive effort, you’ll solve them with ease. 

1. What has hands but can’t clap?

Answer: Clock

2. What has many teeth but can’t bite?

Answer: A comb

3. What is so fragile that just saying its name breaks it?

Answer: Silence

4. Who can shave 25 times a day but still have a beard?

Answer: A barber

5. I know a word of letters three. Add two and fewer there will be.

Answer: The word “few”.

6. What is harder to catch the faster you run?

Answer: Your breath

7. Every night I’m told what to do, and each morning I do what I’m told. But I still don’t escape your scold. What am I?

Answer: Alarm clock

8. What gets wet while drying?

Answer: A towel

9. I follow you all the time and copy your every move, but you can’t touch me or catch me. What am I?

Answer: Your shadow

10. People buy me to eat but never eat me. What am I?

Answer: Plates and cutlery

11. I’m tall when I’m young and I’m short when I’m old. What am I? 

Answer: A candle

12. I have no feet, no hands, no wings, but I climb to the sky. What am I?

Answer: Smoke

13. The maker doesn’t want it. The buyer doesn’t use it. The user doesn’t know it. What am I?

Answer: Coffin

14. A plane crashed off the coast of Mexico and every single person died, yet there were two survivors. How could that happen?

Answer: The survivors were a couple. 

Famous Riddles

Riddles from the first known civilization to ancient greeks, from folk tales to fantasy novels, from heroic sagas to movie characters — these are some of the most famous riddles from literature and culture.

15. There is a house. A person enters this house blind but exits it seeing. What is it?

Answer: A school

This riddle goes back to 4000 years from the oldest surviving written systems of the Sumer civilization of Mesopotamia.

16. First think of the person who lives in disguise, 

Who deals in secrets and tells naught but lies., next, tell me what’s always the last thing to mend,, the middle of middle and end of the end, and finally give me the sound often heard, during the search for a hard-to-find word., now string them together, and answer me this,, which creature would you be unwilling to kiss.

Answer:  Spider

This riddle divides the answer into three parts. First part: the liar in disguise is a spy . The last letter in the word “mend,” and at the middle of “middle” and at the end of the word “end,” is the letter D. And at last, it’s the sound “er” that is said while puzzled. So these three clues make the word “spy-d-er.”

This is the famous riddle from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Harry has to solve this riddle as the final task to pass through the maze in the Triwizard Tournament.

17. Out of the eater, something to eat; out of the strong, something sweet. 

Answer: Bees making a honeycomb inside the carcass of a lion

This is another popular riddle that goes back to centuries. It’s from the Book of Judge of the Old Testament. Samson proposes his guest to solve this riddle and if successful he’ll award them expensive pieces of clothes, but if wrong, the guests must give him instead.

If you couldn’t guess the answer, it okay — there was a catch. Only people who knew Samon personally could have solved it. BTW, are wondering if the guests could solve it?

18. What We Caught We Threw Away, What We Didn’t Catch We Kept

Answer: Lice

This famous riddle is from ancient Greece. It is said that the great Greek poet Homer died on the island of Ios solving it. He acquired it from local fishermen.

19. This thing all things devours;

Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;, gnaws iron, bites steel;, grinds hard stones to meal;, slays king, ruins town,, and beats mountain down..

Answer: Time

This riddle is from the J. R. R. Tolkien high fantasy novel Hobbit. Bilbo Baggins has to solve this riddle to escape from the evil Gollum’s lair.

20. As I was going to St. Ives,

I met a man with seven wives,, each wife had seven sacks,, each sack had seven cats,, each cat had seven kits:, kits, cats, sacks, and wives,, how many were there going to st. ives”.

Answer: One

“As I was going to St Ives” is a traditional nursery rhyme in the form of a riddle. The earliest appearance of this riddle is dated back to 1730. It has also appeared in the Hollywood blockbuster Die Hard with a Vengence when Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson has to solve it save a crowded city block.

21. Voiceless it cries,

Wingless flutters,, toothless bites,, mouthless mutters..

Answer: The wind

This is another noted riddle from The Hobbit spoken by Gollum.

22. What walks on four feet in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three at night? 

Answer: Human.

As an infant, a human crawls on all fours limbs; when an adult, walks on two legs and; in old age, uses a ‘walking’ stick as a third leg.

In Oedipus Rex, the classic play by the Greek tragedian Sophocles, Sphinx asks the antagonist to solve this riddle in order to save his life and carry on the journey.

23. I have billions of eyes, yet I live in darkness. I have millions of ears, yet only four lobes. I have no muscle, yet I rule two hemispheres. What am I?

Answer: Human Brain

This is one of the riddles by DC’s supervillain Riddler who leaves behind riddles and puzzlers as clues to solve. He first appeared in the Batman Comics issue 140 as “The prince of Puzzles: The Riddler.”

Enjoying these Riddles? We have something better for you. Download Smart Brain, the top-rated brain game for iOS and Android.

Riddles for kids.

Riddles are a great way to engage kids — tapping their problem-solving abilities while having fun. You can see them utilizing their aptitudes to tackle these stumpers and a sense of accomplishment in solving it. Here’s a list of riddles for kids that are just perfect — funny, punny, and not too confusing. 

Suggested read: 10 Fun Brain Games for Kids to Propel Their Thinking

24. what can jump higher than a building.

Answer: Anything that can jump because buildings don’t jump.

25 . A boy and a doctor were fishing. The boy is the doctor’s son but the doctor is not the boy’s father. Who is the doctor?

Answer: The boy’s mother

26. What is more useful when it is broken?

Answer: An egg

27. Simon’s dad had four sons: March, April, and May. What is the name of the fourth son?

Answer: Simon

28. What word is spelled wrong in the dictionary?

Answer: The word “Wrong”

29. What is seen in the middle of March and April that can’t be seen at the beginning or end of either month? 

Answer: It’s the letter “R”

30. This belongs to you, but everyone else uses it. 

Answer: Your name

31. What can you hold in your right hand, but never in your left hand?

Answer:   Your left hand

32. A group of bunnies were having a birthday party. What kind of music were they listening to?

Answer: Hip hop music

33. I am white when I am dirty, and black when I am clean. What am I?

Answer: A blackboard

34. An elephant in Africa is called Lala. An elephant in Asia is called Lulu. What do you call an elephant in Antarctica?

Answer: You’ll call that elephant lost

35. A woman was born in 1975 and died in 1975. And at the time of her death, she was 22 years. How’s that possible?

Answer:  One of the “1975” is either a room number or zip code.

36. If the prisoner tells a lie he’ll be hanged, if he tells the truth he’ll be beheaded. What can he say to save himself?

Answer: Don’t say anything

37. The rich men want it, the wise men know it, the poor all need it, the kind men show it.

Answer: Love

Dumb and Stupid Riddles

We all have heard the jokes that leave you slapping the knees while bursting into hysterical laughter.

Well, these riddles are exactly not those. Somewhere between bad puns and anti-humor, these riddles are sometimes ironically funny. And i f you are looking for something that makes the listeners roll their eyes and induce groans, these dumb and stupid riddles will work wonders.

38. Why was Karl Marx buried at Highgate Cemetery in London?

Answer: Because he was dead

39. Where did the sheep go on vacation ?

Answer: The B aaaahamas

40. What is a frog’s favorite year?

Answer: Leap year

41. What do you call a fairy that hasn’t taken a bath?

Answer: Stinker Bell

42.   What has one horn and gives milk?

Answer: A milk truck

43. What do snowmen eat for breakfast?

Answer: Snowflakes

44. What rock group consists of four famous men, but none of them sing?

Answer: Mount Rushmore

45. What do polar bears eat for lunch?

Answer: Ice berg-ers

46. What is the laziest mountain in the world?

Answer: Mount Ever – rest

47. What part of the turkey has the most feathers?

Answer: The outer part

48. How can you drop a raw egg onto a concrete floor without cracking it?

Answer:  Concrete floors are very hard to crack

49. What do you call a boomerang that doesn’t come back? 

Answer: A stick

50. What do you call bears with no ears?

51. what did the zero say to the eight.

Answer: “Nice belt!”

52. What do you call a dog with no legs?

Answer: It d oesn’t matter. He can’t come to you anyway.

53. Three men were in a boat. It capsized, but only two got their hair wet. Why?

Answer: One was bald

54. What is orange and sounds like a parrot?

Answer: Carrot

Math Riddles

Math riddles are perfect for people who enjoy the thrill of numbers and calculation. Some of these riddles require simple logic while others are just lateral thinking problems disguised as math riddles. And for some, you may need good calculation skills. But yes, it will be fun. So just step in the shoes of Archimedes and crack these riddles.

55. I am a three-digit number. My second digit is 4 times bigger than the third digit. My first digit is 3 less than my second digit. Guess the number?

Answer: 141

56. Two fathers and two sons are sitting on a bench, yet there are only three people sitting. How?

Answer: They are a grandfather, father, and son.

57. 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.

58. If eleven plus two equals one, what does nine plus five equal?

11 o’clock plus 2 hours = 1 o’clock

9 o’clock plus 5 hours = 2 o’clock

59. Olivia is four times old as her daughter. In 20 years’ time, she will be twice as old as her daughter. How old are they now?

Answer: Olivia is 40 and her daughter is 10.

60. How much will a 38-degree angle measure when looked at under a microscope that magnifies ten times?

Answer:  The angle won’t change. It will be still 38 degrees.

61. Mary has four daughters, and each of her daughters has a brother. How many children does Mary have?

Answer:  Five. Each daughter has the same single brother.

62. How do you make the number 7 even without addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division?

Answer: Drop the “S”.

63. TEN = 20, 5, 14

Men = 13, 5, 14, what do women equal using the same logic .

Answer: WOMEN = 23, 15, 13, 5, 14

The numbers represent the letter’s position in English alphabets.

64. How can you take two away from five and have four left?

Answer: Remove the 2 letters F and E from five and you have iv that’s the roman number IV.

65. At a four-legged table, there is one grandma, two mothers, two daughters, and a granddaughter. How many legs are under the table?

Answer: 10 legs

There are 3 people sitting at the table. Grandmother (who’s also a mother), her daughter (who’s also a mother and a daughter), and a granddaughter (who’s also a daughter and granddaughter.)

So 4 legs of table and 6 legs of people make 10.

Classic Riddles

Classic riddles are those riddles that you might have heard often. They are old and have been said quite often but still good enough to make you think over.

66. It’s full of keys but can’t open any door. What is it?

Answer: A piano

67. Where will you find Friday before Thursday?

Answer: In a dictionary

68. If you throw a white stone into a red sea, what will happen to it?

Answer:  It will get wet (or sink).

69. I fly all day long but don’t go anywhere. What am I?

Answer: A flag

70. If you are traveling north on an electric train, which way is the smoke from the train going?

Answer: Nowhere. There’s no smoke in an electric train.

71. He has married many women but has never married. Who is he?

Answer: A priest

72. What is it that everybody does at the same time?

Answer: Grow older

73. Turn us on our backs

And open up our stomachs, you will be the wisest of men, though at start a lummox..

Answer: A book

74. What has head and a tail but no leg?

Answer: A Coin

75. You can’t keep this until you have given it.

Answer: A promise (or your word)

76. What can you catch but not throw?

Answer: Cold

77. What has a ring but no finger ?

Answer: A telephone or alarm.

78. Which day is near to come but never comes? 

Answer: Tomorrow

79. What has no life but can still die?

Answer: Battery

Hard Riddles

Now, these riddles are like the final showdown when you take on the boss — hard riddles. These will make you utilize your brain at maximum capacity, but in the end, once you solve them all, you are officially qualified to humblebrag about your skills.

80. It is the beginning of eternity, the end of time and space. It is the start of every end, the end of every place.

Answer: The letter “E”

81. Which seven-letter word contains dozens of letters?

Answer: Mailbox

82. What occurs once in every minute, twice in every moment, but never in a thousand years? 

Answer: The letter “M”

83. When you need me, You throw me away. But when you are done with me, You bring me back. What am I?

Answer: An anchor

84. The more of this there is, the less you see. What is it?

Answer: Darkness, Fog

85. What has 13 hearts but no other organs?

Answer: A deck of cards.

86. 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

87. What word in the English language does the following: the first two letters signify a male, the first three letters signify a female, the first four letters signify a great, while the entire world signifies a great woman. What is the word?

Answer: Heroine

88. What English word has three consecutive double letters? 

Answer: Bookkeeper (or Bookkeeping)

89. I am something people love or hate. I change people’s appearances and thoughts. If a person takes care of themself I will go up even higher. To some people, I will fool them. To others, I am a mystery. Some people might want to try and hide me but I will show. No matter how hard people try I will never go down. What am I?​

Answer: Age

90. Only one color, but not one size, Stuck at the bottom, yet easily flies.

Answer: A Shadow

91. I have forests but no trees. I have lakes but no water. I have roads but no cars. What am I?

Answer: A map

92. Tear me off and scratch my head. What once was red is black instead. What am I?

Answer: A match

93. What can fill a room but takes up no space?

Answer: Light

94. With pointed fangs I sit and wait; with piercing force I crunch out fate; grabbing victims, proclaiming might; physically joining with a single bite. What am I?

Answer: A stapler

95. How can you physically stand behind your friend while he is standing behind you?

Answer: You are standing back-to-back with your friend. 

96. If you have me, you will want to share me. If you share me, you will no longer have me. What am I?

Answer:  It’s a secret

97. I have keys, but no locks and space, and no rooms. You can enter, but you can’t go outside. What am I?

Answer: A keyboard

98. I can travel the entire world while staying in the corner. What am I?

Answer: A postage stamp

99. Always in you, sometimes on you; if I surround you, I can kill you. What am I?

Answer: Water

100. I turn once, what is out will not get in. I turn again, what is in will not get out. What am I?

Answer: A key

101. What do you not want to have and not want to lose?

Answer: A lawsuit.

102. A woman shoots her husband, then holds him underwater for five minutes. Finally, she hangs him. But five minutes later they enjoy a wonderful dinner together. How can this be?

Answer:  She shot a photo of her husband and developed it in a dark room.

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Problem-Solving Riddles That Only Smart People Can Solve

These problem-solving riddles aren’t for the weak-minded so are you up for the challenge?

Fun, thrilling, and oh so challenging- that’s exactly how the makers of these 10 riddles are describing this exciting array of logic themed riddles. Certainly, it’s time to put your mind to the test and break free from the rest.

We agree they’re not the first puzzles to stump the internet but they are leading the pack for obvious reasons. Therefore, it’s time to give our readers a thorough workout for their brains. So let’s see where you stand!

Here are some problem-solving riddles that you might get right on your first try or your 10th attempt- it’s all on you. So let the games begin!

Einstein’s riddle- not so simple after all

The fact that the riddle is named after Albert Einstein should give you plenty of hints that this isn’t going to be an easy affair. Moreover, it’s time to try your luck and see where you stand.

According to legend, the smartest man actually came up with this riddle during his childhood. And since then, people try their luck at getting around the right answer. Hence, it’s time you gave it a try. Simply let us know, with the help of the 15 clues above, who really owns the fish. Sounds easy right, well, we’ll be the judge of that.

Can you find out the answer to the 4th equation?

Here, the symbols each represent a particular digit. point 48 | Therefore, it’s your turn to put some problem-solving skills to the test and figure out the answer. point 137 | We know you can do it, just keep an eye out for the pattern involved and we’re sure you’ll get there in no time. point 238 | 1

Coffee anyone- tricky problem-solving riddles

Who doesn’t love a warm cup of coffee on a tiring day? Well, we certainly do. point 231 |

And that’s exactly why we’re asking you one simple question. point 63 | Which cup of caffeine goodness would actually fill up first? Remember, take a good look and attempt your best. point 155 | We’re listing down the solution too for your utmost convenience. point 216 | 1

If you keep a keen eye out and note the little details, you’ll find the catch involved. See, all of the pipes in the clip are actually blocked, except for one. And that is lucky cup number 5!

How many triangles can you see?

The viral triangle challenge is back with a bang and it’s safe to say, people can’t get enough. point 412 |

Unfortunately, not a lot are scoring high when it comes to guessing the right answer. point 71 | Whether it’s top mathematicians or leading Ph. point 117 | D. point 119 | experts, they’re calling for help. point 155 | So, what are you waiting for? Put that thinking cap on and begin immediately! point 219 | 1

Were you able to find more than 10? If yes, then good for you because a lot of people had answers below 10 and it’s striking, to say the least. The actual answer is 25! Yes, trust us when we say that the majority of the bunch had answers ranging from 4 to 44. But logically speaking, it’s actually very straight forward.

See there are 4 rows, with 6 triangles each. Now add one more to your answer for the main triangle and voila, you get 25! How did you do?

97% of the population can’t find the answer but can you?

Strikingly, 97% of the population could not figure out the right answer. Hence we thought it would be interesting to see where our readers stand. Take a look and let us know what you think the probable solution could be.

HINT: Teresa’s daughter is actually the one who is asking the question so please take note.

Solution:  The answer is that I am Teresa’s daughter.

How did you do overall with these problem-solving riddles? We’d love to know how many you got correct and in case you didn’t, well, so did the majority. Don’t forget to share this fun compilation with friends and loved ones. They’ll thank you for keeping their brain cells in check while working from home.

For more trending stories, don’t forget to take a look at our article Can You Solve These Trending Lockdown Puzzles?

40 Really Hard Riddles (With Answers)

How good is your riddle game? Would you consider yourself a riddle novice or a riddle ninja?

Riddles are an easy way to keep the creative juices flowing. They even make our brains function differently ! They can be a mental workout, for sure, but if you’re a seasoned master, most riddles probably don’t challenge you enough. If you’re looking to up the ante, our collection of tough riddles should do the trick. We’ve searched and have found 40 really hard riddles for you to put your solving skills to the test!

See Riddle Based Games For Team Building >>

Test Your Trivia Knowledge

If you love quirky questions and guessing games, we have just the thing for your next night in. Virtual Game Night from Let’s Roam will have you and up to 15 of your fellow thinkers testing your brainpower! There are tons of options; categories include sports, animals, TV, geography, movies, pop culture, politics, cartoons, and more. It’s all waiting for you in our easy-to-use video interface so, when you’ve finished solving all of the really hard riddles, be sure to sign up for 7 days of free fun!

1. Riddle: What is there one of in every corner and two of in every room? Answer: The letter O.

2. Riddle: What is stronger than steel but can’t handle the sun? Answer: Ice.

3. Riddle: What is it that no one wants, but no one wants to lose? Answer: A lawsuit.

4. Riddle: The more there is, the less you see. What am I? Answer: Darkness.

5. Riddle: How do eight eights add up to one thousand? Answer: 888 + 88 + 8 + 8 + 8 = 1000.

6. Riddle: I have many faces, expressions, and emotions, and I am usually right at your fingertips. What am I? Answer: Emojis.

7. Riddle: I’m full of holes but strong as steel. What am I? Answer: A chain.

8. Riddle: A barrel of water weighed 60 pounds. Someone put something in it and now it weighs 40 pounds. What did the person add? Answer: A hole.

9. Riddle: You are my brother, but I am not your brother. Who am I? Answer: I am your sister.

10. Riddle: If all Wibbles are Criggles, all Borkins are Kwumblins, no Hoggles are Borkins, and all Criggles are Borkins, is it true that all Borkins are Criggles? Answer: Nope.

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11. Riddle: What word has kst in the middle, in the beginning, and at the end? Answer: Inkstand

12. Riddle: What bird do you associate with lifting weight? Answer: A crane.

13. Riddle: Two men are in a desert. They both have backpacks on. One of the guys is dead. The guy who is alive has his backpack open and the guy who is dead has his backpack closed. What is in the dead man’s backpack? Answer: A parachute.

14. Riddle: What walks on four feet in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three at night? Answer: A man. The times of day represent a lifetime. He crawls as a baby, walks as an adult, and walks with a cane as an elder man.

15. Riddle: One day, a magician was boasting about how long he could hold his breath underwater. His record was 6 minutes. A kid that was listening said, “that’s nothing, I can stay underwater for 10 minutes using no equipment or air pockets!” The magician told the kid if he could do that, he’d give him $10,000. The kid did it and won the money. How? Answer: He filled a glass of water and held it above his head for 10 minutes.

16. Riddle: What is it that given one, you’ll have either two or none? Answer: A choice.

17. Riddle: I can be long or can be short, I can be black, white, brown, or purple. You can find me the world over and I am often the main feature. What am I? Answer: Rice.

18. Riddle: How can the number four be half of five? Answer: IV, the Roman numeral for four, is half (two letters) of the word five.

19. Riddle: I am something people celebrate or resist. I change people’s thoughts and lives. I am obvious to some people but, to others, I am a mystery. What am I? Answer: Age.

20. Riddle: Nobody has ever walked this way. Which way is it? Answer: The Milky Way.

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21. Riddle: It can’t be touched and can’t be felt. It can’t be seen, or heard, or smelt. It lies behind stars and under hills, and any empty holes it fills. It comes early and follows after, ends life, and kills laughter. What is it? Answer: Darkness.

22. Riddle: What grows up while growing down? Answer: A goose or duck.

23. Riddle: A man runs away from home. He turns left but keeps running. After some time, he turns left again and keeps running. He later turns left once more and runs back home. Who was the man in the mask? Answer: A baseball player running the bases.

24. Riddle: Sometimes narrow, sometimes wide, wind or rain, I stay outside. Even if there’s heat or snow, from house to house I will still go. What am I? Answer: A path.

25. Riddle: I have three feet, but I can’t stand without leaning. I have no arms to hold me up. What am I? Answer: A yardstick.

26. Riddle: What can go through glass without breaking it? Answer: Light.

27. Riddle: It’s shorter than the rest, but when you’re satisfied, you bring it up. What is it? Answer: Your thumb.

28. Riddle: I speak without a mouth and hear without ears. I’m invisible, but you can call for me. What am I? Answer: An echo.

29. Riddle: What has ten letters and starts with gas? Answer: An automobile

30. Riddle: What connects two people, but touches only one? Answer: A wedding ring

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31. Riddle: They can be harbored, but few hold water. You can nurse them, but only by holding them against someone else. You can carry them, but not with your arms. You can bury them, but not in the earth. Answer: Grudges.

32. Riddle: What has a neck but no head, two arms, and no hands? Answer: A shirt.

33. Riddle: I have cities, but no houses. I have mountains, but no trees. I have water, but no fish. What am I? Answer: A map.

34. Riddle: A woman shoots her husband, then holds him underwater for five minutes. Next, she hangs him. Afterward, they enjoy a lovely dinner. How? Answer: She took a picture of him and developed it in her darkroom.

35. Riddle: I only lie down once in my life—when I die. What am I? Answer: A tree.

36. Riddle: Who can finish a book without finishing a sentence? Answer: A prisoner.

37. Riddle: What ancient invention allows people to see through walls? Answer: Windows.

38. Riddle: One knight, a ninja, and a pirate were on a ship. The ship began to sink. The ninja and the pirate jumped into a lifeboat before the ship went underwater. Who died? Answer: The knight.

39. Riddle: What has ten letters and starts with gas? Answer: Automobile.

40. Riddle: A man drove from New York City to Los Angeles in four days. At the end of his trip, he discovered that one of his tires had been punctured. How was he able to make the drive? Answer: It was his spare tire.

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35 Mathematical Riddles with Answers

A mathematical riddle is a remark or question phrased purposefully and requires creativity to determine the meaning or answer. Basically, these riddles are more like logical problems which require knowledge of mathematics to solve them.

Here are some Mathematical Riddles with their answers at the end.

1. How do you go from 98 to 720 using just one letter?

2. A merchant can place 8 large boxes or 10 small boxes into a carton for shipping. In one shipment, he sent a total of 96 boxes. How many cartons did he ship if there are more large boxes than small boxes?

3. Can you write down eight eights so that they add up to one thousand?

4. A couple went for a picnic. They have 5 sons and each son has three sisters. Each sister has one baby. In total how many people went for the picnic?

5. What number do you get when you multiply all the numbers of a telephone dialpad?

6. What is the next number in the sequence 2, 3, 5, 8, 13?

7. There are seven people at a party. They meet each other and each of them shakes hands only once with each of the others. How many handshakes will be there in total?

8. What is 7 + 7 ÷ 7 + 7 x 7 - 7 ?

9. If there are four apples and you take away three of them, how many apples do you have?

10. A father and his son's ages add up to 66. The father's age is the reverse of his son's age. How old are they?

[ Note: There are 3 possible answers]

11. I am a three-digit number. My second-digit is four times bigger than the third digit and my first digit is three less than the second digit. What number am I?

12. How many times can you subtract five from twenty-five?

13. I add five to nine and get two as the answer. The answer is accurate. How?

14. Two fathers and two sons went fishing one day. At the end of the day, each of them had one fish. There were three fish in total. How is it possible?

15. If 7 is transformed into 13 and 11 into 21, what does 16 become?

16. I am a number, but when you add 'G' to me, I go away. What number am I?

17. What can you put between 7 and 8 to get a result bigger than 7, but not quite as high as 8?

18. Turn me on my side and I am everything. Cut me in half and I am nothing. What am I?

19. I am four times as old as my daughter. 20 years from now, I will be twice as old as her. How old are we now?

20. You are running a race with a group of people and pass the person in second place. What place would you be in now?

21. If Reema is the 50 th fastest and 50 th slowest runner in her school. How many students are there in the school?

22. Three times what number is not larger than two times the same number?

23. The head of a bird is 9 cm long. Its tail is equal to the size of its head plus half the size of its body. Also, its body is equal to the size of its head plus its tail. The length of the bird will be?

24. What three positive numbers after addition and multiplication give the same result?

25. A zoo has 100 pairs of dogs. Every dog gave birth to two pairs of babies. Unfortunately, 23 of the dogs did not survive. How many dogs are left in the zoo in total?

26. The total cost of a pen and a notebook is ₹150. The pen cost ₹100 more than the notebook. How much does each item cost?

27. Raj is twice as old as his little sister and half as old as his father. After 50 years from now, his sister will be half their father's age. What is Raj's age now?

28. Find the next number in the series 7645, 5764, 4576, ..........

29. You want to boil an egg for two minutes. If there is only a three-minute timer, a four-minute timer, and a five-minute timer, how can you boil the egg for two minutes only?

30. There are men and horses in a stable. In total, there are 22 heads and 72 feet. How many men and horses are there in the stable?

31. 20 + 20 + 20 = 60. Make it 60 again by using a number three times (it can't be 20).

32. You are 8 feet away from a door and with each move you take, you cover half the distance to the door. How many moves will it take to reach the door?

33. What is the four-digit number in which the first digit is one-fourth of the last digit? The second digit is 6 times the first digit, and the third digit is the second digit plus 3.

34. How can you get 720 by using six zeros and any mathematical operator?

35. Abir has a box of ornaments that he uses to decorate his tree on Christmas each year. All of them are blue (except for six), all of them are green (except for six), and all of them are red (except for six). How many ornaments are there of each colour?

1. Add "x" between ninety and eight [Ninety x Eight = 720]

2. 11 Cartons

Explanation: Large Boxes: 7 [7 x 8 = 56] Small Boxes: 4 [4 x 10 = 40] 56 + 40 = 96

3. 888 + 88 + 8 + 8 + 8 = 1,000

4. A couple has 5 sons and each son has three sisters, which means that the couple has three daughters. Now each daughter has a baby; meaning, there are three babies in the family.

Explanation: Total Members = 13 Couple: 2 people Sons: 5 Sisters: 3 Babies: 3

5. Zero (0)

Explanation: As one of the numbers on a telephone's dial pad is 0, the product of all numbers will be zero.

Explanation: 2 + 3 = 5; 3 + 5 = 8; 5 + 8 = 13; 8 + 13 = 21

Explanation: There are 7 people in total. It means the first person will shake hands with the rest of the 6 people. Now the next person in line will shake hands with the remaining 5 people (as he has already shaken hands with the first person). Similarly, the third person will shake hands with 4 people, the fourth person will shake hands with 3 people, the fifth person with 2 people, and the sixth person will shake hands with the remaining one person. 6 + 5 + 4 + 3 + 2 + 1 = 21

Explanation: We will apply BODMAS (Bracket Off Divide Multiply Addition Subtraction) rule: 7 ÷ 7 = 1 7 + 1 + 7 x 7 - 7 7 x 7 = 49 7 + 1 + 49 - 7 8 + 49 = 57 57 - 7 57 - 7 = 50

9. 3 apples because you took away three apples

10. First Case: Father's age = 51, Son's age = 15

Second Case: Father's age = 42, Son's age = 24

Third Case: Father's age = 60, Son's age = 06

Explanation: It is because once you subtract 5 from 25, you get 20 as the answer. Now you no longer have 25.

13. When it is 9 a.m. and we add 5 fours to it, we get 2 p.m.

14. It is because there were only three people: Grandfather, Father, and Son.

Explanation: 7 x 2 - 1 = 13; 11 x 2 - 1 = 21; 16 x 2 - 1 = 31

After adding G to one, it becomes GONE.

17. Decimal

7.8 is bigger than 7 but not quite as high as 8.

18. Number 8

19. My Age = 40, Daughter's Age = 10

Explanation: Let's assume the daughter's age be x, My age = 4x 20 Years from now, my daughter's age will be x + 20 and my age will be 4x + 20. Also, my age is twice her age, therefore, 2(x + 20) = 4x + 20 2x + 40 = 4x + 20 x = 10. Daughter's Age = 10 years, My Age = 4x = 40 years

20. Second Place, because you passed the person running in second place.

21. 99 students

Explanation: The size of the bird's head is 9 cm . Tail = 9 + Half of the size of the Body Body = 9 + Tail size Body = 9 + 9 + 1/2(Body) Body - 1/2(Body) = 18 Body = 36 cm Tail = 9 + 1/2(36) Tail = 27 cm Total length of the Bird = 9 + 36 + 27 = 72 cm

24. 1, 2 and 3

Explanation: 1 + 2 + 3 = 6 and 1 x 2 x 3 = 6

25. 977 dogs

Explanation: 100 pair of dogs = 100 x 2 = 200 dogs Two pairs of babies to each dog (200 dogs) = 200 x 4 = 800 dogs 23 dogs did not survive Total dogs left = 200 + 800 - 23 = 977 dogs

26. Cost of Pen = ₹100, Cost of Notebook = ₹25

27. 50 years

Explanation: Let's assume Raj's age be x years. Raj is twice as old as his sister, which means that his sister is half of Raj's age. Thus, Sister's Age =  \frac{x}{2}   years Also, Raj is half his father's age, which means that his father is twice the age of Raj. Thus, Father's Age = 2x years 50 years from now, Raj's sister's age =  \frac{x}{2}   + 50, Father's age = 2x + 50 According to the question, x/2 + 50 = Half of (2x + 50) x = Raj's Age = 50 years

Explanation: The last number is moved to the front to make the next new number

29. Start the three-minute timer and five-minute timer simultaneously. When the three-minute timer ends start boiling the egg and take it out of the water when the five-minute timer has ended. This way the egg is boiled for two minutes only. (There is no neea d of four-minute timer)

30. 14 horses and 8 men

Explanation: 14 + 8 = 22 heads (14 x 4) + (8 x 2) = 56 + 16 = 72 feet

31. 55 + 5 = 60

32. Infinite, because you will always reach half the distance to the door, no matter how small distance you move.

Explanation: Let the first four digits be a, b, c, and d. According to the question, a = d/4, b = 6a, and c = b + 3 Convert each equation in terms of d. So, a =  \frac{d}{4} b =  \frac{6d}{4}=\frac{3}{2}d c =  \frac{3}{2}d+3 Now, use the hit and trial method to find the value of d from 0 to 9. If we take values 0 to 3 for d, a would be either 0 or a fraction. So, let's take d = 4, then a = 1, b = 6, and c = 9 All these satisfy the conditions given. Therefore, the four-digit number will be 1694.

34. (0! + 0! + 0! + 0! + 0! + 0!)!

Explanation: (1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1)! = 6! 6! = 6 x 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1 = 720

35. 3 Blue, 3 Green, and 3 Red

Benefits of Mathematical Riddles

• Math riddles help in developing our analytical skills in many ways. At first look, a puzzle may look weird or absurd, but it forces us to use our analytical and critical thinking in different ways to solve the problem.
• Mathematical riddles also help in enhancing concentration and comprehension. While solving a riddle, the ability required to decipher the text is not the same as deciphering a simple sentence. Riddles require reading between the lines, thinking about the given context, and comprehending the different layers of meaning. Thus, solving riddles can increase the concentration power of a student.
• Mathematical riddles increase vocabulary. Through riddles, students can learn a variety of new and odd words including homophones and metaphors.
• Mathematical riddles are also good for a student's mental health. It can boost a child's mood and make them laugh. It can also reduce stress and give children a sense of accomplishment.

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38 Hard Math Riddles (With Answers) For Future Geniuses

Stump the mathletes of the family with these extra-tricky math riddles and puzzles.

No one’s indifferent to the long-form math word problem with the opening lines, “There are 67 people on a train traveling west at 45 miles an hour.” Those verbal equations tend to either thrill us or fill us with dread. While we all tumble effortlessly through daily encounters with simple arithmetic, sometimes math riddles and word problems stop us in our tracks. They’re often a thorny and delightful combination of the abstract and the real world, which is why they’re perfect for kids.

To solve a math riddle, kids must convert a few sentences about a real-life scenario into the right combination of mathematical equations. Using logic, creative problem solving, and common sense, children can crack any code, including math riddles. Although tough, the harder ones especially offer a gratifying challenge to kids (and, let’s be frank, adults).

Fortunately, shrouding a difficult equation behind a fun and engaging riddle is the best way to get your kid interested in math well before they face the great divide in eighth grade caused by the quadratic formula. These tricky math riddles keep kids entertained while quietly sharpening their logic and math skills. Odds are, you’ll learn something, too.

Basic Math Riddles For Kids

Riddle: If there are four apples and you take away three, how many do you have?

Answer: You took three apples, so you have three!

Riddle : A grandmother, two mothers, and two daughters went to a baseball game together and bought one ticket each. How many tickets did they buy in total?

Answer : Three tickets

Explanation: The grandmother is also a mother, and the mother is also a daughter.

If eggs are 12 cents a dozen, how many eggs can you get for a dollar?

Riddle: Eggs are 12 cents a dozen. How many eggs can you get for a dollar?

Answer: 100 eggs for a penny each

Riddle: How can you add eight fours together so the total adds up to 500?

Answer: 444 + 44 + 4 + 4 + 4 = 500

Riddle: If seven people meet each other and each shake hands only once with each of the others, how many handshakes happened?

Middle School Math Riddles

Riddle: A 300 ft. train is traveling 300 ft. per minute must travel through a 300 ft. long tunnel. How long will it take the train to travel through the tunnel?

Answer: Two minutes. It takes the front of the train one minute, and the rest of the train will take two minutes to clear the tunnel.

Riddle: A cellphone and a phone case cost $110 in total. The cell phone costs $100 more than the phone case. How much was the cellphone?

Answer: $105 (not $110)

It’s not about the pizza.

Riddle: Robert and David played several golf matches against each other in a week. They played for a pizza at each match, but no pizzas were purchased until the end of the week. If Robert and David had the same number of wins at any time, those pizzas were canceled. Robert won four matches (but no pizzas), and David won three pizzas. How many rounds of golf were played?

Explanation: David won seven matches — four to cancel out Robert’s four wins and three more to win the pizzas.

Riddle: I am a three-digit number. My second digit is four times bigger than the third digit. My first digit is three less than my second digit. Who am I?

Answer: 141

Riddle: I add five to nine and get two. The answer is correct, but how?

Answer: When it is 9 a.m., add five hours to it, and you will get to 2 p.m.

Riddle: A half is a third of it. What is it?

Answer: 1 1/2

Riddle: When Miguel was 6 years old, his little sister, Leila, was half his age. If Miguel is 40 years old today, how old is Leila?

Answer: She is 37 years old.

Riddle: Tom was asked to paint numbers outside 100 apartments, which means he will have to paint numbers one through 100. How many times will he have to paint the number eight?

Answer: 20 times / Explanation: (8, 18, 28, 38, 48, 58, 68, 78, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 98)

Riddle: What can you put between a seven and an eight so that the result is greater than a seven but less than an eight?

Answer: A decimal because 7.8 is greater than seven but less than eight.

“How much is this bag of potatoes?” asked the man. “Thirty-two pounds divided by half of its own weight,” said the grocer.

Riddle: “How much is this bag of potatoes?” asked the man. “Thirty-two pounds divided by half of its own weight,” said the grocer. How much did the potatoes weigh?

Answer: 8 lbs

Riddle: When Lisa was 6 years old, her sister Lucy was half her age. If Lisa is 40 years old today, how old is Lucy?

Explanation: Lucy is three years younger than Lisa.

Riddle: You are given three positive numbers. You can add these numbers and multiply them together. The result you get will be the same. What are the numbers?

Answer: One, two, and three.

Animal Math Riddles

Riddle: There are 100 pairs of dogs in a zoo; a pair of babies are born for each dog. Unfortunately, 23 of the dogs have not survived. How many dogs are left in total?

Answer: 977 dogs

Explanation: 100 x 2 = 200; 200 + 800 = 1,000; 1,000 – 23 = 977

Riddle: If a hen and a half lay an egg and a half in a day and a half, how many eggs will half a dozen hens lay in half a dozen days?

Answer: Two dozen

Riddle: Leon works at the aquarium. When he tries to put each turtle in its own tank, he has one turtle too many. But if he puts two turtles per tank, he has one tank too many. How many turtles and how many tanks does Leon have?

Answer: He has three tanks and four turtles.

Riddle: A duck was given $9, a spider was given $36, and a bee was given $27. Based on this information, how much money would be given to a cat?

Answer: $18 ($4.50 per leg)

Riddle: If you buy a rooster to lay eggs and you expect to get three eggs each day for breakfast, how many eggs will you have after three weeks?

Answer: None. Roosters don’t lay eggs.

Riddle: A farmer has 19 sheep on his land. One day, a big storm hits, and all but seven run away. How many sheep does the farmer have left?

Answer: Seven. All but seven ran away.

Fun Math Riddles

Riddle: A group of students were standing in the blazing sun facing due west on a march past event. The leader shouted at them: Right turn! About turn! Left turn! At the end of these commands, which direction are the students facing now?

Answer: East

Explanation: They will turn 90 degrees in a right turn and then 180 degrees in an about-turn, and finally turn 90 degrees in a left turn. Therefore, the students are now facing east.

Which weighs more, 16 ounces of soda or a pound of solid gold?

Answer: Neither. They both weigh the same!

Riddle: At the time of shipping, Tom can place 10 small boxes or eight large boxes into a carton. A total of 96 boxes were sent in one shipment. The number of small boxes was less than the large boxes. What is the total number of cartons he shipped?

Answer: 11 cartons

Explanation: Four small boxes (410 = 40 boxes) + seven large boxes (78 = 56 boxes). So, 96 boxes and 11 total cartons.

Riddle: What’s the maximum number of times you can subtract five from 25?

Answer: Only once. This is because when you subtract five the first time, 25 becomes 20, then 15, and so on.

Riddle: The total cost of a pair of shoes and a hoodie is $150. The hoodie cost $100 more than the pair of shoes. How much does each item cost?

Answer: The hoodie costs $125, and the shoes cost $25.

Riddle: You have two U.S. coins with a total value of 30 cents. One of them is not a nickel. What are the two coins?

Answer: One is a quarter, and one is a nickel.

Riddle: I am a three-digit number. My tens digit is six more than my ones digit. My hundreds digit is eight less than my tens digit. What number am I?

Answer: 193

Riddle: A man is twice as old as his little sister. He is also half as old as his dad. Over a period of 50 years, his sister’s age will become half of their dad’s age. What is the age of the man now?

Answer: 50 years old

Riddle: If four men can build four tables in four hours, how many can eight men build in eight hours?

Answer : 16 tables

Riddle : There is a clothing store in Dallas. The owner has made his own method of pricing items. A vest costs $20, socks cost $25, a tie costs $15, and a blouse costs $30. Using the method, how much would a pair of underwear cost?

Answer: $45

Explanation: The pricing method consists of charging $5 for each letter required to spell the item.

Riddle: If you go to the movies and you’re paying, is it cheaper to take one friend to the movies twice or two friends to the movies at the same time?

Answer: It’s cheaper to take two friends at the same time.

Explanation: In this case, you would only be buying three tickets, whereas if you take the same friend twice, you are purchasing four tickets.

Riddle: What occurs twice a week, once a year but never in a day?

Answer: The letter E.

How many tomatoes are left in good condition?

Riddle: A little boy goes shopping and purchases 12 tomatoes. On the way home, all but nine get mushed and ruined. How many tomatoes are left in good condition?

Answer: Nine tomatoes.

Riddle: What 4 days of the week start with the letter T?

Answer: Tuesday, Thursday, Today, and Tomorrow.

Riddle: What occurs once every minute, twice in every moment, and yet never in a thousand years?

Answer: The letter M.

Riddle: How did the soccer fan know before the game that the score would be 0-0?

Answer: The score is always 0-0 before the game.

Editor’s note: All of these mind-boggling math riddles are in the public domain. However, we spotted a few of these on Kids Math Games Online , Get Riddles , Riddles.com , Everything Mom , Mash Up Math , and Greeting Card Poet , which we can’t recommend strongly enough.

This article was originally published on Feb. 26, 2021

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Home • Teen • Education

101 Intriguing Riddles For Teenagers, With Answers

Enticing and intellectually challenging riddles for your teenagers, perfect for gatherings and classrooms.

Dana Sciullo is a licensed and registered occupational therapist in the US, specializing in pediatrics. She received her undergraduate degree in Psychology and Masters degree in Occupational Therapy from the University of Pittsburgh. Dana has been working as an occupational therapist since 2015 in multiple settings including schools, outpatient clinics, and telehealth. Read full bio of Dana Sciullo

Nisha Bharatan is a writer with six years of experience. After completing her engineering from Savitribai Phule Pune University, she did content marketing courses to complement her interest in writing. Nisha discovered her passion for writing in 2016 when she started documenting her journey into motherhood. Read full bio of Nisha Bharatan

Harshita is a graduate in commerce and holds a PG Diploma in Patent and Copyrights Law from NALSAR University. She has also pursued CA and has more than three years of internship experience in auditing. Her love for travelling has taken her to various parts of the world, and writing the travelogues was what brought out her love for content writing. Read full bio of Harshita Makvana

Trisha worked as a schoolteacher for three years before taking up professional writing in 2021. She completed her masters in English from the University of Calcutta and bachelors in Education from the University of Burdwan. Read full bio of Trisha Chakraborty

MomJunction believes in providing reliable, research-backed information to you. As per our strong editorial policy requirements, we base our health articles on references (citations) taken from authority sites, international journals, and research studies. However, if you find any incongruencies, feel free to write to us .

Image: Midjourney/ MomJunction Design Team

Riddles are fun questions or statements that need you to wear a hat of critical thinking and think out of the box to find the correct answer. While they entertain people of all age groups, riddles for teens may intrigue their curious and developing minds. These logic problems motivate teenagers to think out of the ordinary and improve their deduction skills and logical thinking. Also, riddles for high school students effortlessly sharpen the intelligence and inventiveness of teenagers. This quality can improve their problem-solving ability in other aspects of life. Moreover, they add a touch of humor to their lives.

Katey, a blogger and former teacher, shares how she incorporated riddles into her middle school classroom. She recalls, “When I was a middle school teacher, I used to have a classroom rule that if it thunderstorms during class on a Friday, we would scrap the lesson plan for that class and instead do riddles. Every Friday, my kids would scan the sky anxiously looking for thunderclouds. On the Fridays that it actually stormed, they were so excited they could hardly sit still ( i )!”

Riddles can either be complicated or basic, and they need a common and logical approach. Read our post as we share some interesting and tricky riddles for teenagers that will not only sharpen their brains but will also tickle their funny bones.

101 Riddles For Teens

Short, tricky riddles.

• There are two fathers and two sons in a car. How many people are in the car?

Ans: Three people — a grandfather, a father, and a son

• Where does divorce come before marriage?

Ans: In the dictionary

• An electric train is traveling from east to west, and the wind is blowing from north to south. In which direction does the smoke go?

Ans: Electric trains don’t produce smoke.

• It is lighter than a feather, but you can’t hold it for more than two minutes. What is it?

Ans: Your breath

Infographic: Riddles With Answers For Teenagers

Illustration: Momjunction Design Team

• What gets wetter the more it dries?

Ans: A towel

• What goes up but never comes down?

Ans: Your age

• What can’t be kept until it is given?

Ans: A promise

• What gets sharper the more you use it?

Ans: Your brain

• Which weighs more — a pound of iron bars or a pound of feathers?

Ans: Neither — both weigh the same

• What starts with a P and ends with an X and has hundreds of letters in between?

Ans: A postbox

• Which fruit is always sad?

Ans: A blueberry

• Which tree can you carry in your hand?

Ans: Palm tree

• What has a head and a tail but no body?

Ans: A coin

• What has branches but no leaves or fruits?

Ans: A bank

• What has a face and hands but no body?

Ans: A clock

• What has a mouth but cannot eat and runs but has no legs?

Ans: A river

• What has no beginning, end, or middle?

Ans: A circle

• What has 13 hearts but no brains?

Ans: A pack of playing cards

• What has a neck but no head?

Ans: A bottle

• What do you place on the table and cut but never eat?

Hard, tricky riddles

• When you have me, you want to share me. But if you share me, you don’t have me any longer. What am I?

Ans: A secret

• What becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?

Ans: The word “short”

• Which vehicle is a palindrome?

Ans: Racecar

• A farmer is walking towards his field. On the way, he sees three frogs sitting on the shoulders of two rabbits. Three parrots and four mice run towards him. How many pairs of legs are going towards the field?

Ans: One pair — the farmer’s

• What is the similarity between “2 + 2 = 5” and your left hand?

Ans: Neither is right

• The person who buys me cannot use it, and the person who uses me cannot buy me or see me. What am I?

Ans: A coffin

• What goes all around the world but stays in one place?

Ans: A stamp

• I have seas with no water, mountains with no land, and towns with no people. What am I?
• You can hear me but cannot see me. I don’t speak until you do. What am I?

Ans: An echo

• If you are running a race and you pass the person who is running second, which position are you in?

Ans: Second

• Which month has 28 days?

Ans: All months

• What do you break before you use it?

Ans: An egg

• I have no doors but have keys. I have no rooms but have space. You can enter, but you cannot leave. What am I?

Ans: A keyboard

• You can hear me, but you cannot see or touch me? What am I?
• Trees are my home, but I never go inside. When I fall off a tree, I am dead. What am I?

Ans: A leaf

• Which is the sweetest and most romantic fruit?

Ans: Honeydew

• What has a thumb and fingers but is not alive?

Ans: A glove

• What is full of holes but holds water?

Ans: A sponge

• What do you find at the end of a line?

Ans: The letter “E”

• I have hands, but I cannot shake your hands. I have a face, but I cannot smile at you. Who am I?
• A man builds a house with all four walls facing south. A bear walks past the house. What color is the bear?

Ans: White. It is a polar bear.

• What can you find in a minute or an hour but never in a day or a month?

Ans: The letter “U”

• I am made of water, but I die when you put water on me. Who am I?
• Name three consecutive days that aren’t the days of the week.

Ans: Yesterday, today, tomorrow

• When I am young, I am tall. I grow shorter as I become older. What am I?

Ans: A candle/ pencil

• What grows bigger the more you take away from it?

Ans: A hole

• Can a man go for eight days without sleeping?

Ans: Yes, he can sleep at night.

• Which room has no windows or doors?

Ans: Mushroom

• What breaks the moment you say its name?

Ans: Silence

• If you drop me on the ground, I survive. But if you drop me in water, I die. What am I?
• I am smooth as silk. I can be hard or soft. I fall but cannot climb. What am I?

Funny riddles

• What is a teenager’s favorite phrase during math class?

Ans: “I can’t even.”

• What problem does a teacher with uncontrollable eyes have?

Ans: He cannot control his pupils.

• A man shaves throughout the day, yet he has a beard. How?

Ans: He is a barber.

• What can make an octopus laugh?

Ans: Ten-tickles (tentacles)

• During which month do people sleep the least?

Ans: February

• I grow richer with alcohol but die with water. Who am I?
• Kate’s mother had four daughters — Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and _____. What was the name of the fourth daughter?
• Which window can’t you open literally?

Ans: The Windows on your laptop.

• What sounds like a war machine but is a piece of clothing?

Ans: Tank top

• What did the math book say to the pencil?

Ans: I am full of problems.

• What do you get when you mix sulfur, tungsten, and silver?
• What did the angry electron say when it was repelled?

Ans: Let me atom!

• What is the ancient invention that allows people to see through walls?

Ans: A window

• When do you go at red and stop at green?

Ans: While eating a watermelon

• How many books can you pack inside an empty backpack?

Ans: One. It is no longer empty after that.

• What is the center of gravity?

Ans: The letter “V”

• What type of music do rabbits like?

Ans. Hip Hop!

• What did the beach say when the tide came in?

Ans: Long time, no sea

• What is black and white and read all over?

Ans: A newspaper

• What kind of food do mummies eat?

Brainteasers

• Which English word has three consecutive double letters?

Ans: Bookkeeper

• Which is the only English letter with “uu” in it?

Ans: Vacuum.

• Which is the only English word with “ii” in it?

Ans: Skiing

• You live in a one-story house made entirely of redwood. What color are the stairs?

Ans: What stairs? It is a one-story house.

• My first letter is in chocolate but not in ham. My second is in cake and jam. My third is in tea but not in coffee. My whole is a friend who likes to sleep. Who am I?
• You are alone at home and sleeping when your friends ring the doorbell. They have come for breakfast. You have cornflakes, bread, jam, a carton of milk, and a bottle of juice. What will you open first?

Ans: Your eyes

• I am hard to find, difficult to leave, and impossible to forget. What am I?

Ans: A friend

• Find the number less than 100 that is increased by one-fifth of its value when its digits are reversed.

Ans: 45 (1/5*45 = 9, 9+45 = 54)

• What did the English book say to the Algebra book?

Ans: Don’t change the subject.

• What has a bottom at the top?

Ans: Your legs

Christmas riddles

• Is Santa good at karate?

Ans: Yes, he has a black belt.

• What is a snowman called in summer?

Ans: A puddle

• What can go up the chimney down but never go down the chimney up?

Ans: An umbrella

• Who is never hungry on Christmas?

Ans: A stuffed turkey

• What do you call a person who is scared of Santa Claus?

Ans: Claustrophobic

• What did Adam say on the day before Christmas?

Ans: It is Christmas, Eve!

• In which year did Christmas and New Year fall in the same year?

Ans: Every year

• What keeps a Christmas tree smelling fresh?

Ans: Orna-mints

• Where does Christmas come before Thanksgiving?
• If a lion had a Christmas music album, what would it be called?

Ans: Jungle bells

• What do elves learn in school?

Ans: The elfabet

• What did the Christmas tree say to the Christmas stocking?

Ans: Aren’t you sick and tired of just hanging around?

• Which reindeer can you see in outer space?
• Which is the fastest reindeer?

Ans: Dasher

• How do reindeer learn?

Ans: They are elf-taught

• What did Mrs. Claus say to Santa when she looked at the sky?

Ans: I see some rain, dear.

• What did Santa say when the toys were naughty?

Ans: Toys will be toys.

• What is your parents’ favorite Christmas carol song?

Ans: Silent Night

• Which direction does Santa travel in when he leaves his house?

Ans: South because Santa lives in the North Pole

• Can Christmas trees knit well?

Ans: No, they always drop their needles.

Illustration: Best Riddles For Teenagers With Answers

Image: Dall·E/MomJunction Design Team

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How can riddles help teens develop critical thinking skills?

Riddles function as mental challenges that develop critical thinking by encouraging problem-solving and logical-reasoning skills to get the answers. It also helps to improve their focus and concentration while boosting their memory skills.

2. What are the benefits of solving riddles for teens?

Besides improving cognitive skills, solving riddles, mind benders, word games, and teasers is also a great way to practice endurance, perseverance, and calmness. It can help enhance spatial-reasoning skills and memory, boosts creativity, and help the brain relax ( 1 ). Riddles are like enigmas that also allow teenagers to practice asking the right questions to find solutions ( 2 ).

3. How can teachers use riddles to help teens learn new concepts?

Children and teenagers can easily pick up new skills at school if they enjoy what they learn and the learning process. Therefore, teachers can use riddles as brain games when teaching new concepts to pique their curiosity about the topic ( 2 ).

4. What tips can teens use to help them solve riddles more effectively?

Ask teens to read the instructions and clues carefully, think creatively, and look for contextual clues. You can also take help from others, but keeping calm is the way to go when solving riddles.

Asking riddles for teens is a great way to keep your teens busy and make them think. While engaging them in a fun game, these riddles can also help develop teens’ critical thinking skills and problem-solving abilities. Additionally, it fosters social interaction among teens. You do not have to plan out an entire day dedicated to riddles. You can use them as icebreaker questions for teens or slip in some of these at dinner, lunch, or during a car ride. It will help train their brain to arrive at logical answers in the fastest way. Thus, practicing some of these riddles regularly will help their mental capabilities improve as they get a chance to exercise their brain.

Challenge teenage minds with intriguing riddles that spark critical thinking and creativity. Engaging and thought-provoking, these riddles for teens provide entertainment while enhancing cognitive skills and problem-solving abilities.

Key Pointers

• Riddles are among the best critical thinking and creativity exercises for teens and kids.
• Teens can practice out-of-the-box thinking and logical reasoning through riddles, improving their problem-solving abilities.
• Riddles can also teach teens to become more observant, work on their comprehension skills, and become masters at wordplay.
• They help engage teens’ attention and improve their concentration, patience, and perseverance.
• Riddles for teens can make for entertaining breaks during class hours, allowing them to relax and use their deductive skills simultaneously.

Personal Experience: Source

MomJunction articles include first-hand experiences to provide you with better insights through real-life narratives. Here are the sources of personal accounts referenced in this article.

• How Using Brain Teasers in Classrooms Can Be Good for Students? https://tokyo.globalindianschool.org/blog-details/benefits-of-brain-teasers
• Riddles – The Way of Fostering Your Children’s Thinking. https://novakdjokovicfoundation.org/riddles-the-way-of-fostering-your-childrens-thinking/

Community Experiences

Join the conversation and become a part of our nurturing community! Share your stories, experiences, and insights to connect with fellow parents.

Bright Side

14 Detective Riddles That Will Put Your Brain to Work Mode

Posted: December 24, 2024 | Last updated: December 24, 2024

Solving riddles isn't just a fun pastime—it's also great for your brain! It's like a workout for your mental muscles, improving cognitive function, problem-solving skills, and lateral thinking abilities. Plus, it boosts memory and enhances creative thinking by encouraging you to think outside the box. So, if you're ready to give your brain a stimulating challenge, why not join us for a round of detective riddles? We've curated 14 mind-bending mysteries that will really put your brain into work mode. Get ready to channel your inner Sherlock Holmes and see if you can crack the case!

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These 67 Riddles And Answers Are So Funny, They Made Me Actually Roll On The Floor Laughing

Why did the mushroom go to the party... Because he's a fungi, of course.

BuzzFeed Staff

Ready to put your brain to the test and have a laugh at the same time? You’ve come to the right place! We’ve put together a ton of hilarious riddles that will not only challenge your mind but also crack you up in the process. Whether you’re looking for a quick chuckle or want to stump your friends at your next get-together, these funny riddles are perfect for any occasion.

From clever wordplay to ridiculous scenarios, each riddle is designed to make you think outside the box. don’t worry if you can’t figure them out right away — some riddles are tricky on purpose so go ahead, give them a shot, and see if you can solve them all. and if not, don’t worry; you’ll have a good laugh along the way. you’ve got this — just remember, the right answers might be the ones that make you giggle the most, 1. why don't skeletons fight each other.

2. What do you call a fake noodle?

3. Why was the broom late?

4. What do you get when you cross a snowman and a vampire?

5. Why don’t ants get sick?

6. What’s orange and sounds like a parrot?

7. Why did the scarecrow win an award?

8. Why did the bicycle fall over?

9. What did one ocean say to the other ocean?

10. What do you call a pile of cats?

11. Why don’t eggs tell jokes?

12. Why did the tomato turn red?

13. What did the big flower say to the little flower?

14. Why can’t you give Elsa a balloon?

15. What has keys but can’t open locks?

16. What do you call cheese that isn’t yours?

17. What did the left eye say to the right eye?

18. What’s a skeleton’s least favorite room?

19. What did one hat say to the other?

20. Why did the computer go to the doctor?

21. Why don’t oysters donate to charity?

22. Why did the math book look sad?

23. Why did the pencil go to the principal’s office?

24. What’s a ghost’s favorite dessert?

25. What do you call a lazy kangaroo?

26. What’s a vampire’s favorite fruit?

27. Why did the golfer bring two pairs of pants?

28. What do you call a fish with no eyes?

29. What do you call a dinosaur with an extensive vocabulary?

30. Why do seagulls fly over the ocean?

31. What’s brown and sticky?

32. What did one wall say to the other?

33. Why did the cookie go to the doctor?

34. What do you call a sleeping bull?

35. Why did the mushroom go to the party?

36. What do you call a bear with no teeth?

37. Why do cows wear bells?

38. Why couldn’t the bicycle find its way home?

39. Why did the broomstick break up with the mop?

40. Why did the football team go to the bank?

41. What did one plate say to the other?

42. Why can’t you trust an atom?

43. What do you call a cow with no legs?

44. Why was the computer cold?

45. What did the janitor say when he jumped out of the closet?

46. What do you call a can opener that doesn’t work?

47. What’s the best way to watch a fly fishing tournament?

48. Why do pancakes never gossip?

49. Why did the computer go to the beach?

50. What did one snowman say to the other snowman?

51. What did the cow say when it heard a joke?

52. Why did the orange stop?

53. Why do ghosts hate the rain?

54. What did the baby corn say to the mama corn?

55. Why are frogs so happy?

56. What’s a chicken’s least favorite day of the week?

57. Why did the belt get arrested?

58. Why can’t your nose be 12 inches long?

59. What did the duck say when it bought lipstick?

60. Why do we never tell secrets on a farm?

61. What do you get when you cross a snake and a pie?

62. What did the grape do when it got stepped on?

63. Why don't some couples go to the gym?

64. Why can’t you trust stairs?

65. Why did the coffee file a police report?

66. What did one piece of paper say to the other?

67. Why did the calendar break up with the clock?

November 15, 2022

Mathematician Who Solved Prime Number Riddle Claims New Breakthrough

After shocking the mathematics community with a major result in 2013, Yitang Zhang now says he has solved an analogue of the celebrated Riemann hypothesis

By Davide Castelvecchi & Nature magazine

Prime numbers.

Science Photo Library/Alamy Stock Photo

A mathematician who went from obscurity to luminary status in 2013 for cracking a century-old question about prime numbers now claims to have solved another. The problem is similar to—but distinct from—the Riemann hypothesis, which is considered one of the most important problems in mathematics.

Number theorist Yitang Zhang, who is based at the University of California, Santa Barbara, posted his proposed solution—a 111-page preprint—on the arXiv preprint server on 4 November. It has not yet been validated by his peers. But if it checks out, it will go some way towards taming the randomness of prime numbers, whole numbers that cannot be divided evenly by any number except themselves or 1.

The Landau–Siegel zeros conjecture is similar to—and, some suspect, less challenging than—the Riemann hypothesis, another question on the randomness of primes and one of the biggest unsolved mysteries in mathematics. Although it has been known for millennia that there are infinitely many prime numbers, there is no way to predict whether a given number will be prime; only the probability that it will be, given its size. Solving either the Riemann or Landau-Siegel problems would mean that the distribution of prime numbers does not have huge statistical fluctuations.

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“For me in the field, this result would be massive,” says Andrew Granville, a number theorist at the University of Montreal in Canada. But he warns that others, including Zhang, have previously proposed solutions that turned out to be faulty, and that it will take a while for researchers to comb through Zhang’s argument to see if it is correct. “Right now, we’re very far from being certain.”

Zhang did not respond to Nature ’s requests for comment. But he did write about his latest work on the Chinese website Zhihu . “As for the Landau–Siegel zeros conjecture, I didn’t think about giving up,” he wrote. He added: “As for my planning of the future, I won’t give away these math problems. I think I probably have to do mathematics all my life. I don’t know what to do without doing mathematics. People have asked questions about my retirement. I’ve said that if I leave math, I really won’t know how to live.” (His comments were translated into English by the website Pandaily .)

Passion for primes

Rumours had been circulating since mid-October that Zhang had made a breakthrough on the Landau–Siegel problem, and the mathematics community is certain to pay attention. Zhang has only one significant result to his name, but it is one for the ages. For years after attaining his PhD in 1991, he was estranged from his thesis adviser, working odd jobs to make ends meet. He then took up a teaching position at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, where he quietly chiselled away at his passion, the statistical properties of prime numbers. He posted a preprint on the Landau–Siegel conjecture in 2007, but mathematicians found problems and it was never published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Zhang’s first big breakthrough came in 2013, when he showed that although the gaps between subsequent primes grow larger and larger on average, there are infinitely many pairs that stay within a certain finite distance of each other. This was the first big step towards solving a major question in number theory—whether there are infinitely many pairs of primes that differ by just 2 units, such as the primes 5 and 7 or 11 and 13. (Number theorist James Maynard at the University of Oxford, UK, won a Fields Medal in July for improving on Zhang’s result, among other achievements.)

The problem Zhang now says he has solved dates back to the turn of the twentieth century, when mathematicians were exploring ways to tame the randomness of prime numbers. One way to count them is to partition them into a finite number of baskets, based on the remainders one gets when dividing a prime by another prime, denoted by p . For example, when divided by p = 5, a prime can give a remainder of 1, 2, 3 or 4. A result from the early nineteenth century shows that—once one considers a large enough statistical sample—these possibilities should ‘eventually’ occur with equal probability. But the big question, Granville explains, was how large the statistical sample should be for the equal-distribution pattern to show up: “What does ‘eventually’ mean? When do they start becoming well distributed?”

The methods known at the time suggested that the samples should be stupendously large, growing exponentially with the size of p . But a German mathematician called Carl Ludwig Siegel found a relatively simple formula that linked to this basket problem, and potentially made the samples much smaller. He showed that if, under certain circumstances, the formula did not yield 0, this was tantamount to proving the conjecture. “He removed all the dead wood out of the way and left just one massive oak to be felled,” Granville says. The problem, also formulated independently by another German mathematician, Edmund Landau, became known as the Landau–Siegel zeros conjecture. What Zhang now claims to have proved is a weaker version of it, but one that would have similar consequences regarding the distribution of primes.

Unsolved problem

The conjecture is a cousin of the Riemann hypothesis—a way to predict the probability that numbers in a certain range are prime that was devised by German mathematician Bernhard Riemann in 1859.

The Riemann hypothesis will probably remain at the top of mathematicians’ wishlists for years to come. Despite its importance, no attempts so far have made much progress. Only the bravest of mathematicians—often those who already have major accomplishments and prizes under their belts—publicly admit to trying to solve it. “It’s one of those things—you’re not supposed to talk about Riemann,” says Alex Kontorovich, a number theorist at Rutgers University in Piscataway, New Jersey. “People work secretly on it.”

Although progress towards solving the Riemann hypothesis has stalled, the Landau–Siegel problem offers similar insights, he adds. “Resolving any of these issues would be a major advancement in our understanding of the distribution of prime numbers.”

This article is reproduced with permission and was first published on November 11 2022.