It doesn’t really matter if you’re at a party or you’re hanging out with a friend, riddles are always a fun way to keep things entertaining.
And if you like brain teasers and challenges, then these are probably some of the best riddles you can try.
There’s a set for different moods and occasions and they can range from easy to hard.
So whether you want to keep your little ones entertained with riddles for kids, you’re at a gathering and need some hard riddles for adults, or maybe you just want some funny riddles to put a smile on your face, this list has you covered.
So put yourself to the test with a math riddle or something a bit more light, and see how smart you really are!
Riddles and Answers in This Article:
- Easy Riddles to Kill Time
- Hard Riddles to Stump Your Friends
- Riddles for Kids to Keep Them Busy
- Riddles for Adults Who Love a Challenge
- Funny Riddles for a Quick Laugh
- Math Riddles for a Brain Workout
Easy Riddles to Kill Time
1. Riddle: What needs to be broken before you can use it?
Answer: An egg.
2. Riddle: What’s full of holes but can still hold water?
Answer: A sponge.
3. Riddle: What question can you never answer “yes” to?
Answer: Are you asleep yet?
4. Riddle: What is always going up but never coming down?
Answer: Your age.
5. Riddle: I’m tall when I’m young and short when I’m old. What am I?
Answer: A candle.
6. Riddle: What can you catch but never throw?
Answer: A cold.
7. Riddle: What has hands but can never clap?
Answer: A clock.
8. Riddle: What has one eye but cannot see?
Answer: A needle.
9. Riddle: What gets wetter the more it dries?
Answer: A towel.
10. Riddle: What belongs to you but other people use it way more than you do?
Answer: Your name.
11. Riddle: I speak no mouth and only answer when I’m spoken to. What am I?
Answer: An echo.
12. Riddle: What has a neck but no head?
Answer: A bottle.
13. Riddle: What has legs but doesn’t walk?
Answer: A table.
14. Riddle: The more of me you take, the more you leave behind. What am I?
Answer: Footsteps.
15. Riddle: What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?
Answer: The letter M.
16. Riddle: What can travel around the world while staying in the same corner?
Answer: A stamp.
17. Riddle: What’s always in front of you but can never be seen?
Answer: The future.
18. Riddle: What has words but never speaks?
Answer: A book.
19. Riddle: What runs, but never walks, has a bed, but never sleeps?
Answer: A river.
20. Riddle: What kind of band never plays any music?
Answer: A rubber band.
Hard Riddles to Stump Your Friends
21. Riddle: I have cities but no buildings, forests but no trees, and water but no fish. What am I?
Answer: A map.
22. Riddle: The more you take from me, the bigger I get. What am I?
Answer: A hole.
23. Riddle: What can fill a room but take up no space?
Answer: Light.
24. Riddle: Forward I am heavy, but backward I am not. What am I?
Answer: The word “ton.”
25. Riddle: You see me once in June, twice in November, but never in May. What am I?
Answer: The letter “e.”
26. Riddle: A man who was outside when it rained had no umbrella or hat, and didn’t get a single hair on his head wet. Why?
Answer: He was bald.
27. Riddle: What suddenly disappears as soon as you say its name?
Answer: Silence.
28. Riddle: I have keys but no locks. I have space but no rooms. You can enter but can’t go never outside. What am I?
Answer: A keyboard.
29. Riddle: What always comes once in a year, twice in a week, but never in a day?
Answer: The letter “e.”
30. Riddle: What has a lot of teeth but can’t bite?
Answer: A comb.
31. Riddle: What word with 5 letters becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?
Answer: Short.
32. Riddle: I am always hungry and must be fed. The finger I touch will always turn red. What am I?
Answer: Fire.
33. Riddle: When I turn once, what is out will not get in. And when I turn again, what is in will not get out. What am I?
Answer: A key.
34. Riddle: A girl has as many brothers as sisters, however, each brother has only half as many sisters as brothers. How many brothers and sisters are there in their family?
Answer: Four sisters and three brothers.
35. Riddle: What invention lets you look right through a wall like it’s an x-ray?
Answer: A window.
36. Riddle: You have two in a corner, one in a room, zero in a house, but one in a shelter. What is it?
Answer: The letter “r.”
37. Riddle: The person who makes it has no need of it. The person who buys it doesn’t use it. The person who uses it doesn’t know it. What is this object?
Answer: A coffin.
38. Riddle: I am taken from a mine and shut in a wooden case, from which I’m never released. And yet I am used by almost every person. What am I?
Answer: Pencil lead (graphite).
39. Riddle: I can be cracked, told, made, and played. What am I?
Answer: A joke.
40. Riddle: I am born when you speak the truth, yet I die when you lie. What am I?
Answer: Trust.
Riddles for Kids to Keep Them Busy
41. Riddle: What has a lot of ears but cannot hear?
Answer: A cornfield.
42. Riddle: What has four legs and goes “bark”?
Answer: A dog.
43. Riddle: What has a face and two hands, but no arms or legs?
Answer: A clock.
44. Riddle: What is orange and sounds like the word parrot?
Answer: A carrot.
45. Riddle: What kind of tree can you carry in your hand?
Answer: A palm tree.
46. Riddle: What has a bottom at the very top?
Answer: Your legs.
47. Riddle: What has stripes and goes “Zzzzz”?
Answer: A sleeping zebra.
48. Riddle: I fly without wings. I cry without eyes. Wherever I go, darkness flies. What am I?
Answer: A cloud.
49. Riddle: What almost always goes up when the rain comes down?
Answer: An umbrella.
50. Riddle: What has a head and a tail but never a body?
Answer: A coin.
51. Riddle: What has a horn but doesn’t make a sound?
Answer: A rhinoceros.
52. Riddle: What kind of room has no doors or windows at all?
Answer: A mushroom.
53. Riddle: What animal needs a wig?
Answer: A bald eagle.
54. Riddle: What has legs but never walks?
Answer: A chair.
55. Riddle: I’m not alive, but I can grow. I don’t have lungs, but I definitely need air. What am I?
Answer: Fire.
56. Riddle: What has a lot of teeth but can’t eat?
Answer: A zipper.
57. Riddle: What has keys but can never open a door?
Answer: A piano.
58. Riddle: Why can’t your nose ever be 12 inches long?
Answer: Because then it would be a foot.
59. Riddle: What has many rings but never any fingers?
Answer: A telephone.
60. Riddle: What always comes down but never goes up?
Answer: Rain.
Riddles for Adults Who Love a Challenge
61. Riddle: I come in the beginning of night and in the middle of morning. What am I?
Answer: The letter “n.”
62. Riddle: You see a boat filled with people. It hasn’t sunk, but when you look again, you don’t see a single person on board. Why is that?
Answer: All the people were married.
63. Riddle: A man pushes his car to a hotel and tells the owner he’s bankrupt. Why?
Answer: He’s playing Monopoly.
64. Riddle: What can be in the water but never get wet?
Answer: A reflection.
65. Riddle: A man describes his daughters to others and saying, “They are all blonde, but two; all brunette, but two; and all redheaded, but two.” How many daughters does he have?
Answer: Three. One blonde, one brunette, one redhead.
66. Riddle: I go in dry and come out wet. The longer I’m in, the stronger I get. What am I?
Answer: A tea bag.
67. Riddle: The more you have of me, the less you can see. What am I?
Answer: Darkness.
68. Riddle: What has 6 faces but does not wear makeup, has 21 eyes but cannot see?
Answer: A die (singular of dice).
69. Riddle: What English word retains its pronunciation, even when you take away four of its five letters?
Answer: Queue.
70. Riddle: What flies forever, but never takes a rest?
Answer: Time.
71. Riddle: It is a word of letters three, add two and fewer there will be. What is it?
Answer: Few.
72. Riddle: It can be written, it can be spoken, it can be exposed, it can be broken. What is it?
Answer: A secret.
73. Riddle: You answer me, although I never ask you a question. What am I?
Answer: A telephone.
74. Riddle: What always comes once in a second, twice in a decade, but never in a lifetime?
Answer: The letter “e.”
75. Riddle: I always shrink smaller every time I take a bath. What am I?
Answer: A bar of soap.
76. Riddle: The more you ignore me, the bigger I’ll get. The more you face me, the smaller I’ll become. What am I?
Answer: A problem.
77. Riddle: What can be brought back from the dead, make us cry, make us laugh, make us young? It’s born in an instant, but it lasts a lifetime.
Answer: A memory.
78. Riddle: A man calls for his brother on the opposite side of a river. His brother crosses the river without using a boat or a bridge and he doesn’t get wet. How does he do this?
Answer: The river was frozen.
79. Riddle: I build up castles, I tear away at lands. I make some men blind, I help others to see. What am I?
Answer: Sand.
80. Riddle: I have no beginning, middle, or end. What am I?
Answer: A circle.
81. Riddle: I go through cities and fields, but I will never move. What am I?
Answer: A road.
Funny Riddles for a Quick Laugh
82. Riddle: A math book is always sad. Why?
Answer: Because it had too many problems.
83. Riddle: I am a bear, but I have no teeth. What kind of bear am I?
Answer: A gummy bear.
84. Riddle: What has a total of four wheels and flies?
Answer: A garbage truck.
85. Riddle: Why did the golfer bring two pairs of pants?
Answer: In case he got a hole in one.
86. Riddle: What kind of key can open up a banana?
Answer: A monkey.
87. Riddle: Why don’t skeletons ever fight each other?
Answer: They don’t have the guts.
88. Riddle: What has one head, just one foot, and four legs?
Answer: A bed.
89. Riddle: Why is Europe just like a frying pan?
Answer: Because it has Greece at the bottom.
90. Riddle: What begins with a T, ends with a T, and has T in it?
Answer: A teapot.
91. Riddle: What word is spelled incorrectly in every dictionary out there?
Answer: Incorrectly.
92. Riddle: What kind of coat will always be wet when you put it on?
Answer: A coat of paint.
93. Riddle: What is so easy to lift but so hard to throw?
Answer: A feather.
94. Riddle: What has a tongue but never talks, and gets around a lot but never walks?
Answer: A shoe.
95. Riddle: If two’s company and three’s a crowd, what does that make four and five?
Answer: Nine.
96. Riddle: A rooster is sitting on the roof of a barn facing west. If it laid an egg, would the egg roll to the north or to the south?
Answer: It’s impossible; roosters don’t lay eggs.
97. Riddle: What has a thousand needles but can never sew?
Answer: A porcupine.
98. Riddle: What’s something you throw away when you need it, but bring back when you don’t?
Answer: An anchor.
99. Riddle: A plane crashes directly on the border between the U.S. and Canada. Where will they bury the survivors?
Answer: Nowhere. You don’t bury the survivors.
100. Riddle: You walk into a room that contains a match, a kerosene lamp, a candle, and a fireplace. Which one do you light first?
Answer: The match.
101. Riddle: What has a lot of teeth, but will never bite you.
Answer: A comb
Math Riddles for a Brain Workout
102. Riddle: I am a number. Multiply me by 4 and subtract 6, and you’ll get 18. What number am I?
Answer: 6.
103. Riddle: A bat and a ball cost $1.10 together. The bat costs $1 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost in total?
Answer: 5 cents.
104. Riddle: If you buy a rooster to lay eggs and you expect three eggs each day, how many eggs will you have after just three days?
Answer: None. Roosters don’t lay eggs.
105. Riddle: A girl has 2 coins that equal 30 cents. One of them is not a nickel. What are the two coins?
Answer: A quarter and a nickel.
106. Riddle: What three numbers will always give the same result when added and multiplied?
Answer: 1, 2, and 3. (1 + 2 + 3 = 6; 1 × 2 × 3 = 6)
107. Riddle: You see 10 birds on a tree. A hunter shoots only one. How many birds are left?
Answer: None, the rest flew away.
108. Riddle: I am a number. Multiply me by any other number you can think of and the answer will always be the same. What number am I?
Answer: 0.
109. Riddle: How can you add eight 8s to get the number 1,000?
Answer: 888 + 88 + 8 + 8 + 8 = 1,000.
110. Riddle: I am a number. Take away a letter, and I become even. What number do you think I am?
Answer: Seven. (Remove the “s” and it becomes “even.”)
111. Riddle: Just using addition, how can you add eight 4s to make 500?
Answer: 444 + 44 + 4 + 4 + 4 = 500.
112. Riddle: A farmer had 17 sheep. All but 9 of them ran away. How many does he have left?
Answer: 9.
113. Riddle: What is half of two plus two?
Answer: 3. (Half of 2 is 1, plus 2 = 3.)
114. Riddle: I am a number. Divide me by 2 and then add 9. The answer is 15. What number am I?
Answer: 12.
115. Riddle: A man gave one son 10 cents and the other son was given 15 cents. What time is it?
Answer: A quarter to two.
116. Riddle: What two numbers multiply to 16 and add up to 10?
Answer: 2 and 8.
117. Riddle: If it takes 5 machines just 5 minutes to make 5 widgets, how long would it take 100 machines to make 100 widgets?
Answer: 5 minutes.
118. Riddle: There’s a basket with just 5 apples. You take away 3. How many do you have?
Answer: 3 because you took them.
119. Riddle: Which weighs more: a pound of feathers or a pound of bricks?
Answer: Neither, they both weigh the same.
120. Riddle: If three kids can eat three hot dogs in just three minutes, how many minutes will it take 100 kids to eat a total of 100 hot dogs?
Answer: Three minutes. Each kid eats one hot dog in three minutes.
Grace Moser is the author and founder of Chasing Foxes, where she writes articles to help women create a life they love in big and small ways. She's been a full-time traveler since 2016 and loves sharing her experiences and exploring the world with her husband, Silas. Her lifestyle and travel advice can also be seen on sites such as Business Insider, Glamour, Newsweek, Huffpost, & Apartment Therapy.