Some riddles are easy to solve, while others can be difficult for children. Some are more difficult and will require math skills. Many of these are plays on letters and words so don’t be discouraged. To keep you going, we even included some fun riddles. If you manage to make it to the end, you may be able to try the rest. But be careful: the hard riddles will test you!
If you’ve got me, you want to share me; if you share me, you haven’t kept me. What am I?
A secret
What is black when it’s clean and white when it’s dirty?
A chalkboard
It belongs to you, but other people use it more than you do. What is it?
Your name
What has many keys but can’t open a single lock?
A piano
David’s parents have three sons: Snap, Crackle, and what’s the name of the third son?
David
What can’t be put in a saucepan?
It’s lid
What can you hold in your left hand but not in your right?
Your right elbow
I’m found in socks, scarves, and mittens; and often in the paws of playful kittens. What am I?
Yarn
If you’re running in a race and you pass the person in second place, what place are you in?
Second place
I follow you all the time and copy your every move, but you can’t touch me or catch me. What am I?
Your shadow
Where does today come before yesterday?
The dictionary
What gets bigger when more is taken away?
A hole
What invention lets you look right through a wall?
A window
What goes up and down but doesn’t move?
A staircase
I’m light as a feather, yet the strongest person can’t hold me for five minutes. What am I?
Your breath
What can you catch, but not throw?
A cold
What has a head and a tail but no body?
A coin
What has a bottom at the top?
Your legs
What has one eye, but can’t see?
A needle
What is cut on a table, but is never eaten?
A deck of cards
What building has the most stories?
The library
What has four wheels and flies?
A garbage truck
What has many needles, but doesn’t sew?
A Christmas tree
What has words, but never speaks?
A book
What has 13 hearts, but no other organs?
A deck of cards
What has hands, but can’t clap?
A clock
What can travel all around the world without leaving its corner?
A stamp
It stalks the countryside with ears that can’t hear. What is it?
Corn
What runs all around a backyard, yet never moves?
A fence
What kind of coat is best put on wet?
A coat of paint
What has lots of eyes, but can’t see?
A potato
What has a thumb and four fingers, but is not a hand?
A glove
What has legs, but doesn’t walk?
A table
What tastes better than it smells?
Your tongue
What kind of band never plays music?
A rubber band
Where does one wall meet the other wall?
On the corner
What has one head, one foot, and four legs?
A bed
What has many teeth, but can’t bite?
A comb
What goes up but never comes down?
Your age
You see a boat filled with people, yet there isn’t a single person on board. How is that possible?
All the people on the boat are married.
What has to be broken before you can use it?
An egg
There’s a one-story house in which everything is yellow. Yellow walls, yellow doors, yellow furniture. What color are the stairs?
There aren’t any—it’s a one-story house.
You walk into a room that contains a match, a kerosene lamp, a candle and a fireplace. What would you light first?
The match
I’m tall when I’m young, and I’m short when I’m old. What am I?
A candle
What can’t talk but will reply when spoken to?
An echo
What gets wet while drying?
A towel
What is full of holes but still holds water?
A sponge
What month of the year has 28 days?
All of them
What can you keep after giving to someone?
Your word
What question can you never answer yes to?
Are you asleep yet?
A man dies of old age on his 25 birthday. How is this possible?
He was born on February 29.
What is always in front of you but can’t be seen?
The future
The more of this there is, the less you see. What is it?
Darkness
What can you break, even if you never pick it up or touch it?
A promise
I shave every day, but my beard stays the same. What am I?
A barber
A man who was outside in the rain without an umbrella or hat didn’t get a single hair on his head wet. Why?
He was bald.
I have branches, but no fruit, trunk or leaves. What am I?
A bank
A man describes his daughters, saying, “They are all blonde, but two; all brunette but two; and all redheaded but two.” How many daughters does he have?
Three: A blonde, a brunette and a redhead
What three numbers, none of which is zero, give the same result whether they’re added or multiplied?
One, two and three
I am an odd number. Take away a letter and I become even. What number am I?
Seven
The day before yesterday I was 21, and next year I will be 24. When is my birthday?
December 31; today is January 1.
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?
Four sisters and three brothers
Mary has four daughters, and each of her daughters has a brother. How many children does Mary have?
Five—each daughter has the same brother.
Two fathers and two sons are in a car, yet there are only three people in the car. How?
They are a grandfather, father and son.
Three doctors said that Bill was their brother. Bill says he has no brothers. How many brothers does Bill actually have?
None. He has three sisters.
If there are three apples and you take away two, how many apples do you have?
You have two apples.
A little girl goes to the store and buys one dozen eggs. As she is going home, all but three break. How many eggs are left unbroken?
Three
Which is heavier: a ton of bricks or a ton of feathers?
Neither—they both weigh a ton.
If two’s company, and three’s a crowd, what are four and five?
Nine
The more you take, the more you leave behind. What are they?
Footsteps
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?
A coffin
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?
Nothing
What is so fragile that saying its name breaks it?
Silence.
If you drop me I’m sure to crack, but give me a smile and I’ll always smile back. What am I?
A mirror
I have lakes with no water, mountains with no stone and cities with no buildings. What am I?
A map
People make me, save me, change me, raise me. What am I?
Money
What can run but never walks, has a mouth but never talks, has a head but never weeps, has a bed but never sleeps?
A river
What breaks yet never falls, and what falls yet never breaks?
Day, and night
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?
A stapler
Speaking of rivers, a man calls his dog from the opposite side of the river. The dog crosses the river without getting wet, and without using a bridge or boat. How?
The river was frozen.
What goes through cities and fields, but never moves?
A road
A man looks at a painting in a museum and says, “Brothers and sisters I have none, but that man’s father is my father’s son.” Who is in the painting?
The man’s son
What can fill a room but takes up no space?
Light
I am always hungry and will die if not fed, but whatever I touch will soon turn red. What am I?
Fire
I turn once, what is out will not get in. I turn again, what is in will not get out. What am I?
A key
A word I know, six letters it contains, remove one letter and 12 remains. What is it?
Dozens
What 4-letter word can be written forward, backward or upside down, and can still be read from left to right?
NOON
I am a word of letters three; add two and fewer there will be. What word am I?
Few
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?
Heroine
What is 3/7 chicken, 2/3 cat and 2/4 goat?
Chicago
What begins with an “e” and only contains one letter?
An envelope
Forward I am heavy, but backward I am not. What am I?
The word “not”
What word of five letters has one left when two are removed?
Stone
What five-letter word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?
Short
I am the beginning of everything, the end of everywhere. I’m the beginning of eternity, the end of time and space. What am I?
Also the letter “e”
What word is pronounced the same if you take away four of its five letters?
Answer: Queue
What would you find in the middle of Toronto?
The letter “o”
What is the end of everything?
The letter “g”
I am a word that begins with the letter “i.” If you add the letter “a” to me, I become a new word with a different meaning, but that sounds exactly the same. What word am I?
Isle (add “a” to make “aisle”)
You see me once in June, twice in November and not at all in May. What am I?
The letter “e”
Two in a corner, one in a room, zero in a house, but one in a shelter. What is it?
The letter “r”