Riddles with Answers
45 classic riddles in easy, medium and hard, with answers you can hide. Play them as a quiz, or ask the coach for a nudge.
- easy
1. What has to be broken before you can use it?
- easy
2. What goes up but never comes down?
- easy
3. What has many teeth but can’t bite?
- easy
4. What has legs but doesn’t walk?
- easy
5. What is full of holes but still holds water?
- easy
6. What runs but never walks, has a mouth but never talks?
- easy
7. What can you hold in your left hand but not in your right?
- easy
8. What has a thumb and four fingers but isn’t alive?
- easy
9. What goes through cities and fields but never moves?
- easy
10. What kind of band never plays music?
- easy
11. What has an eye but cannot see, and spins in a storm?
- easy
12. What building has the most stories?
- easy
13. What can you break without touching it?
- easy
14. What has a head and a tail but no body?
- easy
15. What do you call a bear with no teeth?
- medium
16. What is so fragile that saying its name breaks it?
- medium
17. What question can you never answer “yes” to?
- medium
18. I speak without a mouth and hear without ears. I have no body, but I come alive with wind. What am I?
- medium
19. The person who makes it sells it. The person who buys it never uses it. The person who uses it never knows. What is it?
- medium
20. What can fill a room but takes up no space?
- medium
21. What has words but never speaks?
- medium
22. Forward I am heavy, backward I am not. What am I?
- medium
23. What has one head, one foot and four legs?
- medium
24. What belongs to you, but other people use it more than you do?
- medium
25. I shave every day, but my beard stays the same. What am I?
- medium
26. What five-letter word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?
- medium
27. What word is spelled wrong in every dictionary?
- medium
28. What comes down but never goes up?
- medium
29. What gets bigger the more you take away from it?
- medium
30. What has 13 hearts but no other organs?
- hard
31. What can run but never walks, has a bed but never sleeps, and has a head but never weeps?
- hard
32. 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?
- hard
33. A word I know, six letters it contains. Remove one letter and twelve remains. What is it?
- hard
34. What can be seen once in a year, twice in a week, but never in a day?
- hard
35. The more you have of it, the less you see. What is it?
- hard
36. I have branches, but no fruit, trunk or leaves. What am I?
- hard
37. What is always in front of you but can’t be seen?
- hard
38. What English word has three consecutive double letters?
- hard
39. What occurs once in every minute, twice in every moment, yet never in a thousand years?
- hard
40. Turn me on my side and I am everything. Cut me in half and I am nothing. What am I?
- hard
41. What has cities but no people, rivers but no water, and roads but no cars?
- hard
42. Feed me and I live, give me a drink and I die. What am I?
- hard
43. Which word in the dictionary is always pronounced incorrectly?
- hard
44. What starts with “e,” ends with “e,” and usually contains just one letter?
- hard
45. 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?
How to solve a riddle
Most riddles rely on one of three tricks. Spotting which one is in play is usually half the answer.
- A word with two meanings. “Keys” on a piano, a “bed” in a river, “hearts” in a deck of cards. When a riddle says something impossible, look for the word that’s doing double duty.
- A literal reading of a word. “What occurs once in a minute” is about the letters in the word minute, not about time.
- Describing something ordinary from an odd angle. “Full of holes but holds water” is a sponge, described by its shape rather than its use.
Still stuck? The brain teasers page has the puzzle coach, which gives a gentle nudge without spoiling the answer, plus three new logic and lateral-thinking teasers every day.
Questions players ask
What is a good easy riddle?
“What has to be broken before you can use it?” (an egg) is a classic starter. The easy set on this page is suitable for kids and family game nights.
What is the hardest riddle here?
Players most often miss “A word I know, six letters it contains. Remove one letter and twelve remains” (dozens) and “What can be seen once in a year, twice in a week, but never in a day?” (the letter E).
What is the difference between a riddle and a brain teaser?
A riddle is usually a question with a hidden double meaning. A brain teaser is broader and includes logic, maths and lateral-thinking puzzles, too.
Can I use these riddles in class?
Yes. Hide all answers, read one riddle at a time, and use “I got it / Missed it” to keep a tally. The tally is stored only in your browser.