Parents and teachers know the power of a good riddle.
These clever questions do more than make us smile – they get our minds working in new ways.
From simple word puzzles to tricky brain teasers, riddles help build reasoning skills and creative thinking.
In this collection of 200 riddles, you’ll find options for every skill level and age group.
Use them to liven up family dinners, spark classroom discussions, or just challenge yourself.
Keep reading to test your wits with brain-teasing questions that will make you think differently.
Get Creative with these 200 Riddles!
1. What do you call a nose that is 12 inches long?
Answer: A foot.
2. Which word in the dictionary is spelled incorrectly?
Answer: The word “incorrectly.”
3. What has three feet but cannot walk?
Answer: A yardstick.
4. What does it become if you throw a blue stone into the Red Sea?
Answer: It becomes a blue stone in the Red Sea (it doesn’t change color).
5. What kind of ship has two mates but no captain?
Answer: A relationship (a metaphorical “ship”).
6. Who has married many people but has never been married himself?
Answer: A priest.
7. What do the letter “t” and an island have in common?
Answer: They are both in the middle of the water.
8. What type of cheese is made backward?
Answer: Edam.
9. What has 13 hearts but no other organs?
Answer: A deck of cards.
10. What comes at the end of everything?
Answer: The letter “g.”
11. Where is the only place where today comes before yesterday?
Answer: In a dictionary.
12. What goes all around the world but stays in a corner?
Answer: A stamp.
13. What kind of tree can you carry in your hand?
Answer: A palm tree.
14. What starts with T, ends with T, and has T in it?
Answer: A teapot.
15. What month of the year has 28 days in it?
Answer: All months have 28 days.
16. What has a bottom at the top?
Answer: A leg.
17. What has four wheels and flies?
Answer: A garbage truck.
18. What building has the most stories?
Answer: A library.
19. What tastes better than it smells?
Answer: A tongue.
20. When is a door no longer a door?
Answer: When it’s ajar.
21. What is 3/7 chicken, 2/3 cat, and 2/4 goat?
Answer: Chococat.
22. Where do you take a sick boat?
Answer: To the dock.
23. How can you drop a raw egg from a height onto a concrete floor without cracking it?
Answer: The egg won’t crack because concrete floors don’t crack.
24. What is the longest word in the dictionary?
Answer: Smiles (because there’s a mile between the first and last letter).
25. What can you put in a bucket to make it weigh less?
Answer: A hole.
26. What is at the end of a rainbow?
Answer: The letter “w.”
27. What do you call a bear with no teeth?
Answer: A gummy bear.
28. What has many rings but no fingers?
Answer: A tree.
29. What can you break without touching it?
Answer: A promise.
30. I sometimes run, but I can’t walk. What am I?
Answer: A clock.
31. It has keys but no locks. It has space but no room. You can enter but can’t go inside. What is it?
Answer: A keyboard.
32. What’s always running but never gets hot?
Answer: A refrigerator.
33. What’s a single-digit number with no value?
Answer: Zero.
34. What gets smaller every time it takes a bath?
Answer: Soap.
35. What can you find in a cupboard that can never be put in a saucepan?
Answer: The cupboard itself.
36. What has one head, one foot, and four legs?
Answer: A bed.
37. What goes up but never comes down?
Answer: Your age.
38. What has many teeth but cannot bite?
Answer: A comb.
39. What has a head and a tail but no body?
Answer: A coin.
40. What is full of holes but still holds water?
Answer: A sponge.
41. What gets wet while drying?
Answer: A towel.
42. What has many keys but cannot open a single lock?
Answer: A piano.
43. What’s always found on the ground but never gets dirty?
Answer: A shadow.
44. What gets shorter as it grows older?
Answer: A pencil.
45. What has a face and two hands but no arms or legs?
Answer: A clock.
46. What can you catch but never throw?
Answer: A cold.
47. What five-letter word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?
Answer: Short.
48. Which fish costs the most?
Answer: A goldfish.
49. What runs around a whole yard without moving?
Answer: A fence.
50. What has to be broken before you can use it?
Answer: An egg.
51. What begins with an “e” and only contains one letter?
Answer: An envelope.
52. What has hands but cannot clap?
Answer: A clock.
53. I am easy to lift but hard to throw. What am I?
Answer: A feather.
54. What has a neck but no head?
Answer: A bottle.
55. I’m not a blanket, yet I cover the ground, a crystal from heaven that doesn’t make a sound. What am I?
Answer: Snow.
56. I’m sweet and cold with a stick to hold, a treat on a hot day, worth more than gold. What am I?
Answer: An ice cream.
57. What has a head but no brain?
Answer: A cabbage.
58. Why do cats make good warriors?
Answer: Because they’re purr-fect!
59. I have a neck but no head. I have two arms but no hands. What am I?
Answer: A shirt.
60. A man and his boss have the same parents but are not siblings. How is this possible?
Answer: They are married to each other (husband and wife).
61. What two keys can’t open any door?
Answer: A monkey and a donkey.
62. I have one eye but am unable to see. What am I?
Answer: A needle.
63. What is black when it’s clean and white when it’s dirty?
Answer: A chalkboard.
64. How can kids drink beer and not get drunk?
Answer: The beer is non-alcoholic.
65. If an electric train is traveling south, then which way is the smoke going?
Answer: There is no smoke because it’s an electric train.
66. A bus driver goes the wrong way down a one-way street. He passes the cops, but they don’t stop him. Why?
Answer: Because he’s walking, not driving.
67. Two fathers and two sons are in a car, yet only three people are in the car. How is this possible?
Answer: The three people are a grandfather, son, and grandson.
68. What do you buy to eat but never consume?
Answer: A plate.
69. What has branches but no fruit, trunk, or leaves?
Answer: A bank.
70. What thrives when you feed it but dies when you water it?
Answer: Fire.
71. 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 is this possible?
Answer: They are triplets (or more).
72. You ask this question all day but always get completely different answers, yet all the answers will be correct. What is the question?
Answer: “What time is it?”
73. 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 simultaneously. All four cars go, but none crash into each other. How is this possible?
Answer: They are at a roundabout.
74. What loses its head in the morning but gets it back at night?
Answer: A pillow.
75. I have a head like a cat and feet like a cat, but I am not a cat. What am I?
Answer: A kitten.
76. Who makes it, has no need of it. Who buys it, has no use for it. Those who use it can neither see nor feel it. What is it?
Answer: A coffin.
77. Carlo’s height is six feet, he’s an assistant at a butcher’s shop, and he wears size nine shoes. What does he weigh?
Answer: Meat.
78. You throw away the outside and cook the inside, then eat the outside and throw away the inside. What is it?
Answer: Corn on the cob.
79. They come out at night without being called and are lost in the day without being stolen. What are they?
Answer: Stars.
80. You’ll find me on Mercury, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus. But never Neptune or Venus. What am I?
Answer: The letter “R.”
81. I can be cracked, made, told, and played. What am I?
Answer: A joke.
82. How many months have 28 days?
Answer: All months have 28 days.
83. When is the top of a mountain similar to a savings account?
Answer: When it’s at its peak.
84. 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?
Answer: He’s bald.
85. 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?
Answer: The horizon.
86. I love to dance and twist. I shake my tail as I sail away. When I fly wingless into the sky. What am I?
Answer: A kite.
87. What is it that no one wants to have but no one wants to lose either?
Answer: A lawsuit.
88. 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?
Answer: All the people on the boat are married.
89. What goes through cities and fields but never moves?
Answer: A road.
90. 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.
Answer: The sun.
91. In a bus, there is a 24-year-old pregnant woman, a 30-year-old policeman, a 50-year-old random woman, and a driver who is 60 years old. Who is the youngest?
Answer: The pregnant woman, as the baby inside her, makes her the “youngest.”
92. What can be touched but can’t be seen?
Answer: A thought.
93. When it is alive we sing, when it is dead we clap our hands. What is it?
Answer: A birthday candle.
94. I have no life, but I can die. What am I?
Answer: A battery.
95. Two men are in a desert. They both have backpacks on. One of the men is dead. The man who is alive has his backpack open, and the man who is dead has his backpack closed. What is in the dead man’s backpack?
Answer: A parachute (the dead man didn’t open it).
96. A is B’s father, but B isn’t A’s son. How?
Answer: B is A’s daughter.
97. What was the biggest island in the world before the discovery of Greenland?
Answer: Greenland (it was the biggest before its discovery).
98. What is one thing that all people, regardless of their politics or religion, have to agree on between heaven and earth?
Answer: The letter “and.”
99. What common English verb becomes its own past tense by rearranging its letters?
Answer: Eat (past tense is “ate”).
100. If the day before yesterday was the 23rd, then what will be the day after tomorrow?
Answer: The 25th.
101. Whoever makes it doesn’t tell. Whoever takes it doesn’t know. Whoever knows it doesn’t want it. What is it?
Answer: A secret.
102. David’s father has three sons. Two of them are named Snap and Crackle. What is the third son’s name?
Answer: David.
103. A mother and father have four daughters, and each daughter has one brother. How many people are in the family?
Answer: 7 people (2 parents, 4 daughters, and 1 brother).
104. You enter a room that contains a match, kerosene lamp, candle, and fireplace. What should you light first?
Answer: A match.
105. If you are running a race and pass the person in second, then what place are you in?
Answer: Second place.
106. There are two fathers and two sons in a car. How many people are in the car?
Answer: 3 people (grandfather, father, and son).
107. Where does divorce come before marriage?
Answer: In a dictionary.
108. 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?
Answer: There is no smoke because it’s an electric train.
109. It is lighter than a feather, but you can’t hold it for more than two minutes. What is it?
Answer: Your breath.
110. What gets wetter the more it dries?
Answer: A towel.
111. What can’t be kept until it is given?
Answer: A promise.
112. What gets sharper the more you use it?
Answer: Your brain or a knife.
113. Which weighs more — a pound of iron bars or a pound of feathers?
Answer: They both weigh the same (one pound).
114. What starts with a P and ends with an X and has hundreds of letters in between?
Answer: A postbox.
115. Which fruit is always sad?
Answer: A blueberry.
116. Which tree can you carry in your hand?
Answer: A palm tree.
117. What has branches but no leaves or fruits?
Answer: A bank.
118. What has a face and hands but no body?
Answer: A clock.
119. What has a mouth but cannot eat and runs but has no legs?
Answer: A river.
120. What has no beginning, end, or middle?
Answer: A doughnut.
121. What has 13 hearts but no brains?
Answer: A deck of cards.
122. What do you place on the table and cut but never eat?
Answer: A deck of cards.
123. When you have me, you want to share me. But if you share me, you don’t have me any longer. What am I?
Answer: A secret.
124. What becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?
Answer: The word “short.”
125. Which vehicle is a palindrome?
Answer: A racecar.
126. 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?
Answer: 8 pairs (the farmer has 2, frogs have 6, rabbits have 4, parrots have 6, and mice have 8).
127. What is the similarity between “2 + 2 = 5” and your left hand?
Answer: Both are incorrect; “2 + 2 = 5” is wrong, and your left-hand doesn’t have a thumb and 4 fingers on the same side.
128. The person who buys me cannot use it, and the person who uses me cannot buy me or see me. What am I?
Answer: A coffin.
129. What goes all around the world but stays in one place?
Answer: A stamp.
130. I have seas with no water, mountains with no land, and towns with no people. What am I?
Answer: A map.
131. You can hear me but cannot see me. I don’t speak until you do. What am I?
Answer: An echo.
132. If you are running a race and you pass the person who is running second, which position are you in?
Answer: Second place.
133. What do you break before you use it?
Answer: An egg.
134. I have no doors but have keys. I have no rooms but have space. You can enter, but you cannot leave. What am I?
Answer: A keyboard.
135. Trees are my home, but I never go inside. When I fall off a tree, I am dead. What am I?
Answer: A leaf.
136. Which is the sweetest and most romantic fruit?
Answer: A date.
137. What has a thumb and fingers but is not alive?
Answer: A glove.
138. What is full of holes but holds water?
Answer: A sponge.
139. What do you find at the end of a line?
Answer: A period (or full stop).
140. I have hands, but I cannot shake your hands. I have a face, but I cannot smile at you. Who am I?
Answer: A clock.
141. A man builds a house with all four walls facing south. A bear walks past the house. What color is the bear?
Answer: White (the house is at the North Pole).
142. What can you find in a minute or an hour but never in a day or a month?
Answer: The letter “m.”
143. I am made of water, but I die when you put water on me. Who am I?
Answer: An ice cube.
144. Name three consecutive days that aren’t the days of the week.
Answer: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow.
145. When I am young, I am tall. I grow shorter as I become older. What am I?
Answer: A candle.
146. What grows bigger the more you take away from it?
Answer: A hole.
147. Can a man go for eight days without sleeping?
Answer: Yes, he can sleep at night.
148. Which room has no windows or doors?
Answer: A mushroom.
149. What breaks the moment you say its name?
Answer: Silence.
150. If you drop me on the ground, I survive. But if you drop me in water, I die. What am I?
Answer: Paper.
151. I am smooth as silk. I can be hard or soft. I fall but cannot climb. What am I?
Answer: Snow.
152. What is a teenager’s favorite phrase during math class?
Answer: “When will I ever use this?”
153. What problem does a teacher with uncontrollable eyes have?
Answer: They have a “vision” problem.
154. A man shaves throughout the day, yet he has a beard. How?
Answer: He is a barber.
155. What can make an octopus laugh?
Answer: Tentickles.
156. During which month do people sleep the least?
Answer: February (it has the fewest days).
157. I grow richer with alcohol but die with water. Who am I?
Answer: Fire.
158. Kate’s mother had four daughters — Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and _____. What was the name of the fourth daughter?
Answer: Kate.
159. Which window can’t you open literally?
Answer: A computer window.
160. What sounds like a war machine but is a piece of clothing?
Answer: A tank top.
161. What did the math book say to the pencil?
Answer: “You have a point.”
162. What do you get when you mix sulfur, tungsten, and silver?
Answer: “Swag.”
163. What did the angry electron say when it was repelled?
Answer: “I’m positive!”
164. What is the ancient invention that allows people to see through walls?
Answer: A window.
165. When do you go at red and stop at green?
Answer: When you’re eating a watermelon.
166. How many books can you pack inside an empty backpack?
Answer: One, because after that, it’s not empty anymore.
167. What is the center of gravity?
Answer: The letter “V.”
168. What type of music do rabbits like?
Answer: Hip-hop.
169. What did the beach say when the tide came in?
Answer: Nothing, it just waved.
170. What is black and white and read all over?
Answer: A newspaper.
171. What kind of food do mummies eat?
Answer: Wraps.
172. Which English word has three consecutive double letters?
Answer: Bookkeeper.
173. Which is the only English letter with “uu” in it?
Answer: Vacuum.
174. Which is the only English word with “ii” in it?
Answer: Skier.
175. You live in a one-story house made entirely of redwood. What color are the stairs?
Answer: There are no stairs, it’s a one-story house.
176. 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?
Answer: A cat.
177. 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?
Answer: The door.
178. I am hard to find, difficult to leave, and impossible to forget. What am I?
Answer: Love.
179. Find the number less than 100 that is increased by one-fifth of its value when its digits are reversed.
Answer: 45.
180. What did the English book say to the Algebra book?
Answer: “You have too many problems.”
181. Is Santa good at karate?
Answer: Yes, he has a black belt.
182. What is a snowman called in summer?
Answer: A puddle.
183. What can go up the chimney down but never go down the chimney up?
Answer: An umbrella.
184. Who is never hungry on Christmas?
Answer: A turkey (because it’s always stuffed).
185. What do you call a person who is scared of Santa Claus?
Answer: Claustrophobic.
186. What did Adam say on the day before Christmas?
Answer: “It’s Christmas Eve!”
187. In which year did Christmas and New Year fall in the same year?
Answer: Every year.
188. What keeps a Christmas tree smelling fresh?
Answer: Pine needles.
189. Where does Christmas come before Thanksgiving?
Answer: In the dictionary.
190. If a lion had a Christmas music album, what would it be called?
Answer: “Roar, it’s Christmas!”
191. What do elves learn in school?
Answer: The elf-abet.
192. What did the Christmas tree say to the Christmas stocking?
Answer: “I’m falling for you!”
193. Which reindeer can you see in outer space?
Answer: Comet.
194. Which is the fastest reindeer?
Answer: Dasher.
195. How do reindeer learn?
Answer: By attending the elf-abet school.
196. What did Mrs. Claus say to Santa when she looked at the sky?
Answer: “Looks like we’ll need a sleigh ride tonight!”
197. What did Santa say when the toys were naughty?
Answer: “You’re on the naughty list!”
198. What is your parent’s favorite Christmas carol song?
Answer: “Silent Night.”
199. Which direction does Santa travel in when he leaves his house?
Answer: North (he starts at the North Pole).
200. Can Christmas trees knit well?
Answer: No, but they’re great at purling (twisting branches).
Conclusion
We hope these 200 riddles gave your mind a good workout while bringing some fun to your day.
Whether you solved them alone, with family, or in a classroom, each puzzle offered a chance to think creatively and see things from new angles.
Try making up your own riddles or sharing these with friends to keep the mental gymnastics going.
Don’t forget to tell us your favorite riddles in the comments below!
