Five number riddles for kids at a time: work each one out, then tap Show answer.
Number Riddles
Pick any number from one to twenty. Spell it and count its letters. Spell that number and count again. Keep going. On which number does everybody get stuck?
I am a four-digit number. My thousands digit is 8. My ones digit is half of that. My two middle digits are zeros. What number am I?
I am odd. I am less than 5. I am not the smallest odd number. What number am I?
I am a whole number. I am smaller than 1, and I am not below zero. What number am I?
I am the smallest number that 3, 4 and 10 all divide evenly. What number am I?
Most of these number riddles are sets of clues that fit exactly one number, sorted by the size of the number, so you can choose the range a class is working in. One last set plays with the numbers themselves.
Read the full guide
Choose the range of numbers
The menu under the button keeps one set: Numbers to 20, Two-digit numbers, Place value, or Odd, even, multiples and factors. Riddles about numbers is the wordplay set: Roman numerals, a calculator held upside down, a baker's dozen.
Place value riddles 4th grade classes can use
Choose Place value. The riddles name hundreds, tens and ones, then thousands, ten-thousands and decimals to hundredths, and some regroup: 12 tens and 5 ones. Level is under More filters in the same menu.
Tips
Read every clue before guessing. One clue rarely settles it, and the last one often does.
Questions and answers
Is there a place value riddles PDF?
No file is offered, but you can make one. Choose Place value in the menu, press Print, and pick Save as PDF in the print dialog. The sheet has a line under each riddle, and the answers are on a page of their own.
What is a number riddle?
A set of clues about one number: I am between 10 and 20, I am odd, and my two digits add up to 8. What number am I? Only 17 fits. Every riddle in the four clue sets has one answer like that.
How do you solve a what number am I riddle?
Start with the clue that leaves the fewest numbers, usually a range such as between 50 and 60. Write those numbers down, then cross out the ones each further clue rules out. One number is left.
How were the number riddles checked?
By computer. Each set of clues was tried against every number in its range, and it had to fit exactly one. The reason is printed under each answer, so a wrong guess can be traced.
Count every finger and every toe on one person. What number am I?Answer: 20. 10 fingers and 10 toes make 20.
Count the days in a week and add the fingers on one hand. What number am I?Answer: 12. 7 + 5 = 12.
Double me and you get 18. What number am I?Answer: 9. 9 + 9 = 18.
I am 1 less than a dozen, and both of my digits are the same. What number am I?Answer: 11. A dozen is 12, and 12 - 1 = 11.
I am a whole number. I am smaller than 1, and I am not below zero. What number am I?Answer: 0. The only whole number under 1 that is not negative is 0.
I am an even number less than 10. Two of me make 8. What number am I?Answer: 4. 4 + 4 = 8.
I am between 1 and 20. Add me to myself, then add me once more, and you get 12. What number am I?Answer: 4. 4 + 4 + 4 = 12.
I am between 1 and 20. I am even. Cut me in half and the answer is odd, bigger than 3 and smaller than 7. What number am I?Answer: 10. The only odd number between 3 and 7 is 5, and 5 doubled is 10.
I am between 10 and 20. I am odd. Add my two digits and you get 4. What number am I?Answer: 13. 1 + 3 = 4. The other odd numbers in the teens give 2, 6, 8 and 10.
I am between 10 and 20. I am odd. My two digits add up to 8. What number am I?Answer: 17. 1 + 7 = 8.
I am between 10 and 20. Multiply 4 by itself and you have me. What number am I?Answer: 16. 4 x 4 = 16.
I am half of 16, and I am the number of legs on a spider. What number am I?Answer: 8. Half of 16 is 8.
I am half of ten, and I am the number of toes on one foot. What number am I?Answer: 5. Half of 10 is 5.
I am less than 10. I am even. I am also 3 times a whole number bigger than 1. What number am I?Answer: 6. 3 x 2 = 6. The next one, 3 x 4 = 12, is too big.
I am less than 20. Add an odd number to itself and you get me. That odd number is bigger than 7. What number am I?Answer: 18. The odd number is 9, because 11 + 11 is already 22. 9 + 9 = 18.
I am more than 0 and less than 20. You say me when you count by fives, and you say me when you count by threes. What number am I?Answer: 15. Counting by fives gives 5, 10, 15. Only 15 is also in the threes.
I am more than 0 and less than 20. You say me when you count by twos, and you say me when you count by sevens. What number am I?Answer: 14. Counting by sevens gives 7 and 14 below 20, and only 14 is even.
I am odd and between 10 and 20. I am 1 more than a number in the fours and 1 less than a number in the sixes. What number am I?Answer: 17. 16 is in the fours and 18 is in the sixes, and 17 sits between them.
I am odd. I am less than 5. I am not the smallest odd number. What number am I?Answer: 3. The odd numbers below 5 are 1 and 3, and 1 is the smallest.
I am one more than half a dozen. What number am I?Answer: 7. Half a dozen is 6, and 6 + 1 = 7.
I am the largest odd number below 20. What number am I?Answer: 19. 20 is even, so step back one to 19.
I am the number of pennies in a dime, and I am the first number with two digits. What number am I?Answer: 10. A dime is 10 cents, and 10 is the first two-digit number.
I am the number of wheels on a bicycle, and I am the first even number after zero. What number am I?Answer: 2. A bicycle has 2 wheels, and the even numbers go 0, 2, 4.
Multiply any number by me and it stays the same. I am the first odd number. What number am I?Answer: 1. 7 x 1 is 7, and 1 is the first odd number.
Two-digit numbers 24
I am 1 less than half of one hundred. What number am I?Answer: 49. Half of 100 is 50, and 50 - 1 = 49.
I am a two-digit number, and I am exactly twice the sum of my two digits. What number am I?Answer: 18. 1 + 8 = 9, and 2 x 9 = 18. No other two-digit number does it.
I am a two-digit number, and I am more than 90. You say me when you count by fives. What number am I?Answer: 95. Counting by fives gives 90, 95, 100. Only 95 is above 90 and still has two digits.
I am a two-digit number. Add 1 to me and I become a three-digit number. What number am I?Answer: 99. 99 + 1 = 100.
I am a two-digit number. My ones digit is 3 more than my tens digit, and my digits add up to 11. What number am I?Answer: 47. 4 and 7 are 3 apart and add up to 11.
I am a two-digit number. My tens digit is 4. My ones digit is double my tens digit. What number am I?Answer: 48. Double 4 is 8, so the digits are 4 and 8.
I am a two-digit number. Swap my digits and I grow by 9. My digits add up to 5. What number am I?Answer: 23. 32 is 9 more than 23, and 2 + 3 = 5.
I am between 20 and 30. I am exactly 4 times the sum of my digits. What number am I?Answer: 24. 2 + 4 = 6, and 4 x 6 = 24.
I am between 30 and 40. My tens digit is 2 less than my ones digit. What number am I?Answer: 35. The tens digit is 3, so the ones digit is 5.
I am between 40 and 50, and I read the same forward and backward. What number am I?Answer: 44. A two-digit number that reads the same both ways has two equal digits.
I am between 50 and 60. Multiply my two digits and you get 30. What number am I?Answer: 56. 5 x 6 = 30.
I am between 60 and 70. I am odd. My digits add up to 13. What number am I?Answer: 67. 6 + 7 = 13.
I am between 70 and 80. Divide me by 9 and nothing is left over. What number am I?Answer: 72. 9 x 8 = 72.
I am between 70 and 80. You say me when you count by elevens. What number am I?Answer: 77. Counting by elevens gives 66, 77, 88. Only 77 is between 70 and 80.
I am less than 30. Both of my digits are even, neither is zero, and together they add up to 8. What number am I?Answer: 26. The tens digit must be 2, and 2 + 6 = 8.
I am less than 30. My two digits add up to 10. I am even. What number am I?Answer: 28. Below 30 only 19 and 28 have digits that add up to 10, and 19 is odd.
I am less than 50. You say me when you count by fives, and my digits add up to 9. What number am I?Answer: 45. 4 + 5 = 9.
I am the largest two-digit number whose two digits are different. What number am I?Answer: 98. 99 has the same digit twice, so step down to 98.
I am the number of hours in a day and a half. What number am I?Answer: 36. 24 hours and 12 more.
I am the number of minutes in an hour and a half. What number am I?Answer: 90. 60 minutes and 30 more.
I am the smallest two-digit number made of two different odd digits. What number am I?Answer: 13. 11 uses the same digit twice. The next number with two odd digits is 13.
My ones digit is 0. I am 10 more than half of one hundred. What number am I?Answer: 60. Half of 100 is 50, and 50 + 10 = 60.
My tens digit is the number of sides on a triangle. My ones digit is the number of days in a week. What number am I?Answer: 37. 3 tens and 7 ones.
My two digits are 7 apart. I am odd. I am more than 50. What number am I?Answer: 81. Above 50 the pairs 7 apart give 70, 81 and 92, and only 81 is odd.
Place value 24
I am 1 tenth more than 4.9. What number am I?Answer: 5.0. 9 tenths and 1 more tenth make 10 tenths, which is 1 whole: 4 + 1 = 5.
I am 10 less than 305. What number am I?Answer: 295. There are no tens to take from, so a hundred is traded: 305 - 10 = 295.
I am 100 more than 947. What number am I?Answer: 1,047. 9 hundreds and 1 more hundred make 10 hundreds, which is 1 thousand.
I am a decimal between 0 and 1. My tenths digit is 9, and I have no hundredths. What number am I?Answer: 0.9. 9 tenths.
I am a four-digit number. My thousands digit is 8. My ones digit is half of that. My two middle digits are zeros. What number am I?Answer: 8,004. 8 thousands, no hundreds, no tens and 4 ones.
I am a four-digit number. The 7 in me is worth 7,000. My hundreds digit and my tens digit are both 1, and I have no ones. What number am I?Answer: 7,110. 7,000 + 100 + 10 + 0.
I am a three-digit number. All three of my digits are the same, and they add up to 15. What number am I?Answer: 555. 5 + 5 + 5 = 15.
I am a three-digit number. My hundreds digit is 2. My tens digit is twice that. My ones digit is twice my tens digit. What number am I?Answer: 248. 2, then 4, then 8.
I am between 500 and 600. My tens digit is 0. My three digits add up to 9. What number am I?Answer: 504. 5 + 0 + 4 = 9.
I am the smallest four-digit number whose four digits are all different. What number am I?Answer: 1,023. Start with 1, the smallest digit a number can begin with, then use 0, 2 and 3 in order.
I have 12 tens and 5 ones. What number am I?Answer: 125. 12 tens are 120, which is 1 hundred and 2 tens. Add 5 ones.
I have 2 ones, 4 tenths and 5 hundredths. What number am I?Answer: 2.45. 2 + 0.4 + 0.05.
I have 27 hundreds and 3 tens. What number am I?Answer: 2,730. 27 hundreds are 2,700, which is 2 thousands and 7 hundreds.
I have 3 thousands and 46 ones, and nothing else. What number am I?Answer: 3,046. 46 ones are 4 tens and 6 ones. The hundreds place holds a zero.
I have 4 ten-thousands, 5 hundreds and 6 ones, and zeros everywhere else. What number am I?Answer: 40,506. 40,000 + 500 + 6.
I have 5 hundreds, 13 tens and 4 ones. What number am I?Answer: 634. 13 tens are 130. 500 + 130 + 4 = 634.
I have 5 thousands, 2 hundreds, no tens and 9 ones. What number am I?Answer: 5,209. 5,000 + 200 + 0 + 9.
I have 6 hundreds, no tens and 2 ones. What number am I?Answer: 602. 600 + 0 + 2. The zero holds the tens place.
I have 6 tens, no ones and 3 tenths. What number am I?Answer: 60.3. 60 + 0 + 0.3.
I have 7 hundreds, 3 tens and 8 ones. What number am I?Answer: 738. 700 + 30 + 8.
I have 7 ones and 6 hundredths, and nothing in the tenths place. What number am I?Answer: 7.06. 7 + 0.0 + 0.06. The zero holds the tenths place.
My digits are 1, 6 and 9, each used once. I am even, and I am as small as I can be. What number am I?Answer: 196. An even number must end in 6 here, so the other two digits go 1, then 9.
My digits are 2, 4 and 7, each used once. I am between 400 and 450. What number am I?Answer: 427. The hundreds digit must be 4. That leaves 427 and 472, and 472 is too big.
Round me to the nearest hundred and you get 700. I am less than 700, my tens digit is 5 and my ones digit is 0. What number am I?Answer: 650. 650 is halfway between 600 and 700, and halfway rounds up.
Odd, even, multiples and factors 24
Add the first four even numbers after zero. What number am I?Answer: 20. 2 + 4 + 6 + 8 = 20.
I am between 20 and 30, and I have exactly three factors. What number am I?Answer: 25. 1, 5 and 25. Three factors happen only when a number is something times itself.
I am between 20 and 30. Add up all my factors except me, and you get me. What number am I?Answer: 28. 1 + 2 + 4 + 7 + 14 = 28.
I am between 20 and 30. Only 1 and I myself divide me evenly, and my ones digit is 9. What number am I?Answer: 29. 29 cannot be divided evenly by 2, 3 or 5.
I am between 30 and 40. I am a multiple of 4, and I am also a number times itself. What number am I?Answer: 36. 6 x 6 = 36, and 4 x 9 = 36.
I am between 40 and 50, and I have exactly ten factors. What number am I?Answer: 48. 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, 16, 24 and 48. No other number between 40 and 50 has more than eight.
I am between 50 and 60. I am a multiple of 2 and a multiple of 9. What number am I?Answer: 54. 9 x 6 = 54, and 54 is even.
I am even and less than 30. I am 1 less than a multiple of 5 and 1 more than a multiple of 3. What number am I?Answer: 4. 5 - 1 = 4 and 3 + 1 = 4.
I am even, and only 1 and I myself divide me evenly. What number am I?Answer: 2. Every other even number can also be divided by 2.
I am even. I am a multiple of 5. I am between 41 and 59. What number am I?Answer: 50. Even multiples of 5 end in 0.
I am less than 100. I am even. I am a multiple of 11 and a multiple of 3. What number am I?Answer: 66. The multiples of both are 33, 66 and 99, and only 66 is even.
I am less than 20. My factors are 1, 2, 4, 8 and myself. What number am I?Answer: 16. 1 x 16, 2 x 8 and 4 x 4.
I am less than 40. I am a multiple of 6 and a multiple of 8. What number am I?Answer: 24. 6 x 4 = 24 and 8 x 3 = 24. The next shared one is 48.
I am less than 50. I am a multiple of 3. My two digits are odd, and they are the same. What number am I?Answer: 33. 11 is not in the threes, and 33 = 3 x 11.
I am less than 50. I am a multiple of 7. I am odd, and my digits add up to 8. What number am I?Answer: 35. The odd sevens below 50 are 7, 21, 35 and 49. Only 3 + 5 makes 8.
I am odd and less than 30. Divide me by 5 and 2 are left over. Divide me by 3 and nothing is left over. What number am I?Answer: 27. 27 = 5 x 5 + 2, and 27 = 3 x 9.
I am odd. I am between 40 and 50. I am a multiple of 9. What number am I?Answer: 45. 9 x 5 = 45.
I am the first odd number after 99. What number am I?Answer: 101. 100 is even, so the next odd number is 101.
I am the largest number that divides both 18 and 24 evenly. What number am I?Answer: 6. 18 = 6 x 3 and 24 = 6 x 4.
I am the largest two-digit number that only 1 and itself divide evenly. What number am I?Answer: 97. 99 is 9 x 11 and 98 is 2 x 49. 97 has no such pair.
I am the smallest number that 2, 3, 4 and 6 all divide evenly. What number am I?Answer: 12. 12 is 2 x 6 and 3 x 4. Nothing smaller works for all four.
I am the smallest number that 3, 4 and 10 all divide evenly. What number am I?Answer: 60. It must end in 0 and be in the threes and the fours: 30 is not in the fours, and 60 is.
I am the smallest two-digit number that only 1 and itself divide evenly. What number am I?Answer: 11. 10 is 2 x 5. 11 has no such pair.
Multiply two different odd numbers that are both bigger than 1. I am the smallest answer you can get. What number am I?Answer: 15. The two smallest are 3 and 5, and 3 x 5 = 15.
Riddles about numbers 20
How can half of twelve be seven?Answer: Write twelve in Roman numerals and cut it across the middle. Twelve is XII. Cover the bottom half and the top half reads VII, which is seven.
How can you take one away from nineteen and be left with twenty?Answer: Write it in Roman numerals. Nineteen is XIX. Take the I from the middle and XX is left, which is twenty.
I rhyme with hive, and I am the number of fingers on one hand. Which number am I?Answer: Five. Hive, dive, five.
In Roman numerals, V is five. Put a single I in front of the V and the number gets smaller. What does it become?Answer: Four. An I before a larger numeral is taken away from it: IV is 5 - 1.
Lay me on my side and I go on forever. Cut me across the middle and I am nothing, twice. Which digit am I?Answer: 8. An 8 on its side is the sign for infinity, and cut across the middle it makes two zeros.
Multiply together all ten digits on a phone keypad. What is the answer?Answer: 0. One of the ten digits is zero, and anything times zero is zero.
On a 12-hour digital clock, which time has digits that add up to the most, and what do they add up to?Answer: 9:59, which adds up to 23. 9 + 5 + 9 = 23. Times with two hour digits start with a 1, and 12:59 makes only 17.
Pick any number from one to twenty. Spell it and count its letters. Spell that number and count again. Keep going. On which number does everybody get stuck?Answer: Four. Four has four letters, so it leads back to itself. Every other number word leads to a different number, and in the end to four.
Think of any number. Double it, add 6, cut the answer in half, then take away the number you first thought of. What do you always get?Answer: 3. Doubling and halving cancel out, and half of the 6 you added is left.
Three different whole numbers give the same answer whether you add them all or multiply them all. Which three?Answer: 1, 2 and 3. 1 + 2 + 3 = 6 and 1 x 2 x 3 = 6.
To most people a dozen is twelve. Which number is a dozen to a baker?Answer: 13. A baker's dozen is thirteen: twelve and one extra.
The two hands of a clock start together at midnight. How many times do they pass over each other in the next 24 hours, counting the meeting at the end?Answer: 22. The minute hand catches the hour hand once every 65 and a bit minutes, eleven times in twelve hours, so 22 times in 24.
Type 0.7734 on a calculator and turn the calculator upside down. What word do the digits spell?Answer: Hello. Upside down, 4 looks like h, 3 like E, 7 like L and 0 like O.
What can you put between a 5 and a 6 so that the result is more than 5 and less than 6?Answer: A decimal point. 5.6 is bigger than 5 and smaller than 6.
What is one hundred divided by one half?Answer: 200. Dividing by a half asks how many halves fit in: two for every whole, so 200. Fifty is one hundred divided by two.
When Tom was 10, his sister was half his age. Tom is 50 now. How old is his sister?Answer: 45. She was 5 when he was 10, so she is 5 years younger, always. 50 - 5 = 45, not 25.
Which is bigger: half of a quarter, or a quarter of a half?Answer: Neither. Both are one eighth: a half times a quarter, in either order.
Which number goes up every year and never comes down?Answer: Your age. Each birthday adds one, and no birthday takes one away.
Which number of degrees is always right?Answer: 90. A right angle measures 90 degrees.
Which small number has a W in its name that nobody says?Answer: Two. T-W-O sounds like too. The W is silent.
How this list was compiled
Written by the Game Night Generator editors on October 3, 2026: what-number-am-I riddles in four sets of 24 (numbers to 20, two-digit numbers, place value, and odd, even, multiples and factors), each a set of clues that fits exactly one number, and a fifth set of 20 riddles about numbers themselves. Every clue riddle was checked by computer on the day it was written: the clues were tried against every number of the range the riddle works in (0 to 20, 10 to 99, 1 to 100, 100 to 999, 1,000 to 9,999, or decimals to hundredths below 100), and a riddle that fit two numbers or none was rewritten. The riddles about numbers include a few old favorites that belong to nobody (nineteen and twenty in Roman numerals, 0.7734 on a calculator), retold in the editors' words; their sums were recomputed the same day, and the Roman numerals IV, XII, XIX and XX and the baker's dozen of thirteen were read on October 3, 2026 in the English Wikipedia articles Roman numerals and Dozen (en.wikipedia.org; text under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license). No riddle was copied from a worksheet, a textbook or a site. The three levels are the editors' judgment, and the page is not connected with any school standard or with Wikipedia. Licence: own work