Riddles

Ten riddles with answers under a cover: guess first, then tap Show answer.

Riddles

  1. What kind of chip is never served with dip?
  2. What can you raise to show surprise without lifting a thing?
  3. What turns your face red without a drop of paint?
  4. What do toddlers throw that nobody wants to catch?
  5. What landing never needs a plane or a runway?
  6. I have two slots and take no coins. Push my lever down, and I keep a tray of crumbs for myself. What am I?
  7. What drawer in almost every home holds one of everything, except the thing you are looking for?
  8. Which vehicle is spelled the same from the front bumper to the back and from the back to the front?
  9. Which group that holds meetings has three pairs of double letters in its name?
  10. What cape is too big to wear and easy to find on a map?

Next step Who am I riddles

How it works

These riddles were written for this page, so they are uncommon riddles: what am I, wordplay, everyday things, nature and animals, letters and numbers, and one-liners. A few old ideas are retold in new words.

Read the full guide

Six kinds of riddles to solve

Keep one kind and only it is dealt. Wordplay holds the clever riddles, where one word has two meanings. Letters and numbers plays with spelling. One-liners to ask a friend are riddle questions short enough to remember: riddles to ask your friends at lunch or on the bus.

Riddle games for a table

For riddle games, one person reads a riddle aloud and the first right guess scores a point. Tap Show answer to settle it. The page opens on 10 riddles, and each new deal brings ten more.

  • Keep one level, Easy, Medium or Hard, to match the table.
  • Print gives printable riddles with a line under each and the answers on a page of their own.

Questions and answers

What are some easy riddles?

Three from the Easy level. What takes five days to arrive and is gone in two? The weekend. What is a smile standing on its head? A frown. What kind of chip is never served with dip? A computer chip.

What are some really good riddles?

Good is a matter of taste. Three we like: What weighs nothing and gets heavier the longer you hold it? A grudge. What train can you lose without owning a railroad? Your train of thought. What racket can never hit a ball? A loud noise.

Where are the medium riddles?

Set the level to Medium and only those are dealt. The three levels are the editors' judgment, so a Medium riddle may feel easy to one person and hard to the next.

Are these clean riddles?

Yes. Every riddle on this page can be read out at a family table or in a classroom: nothing rude, nothing scary, and no joke at anyone's expense.

Is there a list of riddles with answers on this page?

Yes. The whole list, more than 100 riddles, is under the tool, sorted by kind, with each answer and the reason it fits.

More tools

Browse Word Games

All 120 riddles

What am I? 20

  • Everyone is on the way to me and nobody has ever been here. The moment you reach a piece of me, it takes another name. What am I? Answer: The future. When the future arrives it is called the present.
  • I am a funnel no cook can pour through. I cross the plains on one twisting leg and take the barn roof with me. What am I? Answer: A tornado. A tornado is a spinning funnel of wind that reaches the ground.
  • I am a river that froze and kept going. I move too slowly for you to see, and I carve whole valleys on my way. What am I? Answer: A glacier. A glacier is a mass of ice that creeps downhill and grinds the land under it.
  • I am a square full of little squares, some black and some white. I ask my questions across and down, and brave people answer in pen. What am I? Answer: A crossword. Its clues run across and down the grid.
  • I am hollow from end to end. A drink rides up through me, and I finish every milkshake with a rude noise. What am I? Answer: A drinking straw. The slurp at the bottom of the glass is the rude noise.
  • I am kept in an attic no ladder reaches. A smell or a song can bring me down, and I am a little less exact each time I am taken out. What am I? Answer: A memory. A scent or a tune brings it back, and details fade with every retelling.
  • I am orange-brown and I eat iron. Water and air help me, and a coat of paint keeps me away. What am I? Answer: Rust. Iron rusts where air and water reach it.
  • I begin as a whisper from one mouth and grow with every telling. Everyone passes me along, and nobody admits to starting me. What am I? Answer: A rumor. A rumor spreads from person to person and changes on the way.
  • I fold in half around your money and ride in your pocket. The more often I open in a store, the thinner I get. What am I? Answer: A wallet. Every purchase takes something out of it.
  • I have a handle and a back full of bristles. Every morning I collect what your head lets go of. What am I? Answer: A hairbrush. Loose hairs stay in the bristles.
  • I have two slots and take no coins. Push my lever down, and I keep a tray of crumbs for myself. What am I? Answer: A toaster. Bread drops into the slots, and the crumbs fall into the tray underneath.
  • I lie under every other room, and the sunshine looks for me last. You walk downstairs to visit me. What am I? Answer: A basement. It is the floor below the ground.
  • I slide under a pancake and send it into the air. I come home with batter on my face. What am I? Answer: A spatula. A spatula lifts and flips food in a pan.
  • I spend my life on the floor getting kicked, and still I hold the door for everyone. What am I? Answer: A doorstop. It is wedged under a door to keep it open.
  • I wait with my mouth flat on the floor while a broom feeds me crumbs. What am I? Answer: A dustpan. Sweepings are brushed into it.
  • Look through me at one drop of pond water and you will find a zoo. What am I? Answer: A microscope. It makes tiny living things big enough to see.
  • My door is wider than any other door of the house, and the one who sleeps in me has four wheels. What am I? Answer: A garage. The car is kept in it.
  • Nobody sees me coming. I rattle the dishes, tip the pictures off the wall and am measured only after I have left. What am I? Answer: An earthquake. The ground shakes, and its strength is worked out afterward.
  • People love to give me and hate to take me. I cost nothing, unless I turn out to be wrong. What am I? Answer: Advice. Advice is easier to hand out than to follow.
  • Screw me in and flip a switch, and I shine with no flame. In cartoons I pop up over a head that has just had an idea. What am I? Answer: A light bulb. A glowing bulb is the cartoon sign for a bright idea.

Wordplay 20

  • What appendix has never been taken out by a surgeon? Answer: The appendix of a book. An appendix is a small part of the body, and also the extra pages at the back of a book.
  • What cape is too big to wear and easy to find on a map? Answer: A cape of land. A cape is a cloak, and also a point of land that sticks out into the sea.
  • What channel has no shows, only ships? Answer: A channel of water. A channel is a television station, and also a passage of water that ships sail through.
  • What club has no members and one long leg? Answer: A golf club. A club is a group that people join, and also the stick that hits a golf ball.
  • What column holds up no roof and is read over breakfast? Answer: A newspaper column. A column is a pillar, and also a regular piece of writing in a paper.
  • What court has no judge and no jury, only a net? Answer: A tennis court. Trials are held in a court, and so are tennis matches.
  • What drill never makes a hole? Answer: A fire drill. A drill is a tool that bores holes, and also a practice run.
  • What interest can you earn without being the least bit curious? Answer: The interest a bank pays. Interest is curiosity, and also the money a bank adds to savings.
  • What kind of chip is never served with dip? Answer: A computer chip. A chip is a snack, and also the small part that runs a computer.
  • What landing never needs a plane or a runway? Answer: The landing on a staircase. A landing is a plane coming down, and also the level floor between two flights of stairs.
  • What litter is welcome in a barn and never swept off a street? Answer: A litter of kittens. Litter is trash, and a litter is also the babies an animal has at one time.
  • What racket can never hit a ball? Answer: A loud noise. A racket is what you swing in tennis, and also a din.
  • What root grows in a math book and never in a garden? Answer: A square root. Plants have roots, and so do numbers: 3 is the square root of 9.
  • What screen never shows a picture and is best at keeping flies out? Answer: A window screen. A screen is a display, and also the fine mesh in a window.
  • What suit has no pockets and no buttons, and comes in hearts? Answer: A suit of cards. Hearts, spades, clubs and diamonds are the four suits of a deck.
  • What tie is never worn around a neck, and sends both teams home without a win? Answer: A tie score. To tie is to finish level, and a tie is also neckwear.
  • Which bird is in your throat at every meal? Answer: A swallow. A swallow is a small bird, and to swallow is what you do with each bite.
  • Which kid has horns, eats grass and has never been to school? Answer: A baby goat. A kid is a child, and also a young goat.
  • Which staff is never paid and has only five lines? Answer: A music staff. A staff is a group of workers, and also the five lines that music is written on.
  • Which washer never washes anything? Answer: The metal ring under a nut. A washer is a machine for laundry, and also a flat ring that spreads the grip of a nut or a bolt.

Everyday things 20

  • What comes undone the moment you are in a hurry? Answer: A shoelace. It waits for the worst time to come untied.
  • What date is printed where nobody looks until the milk smells odd? Answer: The expiration date. It is stamped on the carton and checked when something seems off.
  • What do people join without wanting to be in it, and leave from the front? Answer: A line of people waiting. You join at the back and leave when you reach the front.
  • What do people press every morning to buy a few more minutes of night? Answer: The snooze button. It quiets the alarm for a little while.
  • What do you hold over your head when the sky leaks, and leave on the bus once the sun is out? Answer: An umbrella. Umbrellas are famous for being left behind.
  • What do you pay for and walk out with less than you came in with? Answer: A haircut. You leave some of your hair on the floor.
  • What do you push all around a store, with one wheel that wants to go somewhere else? Answer: A shopping cart. There is always one wobbly wheel.
  • What do you write the same way all your life, though few people can read it? Answer: Your signature. A signature is your name written your own way, often as a scribble.
  • What does every guest ask to borrow and every host struggle to find? Answer: A phone charger. Somebody's phone is always about to run out.
  • What drawer in almost every home holds one of everything, except the thing you are looking for? Answer: The junk drawer. Odds and ends pile up in it.
  • What gets deeper with every car that hits it, is grumbled at by every driver and waits for a road crew? Answer: A pothole. Traffic breaks the road a little more each day until it is patched.
  • What gets shorter each time you finish something, and is long again by morning? Answer: A to-do list. Every finished job is crossed off, and new jobs arrive.
  • What grows longer the more you buy, and gets read only when something goes wrong? Answer: A receipt. It lists every item, and you look at it when you need to take one back.
  • What has to be hard to guess and easy to remember, and is usually neither? Answer: A password. A good one is hard for others and easy for you.
  • What key is hidden outside by people who hope nobody else thinks to look under the same flowerpot? Answer: The spare key. A spare key is kept for the day you lock yourself out.
  • What lies down in the road and makes every car bow as it passes? Answer: A speed bump. Drivers slow down, and the car dips as it goes over.
  • What room do you sit in hoping to leave? Answer: A waiting room. You are there only until your name is called.
  • What seat on an airplane does nobody choose and somebody always get? Answer: The middle seat. It has no window and no aisle, only two neighbors.
  • What takes five days to arrive and is gone in two? Answer: The weekend. Monday to Friday is the wait; Saturday and Sunday are the weekend.
  • What winks at the cars behind you before you turn? Answer: A turn signal. The blinking light shows which way the car will go.

Nature and animals 20

  • What began as part of a mountain, rode a river until it was smooth and now skips across a pond from your hand? Answer: A pebble. Water wears rock down into small round stones.
  • What begins with a little snow letting go and ends with a whole mountainside in a hurry? Answer: An avalanche. Sliding snow gathers more snow as it falls.
  • What did a river spend ages digging, and now answers you in your own words? Answer: A canyon. Running water cut it, and its walls send back an echo.
  • What has a shore on every side and holds the sky upside down on a still day? Answer: A lake. Land surrounds it, and calm water mirrors the clouds.
  • What line goes all the way around the world and has never tripped anyone? Answer: The equator. It is drawn on maps and globes, not on the ground.
  • What picture has no paint and no paper, is made of dots a very long way apart and can be seen only at night? Answer: A constellation. People join stars into pictures such as a hunter or a bear.
  • What plant dries out, lets go of the ground and goes on a road trip with the wind? Answer: A tumbleweed. The dry plant breaks off at the stem and rolls.
  • What turns midday dark for a few minutes without a single cloud? Answer: A total eclipse of the sun. The moon passes in front of the sun.
  • What water in the desert can nobody drink, because it leaves as you arrive? Answer: A mirage. A mirage is a trick of light over hot ground that looks like water.
  • What weed does no gardener pull, because it grows where only swimmers go? Answer: Seaweed. Seaweed grows in the sea, not in a flower bed.
  • Where do the palm trees of a desert gather for a drink? Answer: An oasis. An oasis is a spot in a desert with water, where plants can grow.
  • Where is there sand as far as you can see and no sea to swim in? Answer: A desert. A sandy desert looks like a beach with no water.
  • Which bird carries a fishing net under its beak? Answer: A pelican. The pouch under a pelican's bill scoops up fish.
  • Which bird is better known for living in a clock than in a tree? Answer: A cuckoo. A cuckoo clock has a little bird that pops out to call the hour.
  • Which bird likes statues and sidewalks better than trees, and nods its head with every step? Answer: A pigeon. City pigeons walk the pavement with a bobbing head.
  • Which lizard can turn a different color while sitting perfectly still? Answer: A chameleon. Chameleons are known for changing the color of their skin.
  • Who carries a horn on his nose and never blows it? Answer: A rhinoceros. The horn grows on its snout.
  • Who has a smile nobody wants to see up close, and tears nobody believes? Answer: A crocodile. Crocodile tears is a saying for sadness that is only pretended.
  • Who turns a speck that bothers her into a jewel? Answer: An oyster. A pearl grows in layers around something stuck inside the shell.
  • Who wears his needles on the outside and has never sewn a stitch? Answer: A porcupine. Its back is covered with sharp quills.

Letters and numbers 20

  • Eleven plus two makes thirteen. Which other sum of two numbers is spelled with exactly the same letters and gives the same total? Answer: Twelve plus one. The letters of ELEVEN PLUS TWO can be rearranged into TWELVE PLUS ONE, and both make thirteen.
  • What do two people have when they talk, that holds all five vowels exactly once? Answer: A dialogue. D-I-A-L-O-G-U-E has I, A, O, U and E, once each.
  • What do you eat soup with that pries into other people's business when you spell it backward? Answer: Spoons. Backward it is snoops.
  • What does a baby wear that means paid back when you spell it backward? Answer: A diaper. D-I-A-P-E-R backward is repaid.
  • Which five-letter word about a town and its people is built entirely from Roman numerals? Answer: Civic. C, I, V, I, C: as numerals, 100, 1, 5, 1 and 100.
  • Which group that holds meetings has three pairs of double letters in its name? Answer: A committee. C-O-M-M-I-T-T-E-E has a double M, a double T and a double E.
  • Which is the only letter of the alphabet whose name takes more than one syllable to say? Answer: W. Double-u has three syllables; every other letter has one.
  • Which month ends in a sudden rush of wind? Answer: August. The last four letters of August spell gust.
  • Which sticker that says who you are turns into a guard at an entrance when you spell it backward? Answer: A nametag. N-A-M-E-T-A-G backward is gateman.
  • Which three letters, said aloud, name the other side in a battle? Answer: N, M and E. Say them together: enemy.
  • Which two letters, said aloud, are a plant that climbs walls? Answer: I and V. Say them together: ivy.
  • Which two letters, said aloud, are what an old tree stump slowly does? Answer: D and K. Say them together: decay.
  • Which two letters, said aloud, mean more than enough? Answer: X and S. Say them together: excess.
  • Which two letters, said aloud, mean to be very good at something? Answer: X and L. Say them together: excel.
  • Which vehicle is spelled the same from the front bumper to the back and from the back to the front? Answer: A racecar. R-A-C-E-C-A-R reads the same in both directions.
  • Which word for friends turns into a smack when you spell it backward? Answer: Pals. P-A-L-S backward is slap.
  • Which word for the comments you get on your work holds each of the first six letters of the alphabet? Answer: Feedback. F-E-E-D-B-A-C-K has A, B, C, D, E and F.
  • Which word means this very moment, and means came in first when you spell it backward? Answer: Now. Backward it is won.
  • Which word means to hold on to something, and means a quick look when you spell it backward? Answer: Keep. Backward it is peek.
  • Which word of 15 letters, about a thing nobody is allowed to own the rights to, uses no letter twice? Answer: Uncopyrightable. All 15 of its letters are different.

One-liners to ask a friend 20

  • How do you say "I don't know" with your shoulders? Answer: With a shrug. Lifting both shoulders means you have no idea.
  • What can strike you without leaving a mark? Answer: An idea. We say an idea strikes when it comes suddenly.
  • What can you break gently, though it was never solid? Answer: The news. To break the news is to tell someone something for the first time.
  • What can you count at your wrist, though you never put it there? Answer: Your pulse. Each beat of the heart can be felt at the wrist.
  • What can you make that only other people can see? Answer: A face. You cannot see your own funny face without a mirror.
  • What can you pay that leaves the other person richer and you no poorer? Answer: A compliment. To pay a compliment is to say something kind.
  • What can you quench that was never on fire? Answer: Your thirst. To quench is to put out a fire, and also to satisfy a thirst.
  • What can you raise to show surprise without lifting a thing? Answer: An eyebrow. A raised eyebrow shows surprise or doubt.
  • What can you run without going any faster than a walk? Answer: An errand. To run an errand is to go out and do a small job.
  • What disappears the moment you open your hand? Answer: Your fist. A fist is only a closed hand.
  • What do some people make a wish on after it falls off their own face? Answer: An eyelash. A fallen eyelash is blown off a fingertip with a wish.
  • What do toddlers throw that nobody wants to catch? Answer: A tantrum. To throw a tantrum is to have a fit of temper.
  • What do two right hands make together when a deal is done? Answer: A handshake. Two people shake hands to show they agree.
  • What goes away when you scratch it and comes back when you think about it? Answer: An itch. Even reading about one can start it.
  • What is a smile standing on its head? Answer: A frown. Turn a smiling mouth upside down.
  • What lines does an iron take out of a shirt and a long life draw on a face? Answer: Wrinkles. Both cloth and skin get them.
  • What little hollow shows up in a cheek only when its owner smiles? Answer: A dimple. A dimple is a small dent that a smile brings out.
  • What train can you lose without owning a railroad? Answer: Your train of thought. To lose your train of thought is to forget what you were saying.
  • What turns your face red without a drop of paint? Answer: A blush. Cheeks redden when you are embarrassed.
  • What weighs nothing and gets heavier the longer you hold it? Answer: A grudge. To hold a grudge is to stay angry at someone.