100 Riddles With Answers for Kids, Teens and Adults

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Girl laughing while working out a riddle

Riddles are the only kind of question where being told the answer is worse than never finding out. You want that half second of annoyance first. Most riddle lists ruin it by burying every answer at the bottom, so you scroll past six answers to find the one you wanted and spoil the lot. Every answer here sits under its own riddle instead. I have also split them by who they actually work on, because a riddle that delights a seven year old will get you a flat stare from a teenager. The easy section is genuinely easy. The hard section at the end is the one worth saving for someone who thinks they are good at this. If you want a set written just for younger children, we have a separate page for that, linked further down.

What you will find here

Easy riddles for kids

Solvable by most children from about six. Good for car journeys and dinner tables.

  1. What has four legs but cannot walk?
    A table.
  2. What has a face and two hands but no arms or legs?
    A clock.
  3. What is orange and sounds like a parrot?
    A carrot.
  4. What has a thumb and four fingers but is not alive?
    A glove.
  5. What is at the end of a rainbow?
    The letter W.
  6. What has ears but cannot hear?
    A cornfield.
  7. What building has the most stories?
    The library.
  8. What has a bottom at the top?
    Your legs.
  9. What kind of band never plays music?
    A rubber band.
  10. What has to be opened before you can get in it?
    A door.
  11. What kind of room has no doors or windows?
    A mushroom.
  12. What goes up and down but never moves?
    A staircase.
  13. What can you keep after giving it to someone?
    Your word.
  14. What has a ring but no finger?
    A telephone.
  15. What gets bigger the more you take away?
    A hole.
  16. What has legs but does not walk?
    A chair.
  17. What is easy to get into but hard to get out of?
    Trouble.
  18. What has a tongue but cannot talk?
    A shoe.

The rainbow one splits rooms by age. Little kids say gold every single time and then get quietly furious about the letter W.

What am I riddles

First person, one answer, no tricks in the wording. These are the classic shape.

  1. I have cities but no houses, forests but no trees, and water but no fish. What am I?
    A map.
  2. I am light as a feather, yet the strongest person cannot hold me for five minutes. What am I?
    Your breath.
  3. I have keys but no locks, space but no room, and you can enter but not go inside. What am I?
    A keyboard.
  4. I speak without a mouth and hear without ears. I have no body but come alive with wind. What am I?
    An echo.
  5. The more you take of me, the more you leave behind. What am I?
    Footsteps.
  6. I am always in front of you but cannot be seen. What am I?
    The future.
  7. I am not alive, but I grow. I have no lungs, but I need air. What am I?
    Fire.
  8. I follow you all day but disappear at night. What am I?
    Your shadow.
  9. I have branches but no fruit, trunk or leaves. What am I?
    A bank.
  10. I can be cracked, made, told and played. What am I?
    A joke.
  11. I go in dry and come out wet, and the longer I stay the stronger I get. What am I?
    A tea bag.
  12. I have a spine but no bones. What am I?
    A book.
  13. I am taken from a mine and shut in a wooden case, from which I am never released, and yet I am used by almost everybody. What am I?
    Pencil lead.
  14. I am always coming but never arrive. What am I?
    Tomorrow.
  15. I have one eye but cannot see. What am I?
    A hurricane.
  16. I have many teeth but cannot bite. What am I?
    A comb.

Wordplay riddles

The answer is hiding in the language, not the logic.

  1. What word begins and ends with an E but only has one letter?
    Envelope.
  2. Why is six afraid of seven?
    Because seven eight nine.
  3. What has four wheels and flies?
    A rubbish truck.
  4. What kind of tree fits in your hand?
    A palm tree.
  5. What has a head, a tail, is brown, and has no legs?
    A penny.
  6. What do you call a fish with no eyes?
    A fsh.
  7. What is black and white and read all over?
    A newspaper.
  8. Where does Friday come before Thursday?
    In the dictionary.
  9. What can you serve but never eat?
    A tennis ball.
  10. What has one head, one foot and four legs?
    A bed.
  11. What flies without wings?
    Time.
  12. What word contains all 26 letters?
    Alphabet.
  13. What is so fragile that saying its name breaks it?
    Silence.
  14. What kind of coat is best put on wet?
    A coat of paint.

The fsh one is either the best or the worst riddle on this page and I have never been able to decide which.

Riddles for teens

Slightly darker, slightly cleverer, and they hold up to a second reading.

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. What belongs to you but is used more by others?
    Your name.
  4. A man dies of thirst in his own home. How?
    He lives in a houseboat and it has run out of drinking water.
  5. What can you break without touching it?
    A promise.
  6. What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?
    The letter M.
  7. What has 88 keys but cannot open a door?
    A piano.
  8. What runs around a whole field but never moves?
    A fence.
  9. The more you have of it, the less you see. What is it?
    Darkness.
  10. What is always in front of you but you can never reach it?
    The horizon.
  11. What has a bank but no money?
    A river.
  12. What can travel the world without leaving its corner?
    A stamp.
  13. What is bought by the yard and worn by the foot?
    Carpet.
  14. What is broken every time it is spoken?
    Silence.
  15. What has cities, but no houses, and you fold it up?
    A map.

Animal riddles

Every answer is an animal. Saying that up front makes them easier, so decide whether you want to mention it.

  1. I have a long neck and spots, and I sleep about half an hour a day. What am I?
    A giraffe.
  2. I carry my house on my back and I am never in a hurry. What am I?
    A snail.
  3. I have eight arms and three hearts. What am I?
    An octopus.
  4. I am black and white and I cannot fly, but I am an excellent swimmer. What am I?
    A penguin.
  5. I change colour to hide, and my eyes move separately. What am I?
    A chameleon.
  6. I sleep upside down and see with sound. What am I?
    A bat.
  7. I have a trunk but I am not a tree, and a great memory. What am I?
    An elephant.
  8. I build a home from silk and wait very patiently. What am I?
    A spider.
  9. I am the fastest land animal but I tire quickly. What am I?
    A cheetah.
  10. I can regrow my tail if I lose it. What am I?
    A lizard.
  11. I have stripes, and no two of us have the same pattern. What am I?
    A zebra.
  12. I am a bird that cannot fly and I bury my head in nothing at all, despite what people say. What am I?
    An ostrich.
  13. I have no bones and no brain, and I have drifted the ocean for millions of years. What am I?
    A jellyfish.
  14. I am a mammal that lays eggs and has a bill. What am I?
    A platypus.

Food riddles

Read these before lunch at your own risk.

  1. I am red, I have a green hat, and I am technically a fruit that everyone treats as a vegetable. What am I?
    A tomato.
  2. I have layers, I make people cry, and I am not sad about it. What am I?
    An onion.
  3. I am yellow, curved, and I come in a bunch. What am I?
    A banana.
  4. You throw away my outside, cook my inside, then eat my outside and throw away my inside. What am I?
    Corn on the cob.
  5. I am white, I come from a cow, and I turn into cheese if you leave me alone long enough. What am I?
    Milk.
  6. I have holes all over me but I still hold together. What am I?
    Swiss cheese.
  7. I am small, round, green, and I hide under a mattress in a fairy tale. What am I?
    A pea.
  8. I am hot, round, and I get cut into triangles at parties. What am I?
    A pizza.
  9. I am a seed, a snack and a butter all at once. What am I?
    A peanut.
  10. I am brown, I melt in your hand, and I come from a bean. What am I?
    Chocolate.
  11. I have a shell, I am eaten at breakfast, and I come before or after the chicken depending on who you ask. What am I?
    An egg.
  12. I am a fruit with my seeds on the outside, which is very rude of me. What am I?
    A strawberry.

Corn on the cob is the best food riddle ever written and it is not close. The instructions are completely accurate and completely baffling.

Hard riddles for adults

Save these. There is no point handing someone a hard riddle when they are halfway through an easy set and already warmed up.

  1. A man is looking at a photograph and says, brothers and sisters I have none, but that man’s father is my father’s son. Who is in the photo?
    His son.
  2. What occurs once in a year, twice in a week, but never in a day?
    The letter E.
  3. I am the beginning of everything, the end of everywhere. I am the beginning of eternity, the end of time and space. What am I?
    The letter E.
  4. Two coins add up to 30 pence and one of them is not a 20. What are they?
    A 20 and a 10. One of them is not a 20, the other one is.
  5. Feed me and I live, give me a drink and I die. What am I?
    Fire.
  6. A woman has two sons born in the same hour of the same day of the same year, but they are not twins. How?
    They are two of triplets.
  7. What is seen in the middle of March and April that cannot be seen at the beginning or end of either?
    The letter R.
  8. I am an odd number. Take away one letter and I become even. What am I?
    Seven.
  9. What can you hold in your left hand but never in your right?
    Your right elbow.
  10. A boy and an engineer are fishing. The boy is the engineer’s son but the engineer is not the boy’s father. Who is the engineer?
    His mother.
  11. Three doctors said Bill was their brother. Bill said he had no brothers. Who is lying?
    Nobody. The doctors are his sisters.
  12. What English word is nine letters long and can remain a word at every step as you remove one letter, down to a single letter?
    Startling, which goes startling, starting, staring, string, sting, sing, sin, in, I.
  13. A man leaves home and turns left three times, only to return home facing two masked men. Who are they?
    A catcher and an umpire.
  14. I am something people love or hate. I change people’s appearances and thoughts. If a person takes care of themselves I will go up even higher. To some people I will fool them. To others I am a mystery. What am I?
    Age.
  15. What is it that after you take away the whole, some still remains?
    The word wholesome.
  16. What five letter word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?
    Short.
  17. You walk into a room with a match, a kerosene lamp, a candle and a fireplace. Which do you light first?
    The match.

The photograph one is the riddle I have seen cause the most arguments between adults who are both completely certain and completely wrong.

More jokes to try next

Before you go

Give someone a riddle and then leave the room. The answer is worth about four times more when they arrive at it themselves an hour later, usually while doing something unrelated. That delay is the entire product.

Questions people ask

What is a good riddle for a young child?

Anything from the first section. Riddles that describe a familiar object work best, because the child can picture their way to the answer instead of needing wordplay.

What is the difference between a riddle and a brain teaser?

Riddles usually hide the answer in language, brain teasers usually hide it in logic. Plenty of puzzles are both.

How do you solve a hard riddle?

Read it twice and look for the assumption you made on the first pass. Most hard riddles work by letting you fill in a detail nobody actually stated.

Are riddles good for the classroom?

They are one of the few time fillers that get quiet children talking, which is why teachers keep using them. One at the start of a lesson works better than a whole page.

What is the oldest riddle in the world?

The riddle of the Sphinx is the most famous old one. Versions of it turn up in Greek myth, and it asks what walks on four legs in the morning, two at noon, and three in the evening. The answer is a person.


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