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101 Riddles For Kids and Adults to

See Just How Smart You Really Are
From easy riddles to hard ones, give it your best shot.

PARADE • JUL 2, 2022

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N
eed a little break to unwind with some fun brain teasers? Check out
our ultimate list of the best riddles of all time.

They start off easy, and some are perfect riddles for kids. Others, however, are
hard and may require you to be a math whiz. Many are plays on letters and
words, so keep going if you’re undeterred. We even threw in some funny
riddles to keep you going. Now, if you make it toward the end, you can try the
rest, but beware: The hard riddles for adults will put you to the test!

Easy Riddles

1. Riddle: What has to be broken before you can use it?

Answer: An egg

2. Riddle: I’m tall when I’m young, and I’m short when I’m old. What am I?
Answer: A candle

3. Riddle: What month of the year has 28 days?

Answer: All of them

4. Riddle: What is full of holes but still holds water?

Answer: A sponge

5. Riddle: What question can you never answer yes to?

Answer: Are you asleep yet?

6. Riddle: What is always in front of you but can’t be seen?

Answer: The future

7. Riddle: There’s a one-story house in which everything is yellow. Yellow walls,

yellow doors, yellow furniture. What color are the stairs?
Answer: There aren’t any—it’s a one-story house.

8. Riddle. What can you break, even if you never pick it up or touch it?
Answer: A promise

9. Riddle: What goes up but never comes down?

Answer: Your age

10. Riddle: A man who was outside in the rain without an umbrella or hat didn’t
get a single hair on his head wet. Why?
Answer: He was bald.

11. Riddle: What gets wet while drying?

Answer: A towel

12. Riddle: What can you keep after giving to someone?

Answer: Your word

13. Riddle: I shave every day, but my beard stays the same. What am I?
Answer: A barber

14. Riddle: You see a boat filled with people, yet there isn’t a single person on
board. How is that possible?
Answer: All the people on the boat are married.

15. Riddle: You walk into a room that contains a match, a kerosene lamp, a
candle and a fireplace. What would you light first?
Answer: The match

16. Riddle: A man dies of old age on his 25 birthday. How is this possible?
Answer: He was born on February 29.

17. Riddle: I have branches, but no fruit, trunk or leaves. What am I?

Answer: A bank

18. Riddle: What can’t talk but will reply when spoken to?
Answer: An echo

19. Riddle: The more of this there is, the less you see. What is it?
Answer: Darkness

Riddles for Kids

20. Riddle: David’s parents have three sons: Snap, Crackle, and what’s the
name of the third son?
Answer: David

21. Riddle: I follow you all the time and copy your every move, but you can’t
touch me or catch me. What am I?
Answer: Your shadow

22. Riddle: What has many keys but can’t open a single lock?
Answer: A piano

23. Riddle: What can you hold in your left hand but not in your right?
Answer: Your right elbow

24. Riddle: What is black when it’s clean and white when it’s dirty?
Answer: A chalkboard

25. Riddle: What gets bigger when more is taken away?

Answer: A hole

26. Riddle: I’m light as a feather, yet the strongest person can’t hold me for five
minutes. What am I?
Answer: Your breath

27. Riddle: I’m found in socks, scarves and mittens; and often in the paws of
playful kittens. What am I?
Answer: Yarn

28. Riddle: Where does today come before yesterday?

Answer: The dictionary

29. Riddle: What invention lets you look right through a wall?
Answer: A window

30. Riddle: If you’ve got me, you want to share me; if you share me, you
haven’t kept me. What am I?
Answer: A secret

31. Riddle: What can’t be put in a saucepan?

Answer: It’s lid

32. Riddle: What goes up and down but doesn’t move?

Answer: A staircase

33. Riddle: If you’re running in a race and you pass the person in second
place, what place are you in?
Answer: Second place

34. Riddle: It belongs to you, but other people use it more than you do. What
is it?
Answer: Your name

RELATED: Trivia Questions for Kids

Funny Riddles

35. Riddle: What has lots of eyes, but can’t see?

Answer: A potato

36. Riddle: What has one eye, but can’t see?

Answer: A needle

37. Riddle: What has many needles, but doesn’t sew?

Answer: A Christmas tree

38. Riddle: What has hands, but can’t clap?

Answer: A clock

39. Riddle: What has legs, but doesn’t walk?

Answer: A table

40. Riddle: What has one head, one foot and four legs?
Answer: A bed

41. Riddle: What can you catch, but not throw?

Answer: A cold

42. Riddle: What kind of band never plays music?

Answer: A rubber band

43. Riddle: What has many teeth, but can’t bite?

Answer: A comb

44. Riddle: What is cut on a table, but is never eaten?

Answer: A deck of cards

45. Riddle: What has words, but never speaks?

Answer: A book

46. Riddle: What runs all around a backyard, yet never moves?
Answer: A fence

47. Riddle: What can travel all around the world without leaving its corner?
Answer: A stamp

48. Riddle: What has a thumb and four fingers, but is not a hand?
Answer: A glove

49. Riddle: What has a head and a tail but no body?

Answer: A coin

50. Riddle: Where does one wall meet the other wall?
Answer: On the corner

51. Riddle: What building has the most stories?

Answer: The library

52. Riddle: What tastes better than it smells?

Answer: Your tongue

53. Riddle: What has 13 hearts, but no other organs?

Answer: A deck of cards

54. Riddle: It stalks the countryside with ears that can’t hear. What is it?
Answer: Corn

55. Riddle: What kind of coat is best put on wet?

Answer: A coat of paint

56. Riddle: What has a bottom at the top?

Answer: Your legs

57. Riddle: What has four wheels and flies?

Answer: A garbage truck

RELATED: 101 Funny Quotes

Math Riddles

58. Riddle: I am an odd number. Take away a letter and I become even. What
number am I?
Answer: Seven

59. Riddle: If two’s company, and three’s a crowd, what are four and five?
Answer: Nine

60. Riddle: What three numbers, none of which is zero, give the same result
whether they’re added or multiplied?
Answer: One, two and three

61. Riddle: Mary has four daughters, and each of her daughters has a brother.
How many children does Mary have?
Answer: Five—each daughter has the same brother.

62. Riddle: Which is heavier: a ton of bricks or a ton of feathers?

Answer: Neither—they both weigh a ton.

63. Riddle: Three doctors said that Bill was their brother. Bill says he has no
brothers. How many brothers does Bill actually have?
Answer: None. He has three sisters.

64. Riddle: Two fathers and two sons are in a car, yet there are only three
people in the car. How?
Answer: They are a grandfather, father and son.

65. Riddle: The day before yesterday I was 21, and next year I will be 24. When
is my birthday?
Answer: December 31; today is January 1.

66. Riddle: A little girl goes to the store and buys one dozen eggs. As she is
going home, all but three break. How many eggs are left unbroken?
Answer: Three

67. Riddle: A man describes his daughters, saying, “They are all blonde, but
two; all brunette but two; and all redheaded but two.” How many daughters
does he have?
Answer: Three: A blonde, a brunette and a redhead

68. Riddle: If there are three apples and you take away two, how many apples
do you have?
Answer: You have two apples.

69. Riddle: A girl has as many brothers as sisters, but each brother has only
half as many brothers as sisters. How many brothers and sisters are there in
the family?
Answer: Four sisters and three brothers

Related: 101 Fun Facts

Word Riddles

70. Riddle: What five-letter word becomes shorter when you add two letters to
it?
Answer: Short
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71. Riddle: What begins with an "e" and only contains one letter?
Answer: An envelope
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Swimsuit
72. Riddle: A word I know, six letters it contains, remove one letter and 12 Snaps
remains. What is it?
Answer: Dozens
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