Riddles with Answers
One riddle on the card, a room full of guesses, and the answer one tap away.
- Time
- 10–30 min
- Players
- One or more people
- Best for
- Car rides, family gatherings and team breaks
- Deck
- 150 riddles in 6 categories
How to use these riddles
- Pick a category from the menu under the card, or keep “All categories”.
- Read the riddle on the top card aloud and let everyone guess.
- Tap “Show answer”, then “Next riddle”, or swipe the card away, for another. Riddles do not repeat until you have seen the whole category.
- Tap the heart to save a riddle on this device, or tap “Make a 10-riddle list” to copy riddles with their answers.
When to play riddles
A riddle needs nothing but one person reading and everyone else thinking, so it fits a car, a couch or the few minutes before a meeting starts. The answer is always one tap away, which keeps a stumped room from getting stuck.
A long car ride
Word riddles and Tricky riddles work best out loud, like the cowboy who rides into town on Friday, and each one can fill a mile or two of guessing.
A family gathering
Easy riddles and What am I? give every relative a fair shot. Someone always shouts “a candle” or “footsteps” first, and the next card goes to them.
A team break
Read two or three Everyday objects or Tricky riddles at the start of a meeting or over lunch. They take a minute each and get the whole table talking.
Ways to play with these riddles
Whoever solves it reads next
One player reads a riddle aloud and the others call out guesses. The first person to get it right takes the phone and reads the next card. If nobody has it after a minute or two, the reader taps “Show answer” and keeps the phone for one more turn.
Two teams, one riddle each
Split into two teams that take turns. The reader draws a card for the other team, which gets one minute to talk it over and give a single answer. A right answer earns a point, and a team may trade half a point for a hint, like the first letter.
Riddles for a long drive
The passenger reads, and the driver and the back seat guess. Pick Word riddles or Tricky riddles, since they need no pictures, just careful listening. Anyone stuck can ask to hear the riddle one more time before the answer comes out.
Tips for a good riddle round
- Start with Easy riddles and Everyday objects so everyone gets a quick win, then move to Tricky riddles once the group is warmed up.
- Read each riddle slowly, and twice if anyone asks. Word riddles and tricky ones often turn on a single word.
- If a guess fits every clue, count it, even when the card has a different answer. Some riddles have more than one fair solution.
All 150 riddles by category
The complete list, grouped by category. The cards above draw from the same list, so you can read ahead here and play there.
Easy riddles
Quick classics to warm up with, like a towel that gets wetter as it dries.
- What has to be broken before you can use it?Answer: an egg
- What gets wetter the more it dries?Answer: a towel
- What has hands and a face but can’t clap or smile?Answer: a clock
- What is full of holes but still holds water?Answer: a sponge
- What belongs to you, but other people use it more than you do?Answer: your name
- What has a thumb and four fingers but isn’t alive?Answer: a glove
- What has a head and a tail but no body?Answer: a coin
- What has a head, a foot and four legs, but never goes for a walk?Answer: a bed
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- What has a tongue but can’t talk, and goes everywhere you walk?Answer: a shoe
- What has cities but no houses, forests but no trees, and rivers but no water?Answer: a map
- What runs all the way around the backyard without moving?Answer: a fence
- What goes up and down all day but never leaves its spot in the house?Answer: a staircase
- What can travel around the world while staying in one corner?Answer: a stamp
- What is always in front of you but can never be seen?Answer: the future
- What has a neck and sometimes wears a cap, but has no head?Answer: a bottle
- What is black when you buy it, red when you use it and gray when you’re done with it?Answer: charcoal
- What has eighty-eight keys but can’t open a single door?Answer: a piano
- What kind of coat can only go on when it’s wet?Answer: a coat of paint
- What has one eye but can’t see, and pulls a thread wherever it goes?Answer: a needle
- What has a cover and a spine and is full of words, but never speaks?Answer: a book
- What is always coming but never arrives?Answer: tomorrow
- What has a ring but no finger?Answer: a phone
- What has lots of teeth but never bites, and spends its mornings in your hair?Answer: a comb
- What can fill a whole room but takes up no space at all?Answer: light
- What starts out in hundreds of pieces and ends up as one picture?Answer: a jigsaw puzzle
Everyday objects
Things around the house in disguise: a kettle, a ladder, a broom, a deck of cards.
- What has keys and space but no room, and you can enter but never go inside?Answer: a keyboard
- What gets smaller every time it takes a bath?Answer: a bar of soap
- What has four legs and holds your dinner every night, but never takes a single step?Answer: a table
- What has two rows of teeth and closes your jacket with one pull?Answer: a zipper
- What has a spout and a handle, and whistles when the water is ready?Answer: a kettle
- What runs when you turn it on but never leaves the sink?Answer: a faucet
- What is a foot long, has no feet, and helps you draw a straight line?Answer: a ruler
- What has a long tail and flies on a string, but isn’t a bird?Answer: a kite
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- What says “welcome” without a word and gets stepped on all day?Answer: a doormat
- What can you look into and always find someone looking back?Answer: a mirror
- What spins all day near the ceiling but never gets dizzy?Answer: a ceiling fan
- What has a head but no brain, and gets hit on it every time it’s used?Answer: a nail
- What has two arms and a back but no hands, and holds just one person at a time?Answer: an armchair
- What has a long cord and a hungry mouth, and eats crumbs off the floor?Answer: a vacuum cleaner
- What goes in dry, comes out wet, and makes the drink stronger the longer it stays?Answer: a tea bag
- What has dates on it but never eats a single one?Answer: a calendar
- What gets shorter every time it’s sharpened?Answer: a pencil
- What gets rolled out to the curb full once a week and comes back empty?Answer: a trash can
- What lights up over a cartoon character’s head when they get an idea?Answer: a light bulb
- What has lots of buttons and changes the channel without anyone leaving the couch?Answer: a remote control
- What has a hook and shoulders but no head, and spends its days in a closet?Answer: a coat hanger
- What do you lean against a wall to climb, though it never climbs anything itself?Answer: a ladder
- What is full of holes but still catches all the noodles?Answer: a colander
- What has long bristles and a long handle, and dances across the kitchen floor?Answer: a broom
- What do you put on a table and cut, but never eat?Answer: a deck of cards
Nature and animals
Rivers, clouds, kangaroos and octopuses, each hiding behind a few clues.
- What runs but never walks, has a mouth but never talks, and has a bed but never sleeps?Answer: a river
- What has ears but can’t hear, and grows in tall rows on a farm?Answer: corn
- What has a heart that never beats and leaves you pull off one by one?Answer: an artichoke
- What has rings but no fingers, and adds a new ring every year?Answer: a tree
- What flies without wings and cries without eyes?Answer: a cloud
- What has a trunk and big flapping ears, but never packs a suitcase?Answer: an elephant
- What wears a fur coat all winter and pants all summer?Answer: a dog
- What kind of dog keeps the best time?Answer: a watchdog
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- What carries its house on its back and leaves a shiny trail behind it?Answer: a snail
- What looks like a horse in striped pajamas?Answer: a zebra
- What jumps when it walks and sits when it stands?Answer: a kangaroo
- What is green in spring, turns red or gold in fall, and gets raked into piles?Answer: a leaf
- What seems to change shape every night but is always round?Answer: the moon
- What gets up in the east, goes to bed in the west, and never needs an alarm?Answer: the sun
- What has seven colors, shows up when the sun shines through rain, and can never be reached?Answer: a rainbow
- What falls without a sound in winter and can be rolled into a big ball?Answer: snow
- Which bird can lift the heaviest loads?Answer: a crane
- What has eight arms and three hearts, and squirts ink?Answer: an octopus
- What makes something sweet from flowers and buzzes while it works?Answer: a bee
- What grows upside down, gets longer in the cold and drips in the sun?Answer: an icicle
- What comes in and goes out along the beach twice a day without taking a step?Answer: the tide
- What has a head like a cat, feet like a cat and a tail like a cat, but isn’t a cat?Answer: a kitten
- What grows a wool coat, gets a haircut in spring and says “baa”?Answer: a sheep
- What can you walk through but never hold, and hides the hills in the morning?Answer: fog
- What can you hear and feel but never see, and makes the trees wave?Answer: the wind
Word riddles
Letters, spelling and puns, like the room with no doors or the longest word.
- What kind of room has no doors and no windows?Answer: a mushroom
- What kind of tree can you carry in your hand?Answer: a palm
- What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment and never in a thousand years?Answer: the letter M
- What starts with T, ends with T and is full of T?Answer: a teapot
- What kind of band never plays music but holds a stack of papers together?Answer: a rubber band
- Which building has the most stories?Answer: a library
- Which word is heavy going forward but not going backward?Answer: ton
- What word gets shorter when you add two letters to it?Answer: short
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- What starts with E, ends with E and holds only one letter?Answer: an envelope
- Which word is spelled wrong in every dictionary?Answer: wrong
- What is in the middle of Paris?Answer: the letter R
- Which letter of the alphabet holds the most water?Answer: the letter C
- Drop my first letter for a musical sound, two for a number. I skip across ponds. What am I?Answer: stone
- What is the longest word in the dictionary?Answer: smiles, with a mile inside
- Which word has three double letters in a row?Answer: bookkeeper
- What word starts with IS, ends with AND and has LA in the middle?Answer: island
- Which letter comes next: J, F, M, A, M, J, J…?Answer: A, for August
- What comes next in this row: O, T, T, F, F, S, S, E…?Answer: N, for nine
- What kind of key opens a banana?Answer: a monkey
- Which word reads the same forward and backward and names the middle of the day?Answer: noon
- What holds all twenty-six letters but is spelled with only eight?Answer: the alphabet
- What kind of nut has a hole in the middle and no shell?Answer: a doughnut
- What can you find in seconds, minutes and centuries, but never in days, years or decades?Answer: the letter N
- I’m a grain. Drop my first letter for warmth, two for what you do at dinner. What am I?Answer: wheat
- What has four eyes but can’t see a thing?Answer: Mississippi
What am I?
Riddles told in the first person: the thing describes itself, and you name it.
- I’m tall when I’m young and short when I’m old. What am I?Answer: a candle
- I answer you back without a mouth, but I only repeat what you just said. What am I?Answer: an echo
- The more of me you take, the more you leave behind. What am I?Answer: footsteps
- I follow you everywhere on a sunny day but vanish when the lights go out. What am I?Answer: your shadow
- Say my name and I’m gone. What am I?Answer: silence
- I’m lighter than a feather, but nobody can hold me for more than a few minutes. What am I?Answer: your breath
- I fly when you’re having fun and crawl when you’re waiting. What am I?Answer: time
- I can be cracked, made, told and played. What am I?Answer: a joke
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- I shave every day, but my own beard never gets any shorter. What am I?Answer: a barber
- I’m baked, frosted and topped with candles, and everyone sings before I’m cut. What am I?Answer: a birthday cake
- I’m wound into a ball, knitted into scarves and chased by kittens. What am I?Answer: yarn
- I have lots of seats, stop at every other corner and carry strangers across town. What am I?Answer: a bus
- I have no wings, yet I rise into the sky from every chimney. What am I?Answer: smoke
- I’m green outside, red inside and full of black seeds. What am I?Answer: a watermelon
- I’m made of water, yet I disappear when you drop me in water. What am I?Answer: an ice cube
- I twinkle in the night sky, and people make wishes on me. What am I?Answer: a star
- I get sliced, buttered and toasted. What am I?Answer: bread
- Someone spends ten minutes putting me on, and you tear me off in seconds. What am I?Answer: wrapping paper
- I’m bought by the yard and worn by the foot. What am I?Answer: a carpet
- I’m an odd number, but take away one letter and I become even. What am I?Answer: seven
- I sparkle on the grass at sunrise and disappear before lunch. What am I?Answer: dew
- I have lots of eyes but can’t see, and you can mash, bake or fry me. What am I?Answer: a potato
- I’m full of holes, but I can still catch a fish. What am I?Answer: a fishing net
- I’m made of glass and full of sand, and I tell you when your time is up. What am I?Answer: an hourglass
- I float on a string at parties, grow when you blow into me and pop if you blow too hard. What am I?Answer: a balloon
Tricky riddles
Harder ones that hide the answer in plain sight. Listen to every word.
- Some months have thirty-one days. How many have twenty-eight?Answer: all twelve of them
- What do you throw out when you want to use it and pull back in when you’re done?Answer: an anchor
- What has four wheels and flies?Answer: a garbage truck
- Which side of a cat has the most fur?Answer: the outside
- How can you drop a raw egg onto a concrete floor without cracking it?Answer: concrete is hard to crack
- A rooster lays an egg right on the peak of a barn roof. Which side does it roll down?Answer: roosters don’t lay eggs
- What can you add to a bucket to make it lighter?Answer: a hole
- Which is right: “The yolk of the egg are white” or “The yolk of the egg is white”?Answer: neither, yolks are yellow
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- There are three apples on a table and you take away two. How many apples do you have?Answer: two
- A farmer has seventeen sheep, and all but nine wander off. How many are left?Answer: nine
- Before anyone measured Mount Everest, what was the tallest mountain in the world?Answer: Mount Everest
- Two fathers and two sons go fishing. Each catches one fish, and they bring home three in all. How?Answer: a grandpa, dad and son
- What can you keep even after you give it to someone?Answer: your word
- If you have it, you want to share it. Once you share it, you don’t have it anymore. What is it?Answer: a secret
- Mary’s father has five daughters: Nana, Nene, Nini and Nono. What is the fifth daughter’s name?Answer: Mary
- How far can a dog run into the woods?Answer: halfway, then it’s running out
- In a race, you pass the runner in second place. What place are you in now?Answer: second
- Which is heavier: a pound of feathers or a pound of bricks?Answer: they weigh the same
- What has a neck but no head, and two arms but no hands?Answer: a shirt
- What can you see in a lake that never gets wet?Answer: a reflection
- An electric train heads north while the wind blows west. Which way does its smoke go?Answer: electric trains have no smoke
- What can go up a chimney down, but can’t go down a chimney up?Answer: an umbrella
- What goes through a door but never goes in or comes out?Answer: a keyhole
- Where does today always come before yesterday?Answer: in the dictionary
- A cowboy rides into town on Friday, stays three days and rides out on Friday. How?Answer: his horse is named Friday
Frequently asked questions
How many riddles are there?
There are 150 riddles, 25 in each of six categories: easy riddles, everyday objects, nature and animals, word riddles, what am I riddles and tricky riddles. Every riddle comes with its answer, shown on the card when you tap “Show answer” and printed under it in the list on this page.
How do you play a riddle game with a group?
Take turns as the reader, so everyone gets to ask as well as guess. Agree on a hint rule before you start, such as one hint after a minute, like the first letter of the answer. Ask everyone except the reader to keep their phones face down, so nobody looks an answer up.
Are these riddles good for work or a family gathering?
Yes. Every riddle is about everyday things like kettles, clouds, kangaroos and letters of the alphabet, with nothing private or awkward. Easy riddles and What am I? suit a mixed table of relatives, and three Tricky riddles make a quick warm-up before a meeting.
What should we play after riddles?
Try twenty questions, where one player thinks of something and the others narrow it down with yes-or-no questions, like a riddle the group builds together. For something more active, charades ideas has words to act out for the same kind of group.