Skip to content

Riddles

Got it 0

Missed 0

Streak 0

Best 0

Every card has a riddle on the front and the answer on the back. Think first, and be honest about whether you got it.

How to play

  1. Read the riddle on the card and take your time.
  2. Stuck? Tap Hint for a small push. It does not give the answer away.
  3. Tap the card to flip it and see the answer.
  4. Be honest: tap Got it or Missed it. Your score and streak keep count, and every five in a row gets a little celebration.

Pick a group such as Kids, Hard or Logic, or stay on All for a mix. To try one on a friend, tap Send this riddle. They get the riddle without the answer, and they can flip the card themselves.

All 166 riddles with answers

Here is every riddle in the game, with its answer in bold. Cover the answers with your hand if you want to try them, or read them out to the family.

Kids

  • I have a face and two hands, but I have never washed either one. What am I? A clock
  • Climb my steps to go up, then whoosh down my back. What am I? A slide
  • Every bath makes me thinner, until I am too small to hold. What am I? Soap
  • I have a tongue but I cannot taste, and I go everywhere your foot goes. What am I? A shoe
  • I am full of teeth, but I have never bitten anyone. I visit your hair every morning. What am I? A comb
  • I show you oceans with no water and roads with no cars. What am I? A map
  • The moment the rain starts falling, up I go. What am I? An umbrella
  • I fly when the wind is strong, but a long string stops me from escaping. What am I? A kite
  • I have four legs but I cannot take one step, and the family eats dinner at me. What am I? A table
  • I have a neck but no head, and I wear a little cap. What am I? A bottle
  • You can see me in a still pond, but I never get wet. Wave, and I wave back. What am I? Your reflection
  • The more you take away from me, the bigger I get. Shovels love me. What am I? A hole
  • My yellow jacket peels right off before lunch, and monkeys are big fans of mine. What am I? A banana
  • I have plenty of keys, but I cannot open a single door. You tap me to write. What am I? A computer keyboard
  • I help you dry off, and I end up soaking wet. What am I? A towel
  • I follow you on sunny days and vanish in the dark. I copy every move, but I never speak. What am I? Your shadow
  • Every morning I stop on your street and pick up a crowd of children. I bring them back in the afternoon. What am I? A school bus
  • I am white and cold. You can roll me into a ball, but I melt in warm hands. What am I? Snow
  • I wear stripes, I buzz from flower to flower, and I make something sweet. What am I? A bee
  • I have a long trunk, but I never pack it for a trip. What am I? An elephant
  • I carry my home on my back and leave a shiny trail behind me. What am I? A snail
  • It was given to you when you were born, but other people use it far more than you do. What is it? Your name
  • I have a spine but no bones, and lots of leaves but no branches. What am I? A book
  • The longer I stay lit, the shorter I get. What am I? A candle
  • I grow in a field and I have many ears, but not one of them can hear. What am I? Corn
  • I fall from the clouds, and puddles are my children. What am I? Rain
  • You can catch me without using your hands, and nobody wants to keep me. What am I? A cold
  • Which room has no walls, no door and no windows, and grows in the forest? A mushroom
  • Blow into me and I get bigger. Poke me with a pin and I am gone with a bang. What am I? A balloon
  • I wake up the whole farm each morning, and I wear a red comb on my head. What am I? A rooster
  • I look like a horse in black and white pajamas. What am I? A zebra
  • My jacket is green, my inside is red, and I am full of black seeds. What am I? A watermelon

Easy

  • I have a bed I never sleep in and a mouth that never eats. What am I? A river
  • You can hold me without using your hands, but not for very long. What am I? Your breath
  • I only ever go up, never down, and nobody can stop me. What am I? Your age
  • I am always ahead of you, but you can never see me or catch up with me. What am I? The future
  • I am covered in needles but I have never sewn a stitch, and I stay green all winter. What am I? A pine tree
  • I have a thumb and four fingers, but I am not alive. What am I? A glove
  • I have one eye and I cannot see a thing, but I can pull thread through cloth. What am I? A needle
  • I run all the way around the yard, and I never move an inch. What am I? A fence
  • I begin with T, I end with T, and I am full of T. What am I? A teapot
  • I sit in one corner of an envelope, and I travel all over the world. What am I? A postage stamp
  • I have a head and a tail, but no arms, no legs and no belly. What am I? A coin
  • I go over hills and through towns, and I stay exactly where I am. What am I? A road
  • I ring without wearing any jewelry, and I bring voices into the room. What am I? A telephone
  • You put food on me three times a day, but nobody ever eats me. What am I? A plate
  • I can fill a whole room and not take up an inch of it. Flip a switch to meet me. What am I? Light
  • When I grow, your eyes get less useful, and a flashlight is my worst enemy. What am I? Darkness
  • Say my name and you have already ended me. What am I? Silence
  • Give me away and you still have me, and very often you get one back. What am I? A smile
  • I am always on my way, but the moment I arrive, people call me something else. What am I? Tomorrow
  • I stretch a long way, I hold things together, and I sting when I snap back. What am I? A rubber band
  • I have many branches, but you will not find one leaf on me. People trust me with their money. What am I? A bank
  • I fly when you are having fun, and I have no wings. What am I? Time
  • I can be cracked, I can be told, and if I am good, you laugh. What am I? A joke
  • Easy to get into, hard to get out of, and your parents always hear about it. What is it? Trouble
  • I have bark but I never bite, and rings but no fingers. What am I? A tree
  • You have to break me before you can use me, and I am a breakfast favorite. What am I? An egg
  • You can serve me, but nobody eats me. I bounce back and forth over a net. What am I? A tennis ball
  • I have two legs, but I only walk when someone is inside me. What am I? A pair of pants
  • I stay in one place but carry you up and down, as long as you do the walking. What am I? A staircase
  • There are too many of us to count, and you only see us at night when the sky is clear. What are we? The stars

Hard

  • I answer every shout but never start a conversation, and I always get the last word. What am I? An echo
  • With every one you take, you leave one behind you. What are they? Footsteps
  • You will find me in the middle of March and April, but never at the start or end of either month. What am I? The letter R
  • Add two letters to this word, and it gets shorter. Which word? Short
  • Take the first two letters away from this five-letter rock, and one is left. Which word? Stone
  • Forward, I weigh a great deal. Backward, I am a small word that refuses. Which word am I? Ton
  • I turn up once in a minute and twice in a moment, but not at all in a thousand years. What am I? The letter M
  • I appear when you sit down and vanish when you stand up, and you can never take me with you. What am I? Your lap
  • You will find me once in a year and twice in a week, but never in a day. What am I? The letter E
  • Someone invented a way of seeing straight through a solid wall. What is it? A window
  • What sits at the very end of every rainbow? The letter W
  • Give me wood and I grow. Give me a bucket of water and I am gone. What am I? Fire
  • You grow me without trying and cut me without pain, and I live at the ends of your fingers. What am I? Your fingernails
  • It starts with E, ends with E, and holds just one letter. What is it? An envelope
  • Tell me to one person and I might survive. Tell me to everyone and I am gone. What am I? A secret
  • I come out of a mine, I get locked inside wood, and I never leave, yet students use me every day. What am I? Pencil lead
  • Which word is always spelled wrong, even in the best dictionary? The word "wrong"
  • I have a head and a foot with only a blanket in between, and you spend a third of your life with me. What am I? A bed
  • I am a foot long but I have no toes, and I help you draw straight lines. What am I? A ruler
  • Trace me with your finger, and you will never reach my beginning or my end. What am I? A circle
  • You throw me out when you need me and haul me back in when you do not. Sailors know me well. What am I? An anchor
  • Which letter of the alphabet is wider than any lake? The letter C
  • You can measure me without a ruler or a scale, and every weather report mentions me. What am I? The temperature
  • I have three eyes stacked in a column. When my top eye opens, every car stops. What am I? A traffic light
  • What has 26 letters, yet takes only three syllables to say? The alphabet
  • I am a seed with three letters in my name. Take away the last two and I still sound the same. What am I? A pea
  • I shrink all morning, I am at my smallest at noon, and I grow again all afternoon. What am I? Your shadow
  • I was yesterday's tomorrow, and I will be tomorrow's yesterday. What am I? Today
  • What can you put in a bucket to make it lighter? A hole
  • This word has six letters. Take away the last one, and twelve is what remains. Which word? Dozens
  • Written in capitals, this midday word reads the same backward and looks the same upside down. Which word? NOON

Logic

  • Some months have 30 days and some have 31. How many have 28? All twelve
  • Which weighs more: a kilo of feathers or a kilo of iron? Neither. They both weigh one kilo.
  • A shepherd has 23 sheep. All but 8 wander off. How many are left? 8
  • You are in a race and you overtake the runner in second place. What place are you in now? Second
  • Two fathers and two sons share three oranges, and each gets a whole orange. How is that possible? They are a grandfather, his son and his grandson.
  • Divide 30 by a half, then add 10. What do you get? 70
  • A rooster lays an egg on the very top of a sloped roof. Which way does the egg roll? It does not. Roosters do not lay eggs.
  • How many times can you subtract 5 from 25? Once. After that, you are subtracting from 20.
  • You are driving a bus with 12 passengers. At the first stop, 4 get off and 3 get on. What color are the driver's eyes? The same color as yours. You are the driver.
  • A clock takes 5 seconds to strike 6. How long does it take to strike 12? 11 seconds
  • A drawer holds 10 black socks and 10 white socks. In the dark, how many must you take out to be sure of a matching pair? Three
  • If two people take two days to dig a hole, how long do they take to dig half a hole? They cannot. A hole is a hole, however big it is.
  • A notebook and a pencil cost 110 cents together. The notebook costs 100 cents more than the pencil. How much is the pencil? 5 cents. The notebook is 105 cents.
  • 5 machines take 5 minutes to make 5 buttons. How long do 100 machines take to make 100 buttons? 5 minutes
  • A patch of water lilies doubles in size every day and covers a whole lake on day 30. On what day does it cover half the lake? Day 29
  • A snail climbs a 10-meter wall. It goes up 3 meters each day and slides down 2 meters each night. On which day does it reach the top? Day 8
  • A brick weighs one kilo plus half a brick. How much does a whole brick weigh? Two kilos
  • Which is correct: "the yolk of an egg is white" or "the yolk of an egg are white"? Neither. The yolk is yellow.
  • If three cats catch three mice in three minutes, how long does one cat take to catch one mouse? Three minutes
  • You have six apples and you take away four. How many do you have? Four
  • A family has four sisters, and each sister has one brother. How many children are in the family? Five
  • An electric train is heading north, and the wind blows from the east. Which way does its smoke go? Nowhere. Electric trains make no smoke.
  • Before anyone measured Mount Everest, what was the tallest mountain in the world? Still Mount Everest
  • Three switches outside a closed room control one bulb inside. You may go in only once. How do you find the right switch? Turn the first on for a few minutes, turn it off, turn the second on, then go in. Lit is the second, warm is the first, cold is the third.
  • With a 4-minute and a 7-minute sand timer, how do you measure exactly 9 minutes? Start both. Flip the 4 when it ends, and flip the 7 when it ends. When the 4 ends again, 8 minutes have gone, and flipping the 7 gives one more minute.
  • With a 3-liter jug and a 5-liter jug, how do you measure exactly 4 liters? Fill the 5 and pour into the 3, leaving 2. Empty the 3, pour the 2 in, fill the 5 again and top up the 3. That leaves 4 in the big jug.
  • You have nine coins, and one is lighter than the rest. What is the fewest weighings on a balance scale that always finds it? Two
  • A farmer must cross a river with a fox, a chicken and a sack of grain, taking one at a time. Left alone, the fox eats the chicken and the chicken eats the grain. How does it work? Take the chicken over and return. Take the fox over and bring the chicken back. Take the grain over and return. Take the chicken over.
  • Two guards stand at two doors, and one door leads out. One guard always lies and the other always tells the truth. You get one question. What do you ask? Ask either guard which door the other would point to as the exit, then take the other door.
  • A rope ladder hangs from a boat with three rungs under water. The tide rises by 40 centimeters. How many rungs are under water now? Still three. The boat rises with the tide.
  • A child stands in a line, seventh from the front and seventh from the back. How many children are in the line? 13
  • What letter comes next: O, T, T, F, F, S, S? E, for eight. They are the first letters of one, two, three and so on.
  • What letter comes next: J, F, M, A, M, J? J, for July. They are the first letters of the months.
  • A parent is 30 years older than a child. In five years the parent will be exactly twice the child's age. How old is the child now? 25
  • You walk into a dark room with one match. In it are a candle, a lamp and a stove. What do you light first? The match
  • Six glasses stand in a row: the first three are full and the last three are empty. Moving only one glass, how do you make them alternate full and empty? Pour the second glass into the fifth, then put it back.
  • Name three days in a row without saying Monday, Wednesday or Friday. Yesterday, today and tomorrow

What am I?

  • I have a lid but no pot and a ball but no game, and you use me to see. What am I? Your eye
  • I cross rivers without getting wet and carry cars on my back. What am I? A bridge
  • I go up and down all day and never leave the building, and I often say "ding" when I arrive. What am I? An elevator
  • I am a house you can fold up and carry on your back, and I am happiest outdoors. What am I? A tent
  • I show you your own face, and I always get left and right the wrong way round. What am I? A mirror
  • I have many steps but I have never walked anywhere. Lean me against a wall and climb up. What am I? A ladder
  • My teeth lock together when you pull me, and I keep your jacket shut. What am I? A zipper
  • I have two blades and a pair of finger holes, and I open my mouth to cut paper. What am I? Scissors
  • I rub out your mistakes, and I get smaller every time I do. What am I? An eraser
  • Every one of my pages is a month, and by the end of December I am out of date. What am I? A calendar
  • I have two wheels and no engine, and I fall over without you. What am I? A bicycle
  • Turn me any way you like, and I will still point north. What am I? A compass
  • With one click I can stop a moment and keep it for years. What am I? A camera
  • I have a plus and a minus, and when I run out, the remote control stops working. What am I? A battery
  • I come out after the rain with all my colors, and nobody can ever walk to my end. What am I? A rainbow
  • You cannot see me, but trees bow to me and I steal hats. What am I? The wind
  • I float in the sky, I am made of water, and I can look like almost anything. What am I? A cloud
  • I am water that has gone hard, and I float in your glass. What am I? Ice
  • Some nights I am round and some nights I am thin, and all my light is borrowed. What am I? The moon
  • Nobody should stare straight at me. I wake the plants up, and I set every evening. What am I? The sun
  • I cross the desert for days without a drink, and I carry my stores in a hump on my back. What am I? A camel
  • I can see over every fence and I eat from the tops of trees. What am I? A giraffe
  • I turn my head almost all the way around, and I do my hunting at night. What am I? An owl
  • I wear a black and white suit. I cannot fly, but I am an excellent swimmer. What am I? A penguin
  • I have eight arms and three hearts, and I squirt ink when I get a fright. What am I? An octopus
  • I spin my home from thread I make myself, and flies regret visiting. What am I? A spider
  • I used to crawl on leaves. I took a long rest in a case, and I came out with bright wings. What am I? A butterfly
  • I am tiny and I start under the soil. Give me water and time, and I can become a tree. What am I? A seed
  • You knock on me before you come in, and I have a handle but no cup. What am I? A door
  • I have teeth but I never chew. I live on a ring, and I open what is locked. What am I? A key
  • I live in your mouth, you brush me twice a day, and when you are little I fall out. What am I? A tooth
  • I am soft, I lie on your bed, and you rest your head on me every night. What am I? A pillow
  • I ride on your shoulders to school, and all your books fit inside me. What am I? A backpack
  • I sit on top of your house, and the rain never gets past me. What am I? A roof
  • People feed me letters, but I never read one. I wait by the gate or on the corner. What am I? A mailbox
  • I am sweet, brown and sticky, and I grow in big bunches at the top of a palm tree. What am I? A date

Frequently asked questions

Where can I find riddles for kids with answers?

Choose the Kids group in the game, or scroll down to the full list, where every riddle has its answer in bold. They are about everyday things children know, such as clocks, soap, shoes and animals.

Do you have riddles for adults and hard riddles?

Yes. The Hard group is full of wordplay and spelling tricks, and the Logic group has proper puzzles about jugs, sand timers and guards at two doors. All of them are clean and fine for the whole family.

What are "what am I" riddles?

They are riddles written in the first person, describing something without naming it, and you have to work out what it is. The What am I? group has plenty of them, from a compass to an octopus.

How does the score work?

You mark each riddle yourself after you see the answer. Got it adds one to your score and your streak. Missed it resets your streak to zero. There is no timer, so think as long as you like.

Can I send a riddle to a friend without the answer?

Yes. Send this riddle shares a link to that riddle over WhatsApp, and Copy gives you the riddle and the link to paste anywhere. The answer stays hidden until they flip the card.

Is it free? Do I need an account?

It is free, with no account and nothing to install. Your score stays on your screen and is not saved anywhere.

We normally do WhatsApp for a living.

Oxtro gives businesses a shared WhatsApp inbox, campaigns and a messaging API on a number they already own. These riddles are what we made when we wanted a break from all that.