Riddles have long been a favorite way to challenge the mind, spark creativity, and offer light-hearted fun. Whether you enjoy a simple brain teaser or a complex puzzle, riddles are perfect for keeping your mind sharp and your friends entertained. They test your ability to think outside the box, requiring you to see problems from different angles and to connect the dots in unexpected ways.
From classic riddles that have been around for centuries to newer, more modern twists, this list of 100 best riddles offers something for everyone. Whether you’re looking to impress at a gathering, share a clever puzzle with a friend, or simply enjoy a mental workout, these riddles will have you thinking, laughing, and maybe even scratching your head. Dive in and see how many you can solve!
1. What has keys but can’t open locks?
Answer: A piano
2. The more of this there is, the less you see. What is it?
Answer: Darkness
3. What has a head, a tail, but no body?
Answer: A coin
4. What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?
Answer: The letter “M”
5. I speak without a mouth and hear without ears. I have no body, but I come alive with wind. What am I?
Answer: An echo
6. What can travel around the world while staying in the same corner?
Answer: A stamp
7. The more you take, the more you leave behind. What am I?
Answer: Footsteps
8. What has to be broken before you can use it?
Answer: An egg
9. I’m tall when I’m young, and I’m short when I’m old. What am I?
Answer: A candle
10. What has a heart that doesn’t beat?
Answer: An artichoke
11. What is so fragile that saying its name breaks it?
Answer: Silence
12. What is always in front of you but can’t be seen?
Answer: The future
13. I’m light as a feather, yet the strongest person can’t hold me for long. What am I?
Answer: Your breath
14. What has cities, but no houses; forests, but no trees; and rivers, but no water?
Answer: A map
15. I shave every day, but my beard stays the same. Who am I?
Answer: A barber
16. What has an eye but cannot see?
Answer: A needle
17. I’m found in socks, scarves, and mittens; and often in the paws of playful kittens. What am I?
Answer: Yarn
18. What has many needles but doesn’t sew?
Answer: A Christmas tree
19. Where does today come before yesterday?
Answer: In a dictionary
20. What building has the most stories?
Answer: A library
21. What can you catch but not throw?
Answer: A cold
22. What runs, but never walks; has a bed, but never sleeps?
Answer: A river
23. What gets wetter as it dries?
Answer: A towel
24. What goes up but never comes down?
Answer: Your age
25. What can fill a room but takes up no space?
Answer: Light
26. What word is spelled incorrectly in every dictionary?
Answer: Incorrectly
27. What has one eye, but can’t see?
Answer: A needle
28. What has four fingers and a thumb, but isn’t alive?
Answer: A glove
29. What has a neck but no head?
Answer: A bottle
30. What begins with T, ends with T, and has T in it?
Answer: A teapot
31. I have branches, but no fruit, trunk, or leaves. What am I?
Answer: A bank
32. The more you take, the more you leave behind. What am I?
Answer: Footsteps
33. What can be cracked, made, told, and played?
Answer: A joke
34. I’m not alive, but I grow; I don’t have lungs, but I need air. What am I?
Answer: Fire
35. What invention lets you look right through a wall?
Answer: A window
36. What can you hold in your left hand but not in your right?
Answer: Your right elbow
37. What is always on its way but never arrives?
Answer: Tomorrow
38. What can be broken but never held?
Answer: A promise
39. What comes down but never goes up?
Answer: Rain
40. The more you have of it, the less you see. What is it?
Answer: Darkness
41. I have keys but no locks. I have space but no room. You can enter, but you can’t go outside. What am I?
Answer: A keyboard
42. What has a thumb and four fingers but isn’t alive?
Answer: A glove
43. What has many teeth but can’t bite?
Answer: A comb
44. What begins with an “e” and only contains one letter?
Answer: An envelope
45. I have lakes with no water, mountains with no stone, and cities with no buildings. What am I?
Answer: A map
46. What is so light that even the strongest man can’t hold it for more than a few minutes?
Answer: Breath
47. I have no doors, but I have keys. I have no rooms, but I have space. You can enter, but you cannot leave. What am I?
Answer: A keyboard
48. The more you take, the more you leave behind. What am I?
Answer: Footsteps
49. What has hands but can’t clap?
Answer: A clock
50. What has a bed but doesn’t sleep, and a mouth but doesn’t eat?
Answer: A river
51. What gets bigger the more you take away?
Answer: A hole
52. What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?
Answer: The letter “M”
53. What can travel around the world but stays in one spot?
Answer: A stamp
54. What is always in front of you but can’t be seen?
Answer: The future
55. What goes up and down but never moves?
Answer: A staircase
56. What can you keep after giving to someone?
Answer: Your word
57. What is full of holes but still holds water?
Answer: A sponge
58. What gets sharper the more you use it?
Answer: Your brain
59. What belongs to you but is used more by others?
Answer: Your name
60. What has a ring but no finger?
Answer: A telephone
61. What has teeth but cannot bite?
Answer: A comb
62. What runs around the whole yard without moving?
Answer: A fence
63. What has a bottom at the top?
Answer: Your legs
64. I am taken from a mine and shut up in a wooden case, from which I am never released, and yet I am used by almost every person. What am I?
Answer: Pencil lead
65. The more you have, the less you see. What am I?
Answer: Fog
66. What word is pronounced the same if you take away four of its five letters?
Answer: Queue
67. I’m not alive, but I can grow; I don’t have lungs, but I need air. What am I?
Answer: Fire
68. What has a face and two hands, but no arms or legs?
Answer: A clock
69. What is always in front of you but can never be seen?
Answer: The future
70. What has a mouth but doesn’t speak, and a bed but doesn’t sleep?
Answer: A river
71. I have streets but no pavement, I have cities but no buildings, I have forests but no trees, I have rivers yet no water. What am I?
Answer: A map
72. What begins with an “e” and contains only one letter?
Answer: An envelope
73. I go in hard but come out soft, and I never get angry. What am I?
Answer: Chewing gum
74. What can you hold in your right hand but never in your left?
Answer: Your left hand
75. I can fill a room, but I take up no space. What am I?
Answer: Light
76. I am always hungry, I must always be fed. The finger I touch will soon turn red. What am I?
Answer: Fire
77. What can you catch but never throw?
Answer: A cold
78. What is light as a feather, yet the strongest man can’t hold it for more than a few minutes?
Answer: Breath
79. What is black when it’s clean and white when it’s dirty?
Answer: A chalkboard
80. What can be broken without being touched?
Answer: A promise
81. What flies without wings?
Answer: Time
82. I have branches but no fruit, trunk, or leaves. What am I?
Answer: A bank
83. What five-letter word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?
Answer: Short
84. What gets sharper the more you use it?
Answer: Your brain
85. What is so delicate that even mentioning it breaks it?
Answer: Silence
86. What can you keep after giving it to someone?
Answer: Your word
87. What comes down but never goes up?
Answer: Rain
88. I am an odd number. Take away one letter and I become even. What number am I?
Answer: Seven
89. What has 13 hearts but no organs?
Answer: A deck of cards
90. The more you take, the more you leave behind. What are they?
Answer: Footprints
91. What is so light that the strongest person in the world can’t hold it for more than five minutes?
Answer: Breath
92. What has a ring but no finger?
Answer: A telephone
93. What has a head, a tail, but no body?
Answer: A coin
94. What has many keys but can’t open a single lock?
Answer: A piano
95. What can you throw but never catch?
Answer: A party
96. What has many needles but doesn’t sew?
Answer: A Christmas tree
97. What kind of coat can only be put on when it’s wet?
Answer: A coat of paint
98. The more of me you take, the more you leave behind. What am I?
Answer: Footsteps
99. What can run but never walks, has a mouth but never talks, has a head but never weeps, and has a bed but never sleeps?
Answer: A river
100. What has hands but can’t clap?
Answer: A clock
These 100 riddles span from fun and easy to those that will make you think deeply, providing entertainment and challenges for both kids and adults alike. Try these out with your friends, family, or even just as a fun way to challenge yourself! With riddles like these, you’ll never run out of ways to keep your mind sharp and conversations lively.
