All Riddles

If eight men can build eight walls in eight hours, how many men could build four walls in four hours?

What has words but never speaks?

What can fill a room but takes up no space?

What has to be broken before you can use it?

What kind of coat can only be put on when wet?

Forward I am heavy, but backward I am not. What am I?

What has a neck but no head?

What weighs more: a pound of feathers or a pound of gold?

Four brothers run around the world, but never meet each other. Who are they?

What can’t be used until it’s broken?

I’m light as a feather, yet the strongest person can’t hold me for more than a few minutes. What am I?

A man was walking in the rain. He didn’t have an umbrella and he wasn’t wearing a hat. His clothes got soaked, yet not a single hair on his head got wet. How could this happen?

I have cities but no houses, forests but no trees, and rivers but no water. What am I?

What has a head and a tail but no body?

What has a bottom at the top?

What kind of room has no doors or windows?

What falls but never breaks, and breaks but never falls?

What is so delicate that saying its name breaks it?

What two things can you never eat for breakfast?

The more of this there is, the less you see. What is it?

Everyone has it and no one can lose it. What is it?

What invention lets you look right through a wall?

What belongs to you but others use it more than you do?

It’s red, blue, purple and green. No one can reach it, not even the queen. What is it?

I am a three-digit number. My tens digit is six more than my ones digit. My hundreds digit is eight less than my tens digit. What number am I?

What is louder than a dinosaur snoring?

What starts with ‘e’, ends with ‘e’, and contains only one letter?

A doctor gives you three pills and tells you to take one every half hour. How long will the pills last?

Four men were in a boat on the lake. The boat turns over, and all four men sink to the bottom of the lake, yet not a single man got wet! Why?

What can burn the eyes without touching them?

What word looks the same upside down and backwards?

What loses its head in the morning and gets it back at night?

What has a head, a tail, is brown, and has no legs?

What can you keep after giving to someone?

What gets wet while drying?

What English word has three consecutive double letters?

Seven men have seven wives. Each wife has seven sacks. Each sack has seven cats. Each cat has seven kittens. How many legs are there in all?

If you divide 30 by half and add 10, what do you get?

What is always coming but never arrives?

What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?

The more you take away, the larger I become. What am I?

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 every person. What am I?

What has keys but no locks, space but no room, and you can enter but can’t go in?

What can go up and never come down?

What has a neck but no head?

They come at night without being called and are lost in the day without being stolen. What are they?

A cowboy rides into town on Friday, stays three days, and leaves on Friday. How is this possible?

What building has the most stories?

What can run but never walks, has a mouth but never talks, has a head but never weeps, has a bed but never sleeps?

What is cut on a table, but never eaten?

What is black when you buy it, red when you use it, and gray when you throw it away?

David’s parents have three sons: Snap, Crackle, and ____?

How many months have 28 days?

What 8-letter word has one letter in it?

You saw me where I never was and where I could not be. And yet within that very place, my face you often see. What am I?

What gets bigger when more is taken away?

What can go up and down stairs without moving?

What has many keys but can’t open a single lock?

What word is spelled incorrectly in every dictionary?

A man is looking at a photograph of someone. His friend asks who it is. The man replies, ‘Brothers and sisters, I have none. But that man’s father is my father’s son.’ Who is in the photograph?

Take off my skin and I won’t cry, but you will. What am I?

Everyone has it but no one can lose it. What is it?

What has a face and two hands but no arms or legs?

What gets broken without being held?

What has 13 hearts but no other organs?

What goes up but never comes down?

What can travel around the world while staying in a corner?

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

What has a head and a tail but no body?

The more there is, the less you see. What am I?

What five-letter word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?

What is so fragile that saying its name breaks it?

What building has the most stories?

Using only addition, add eight 8’s to get the number 1,000.

I’m tall when I’m young, and I’m short when I’m old. What am I?

I have cities without houses, forests without trees, and rivers without water. What am I?

What has many teeth but can’t bite?

Poor people have it. Rich people need it. If you eat it, you die. What is it?

What gets wetter as it dries?

What kind of clock is only right twice a day?

What can you see in the middle of March and April that you can’t see at the beginning or end of either month?

What is at the beginning of eternity, the end of time and space, the beginning of every end, and the end of every race?

Two fathers and two sons went fishing. They caught three fish which they divided equally, so each person got exactly one fish. How is this possible?

What’s full of holes but still holds water?

A blind man walked into a restaurant and ordered a meal. When he was done, he asked for the bill, looked at it, and left a tip. How did he read the bill?

What has cities but no houses, forests but no trees, and rivers but no water?

What has keys but no locks, space but no room, and you can enter but not go in?

The more you take, the more you leave behind. What are they?

I’m light as a feather, yet the strongest person can’t hold me for more than a few minutes. What am I?

You see me once in June, twice in November, but not at all in May. What am I?

What disappears as soon as you say its name?

The person who makes it, sells it. The person who buys it, never uses it. The person who uses it, never sees it. What is it?

If you have me, you want to share me. If you share me, you haven’t got me. What am I?

I’m not alive, but I grow; I don’t have lungs, but I need air; I don’t have a mouth, but water kills me. What am I?

I am your brother but you are not my brother. Who am I?

What can you break, even if you never pick it up or touch it?

What’s always in front of you but can’t be seen?

The more of me you take, the more you leave behind. What am I?

I run all day but never walk. I have a mouth but never talk. I have a bed but never sleep. I have a head but never weep. What am I?

What English letter flies, sings, and stings?

What’s in a forest but never grows, is in rivers but never flows, is in a valley but never blows, is in the present but never grows?

A man buys a horse for $60, sells it for $70, buys it back for $80, and finally sells it for $90. How much profit did he make?

You’re in a prison with 2 doors. One leads to freedom, the other to execution. There are 2 guards, one by each door. One guard always tells the truth, the other always lies. You don’t know which is which. You can ask one question to one guard to determine the door to freedom. What do you ask?

What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?

A king has 1000 bottles of wine. A neighboring queen plots to kill him and has poisoned one of the bottles. The poison is so potent that even if diluted by a million, it would still kill the king. The poison takes 24 hours to take effect. The king has 10 servants. How can he determine which bottle is poisoned in just one day?

Two trains started simultaneously from stations A and B and proceeded towards each other. They met at a place 120 km away from station A. After meeting, they took 9 hours and 16 hours respectively to reach their destinations. What is the distance between stations A and B?

There are 100 closed doors in a row, numbered 1 to 100. A person walks by each door, opening every door. A second person walks by each door, closing every second door (doors 2, 4, 6, …). A third person walks by, toggling every third door (closing open doors, opening closed doors). This continues for 100 people. After all 100 people have walked by, which doors are open?

I’m not a bird, but I can fly. I’m not a river, but I flow. I’m not alive, but I grow. What am I?

A basketball player scores 18 points in a game. All of his shots were either 2-pointers or 3-pointers. He scored exactly twice as many 2-pointers as 3-pointers. How many 2-pointers did he score?

You have a fox, a chicken, and a sack of grain. You need to cross a river in a small boat that can only hold you and one other item. If left alone, the fox will eat the chicken, and the chicken will eat the grain. How do you get all three across safely?

What has cities, but no houses; forests, but no trees; and water, but no fish?

What belongs to you, but others use it more than you do?

What gets bigger the more you take away?

If you have me, you want to share me. If you share me, you no longer have me. What am I?

What word in the English language has three consecutive double letters?

You are in a dark room with a candle, a wood stove, and a gas lamp. You only have one match, so what do you light first?

What grows when it eats but dies when it drinks?

Three prisoners are lined up single file, all facing forward. A wall separates the first prisoner from the other two. They are told that they will have either a black or a white hat placed on their head. Each prisoner can see the hats of the people in front of them, but not their own hat or the hats behind them. The third prisoner (at the back) can see the hats of the two people in front. The second person can see only the hat of the first person. The first person can’t see any hats. They are asked to identify the color of their own hat. If they guess wrong, they will be executed. If they refuse to guess, they will be imprisoned for life. How can they maximize the number of people who correctly identify their hat color?

A brick weighs 3 pounds plus half its weight. How much does the brick weigh?

What begins with T, ends with T, and has T in it?

You have two identical ropes that burn irregularly. Each rope takes exactly 60 minutes to burn completely. How can you measure 45 minutes?

You have 9 identical looking balls but one weighs slightly more than the others. Using a balance scale, what’s the minimum number of weighings to find the heavier ball?

What has a face and two hands but no arms or legs?

Four people need to cross a rickety bridge at night. They have one flashlight and the bridge is too dangerous to cross without it. The bridge is only strong enough to support two people at a time. Not all people take the same time to cross the bridge. Times for each person: 1 min, 2 mins, 7 mins, and 10 mins. What is the shortest time needed for all four to cross the bridge?

What shape has the most sides?

A drawer contains 10 blue socks and 10 red socks. Without looking, how many socks must you take out to ensure you have a matching pair?

A boy fell off a 30-foot ladder but didn’t get hurt. How is this possible?

Two fathers and two sons went fishing. Each caught exactly one fish and brought it home. There were only three fish in total. How is this possible?

I speak without a mouth and hear without ears. I have no body, but I come alive with wind. What am I?

A man is found dead in a circular room with no windows and no doors. There is a table and a puddle of water on the floor. How did he die?

What 4-letter word can be written forward, backward, or upside down, and still be the same word?

I can be cracked, made, told, and played. What am I?

What can you hold in your right hand but not in your left?

I’m light as a feather, yet the strongest person can’t hold me for more than a few minutes. What am I?

If 5 cats can catch 5 mice in 5 minutes, how many cats would be needed to catch 100 mice in 100 minutes?

You have a 3-gallon jug and a 5-gallon jug. How can you measure exactly 4 gallons of water?

In a house there are 3 light switches, all in the off position. Each controls one of 3 light bulbs in a room upstairs. You can flip the switches as many times as you want, but you can only go upstairs once to check the bulbs. How do you determine which switch controls which bulb?

Two trains enter a tunnel 200 miles long. Train A travels at 70 mph, Train B at 50 mph. How long after they enter will they meet?

There are 3 missionaries and 3 cannibals who need to cross a river. The boat can only hold 2 people at a time. If the cannibals ever outnumber the missionaries on either side of the river, the missionaries will be eaten. How can they all cross safely?

What has 88 keys but can’t open a single door?

I’m not alive, but I grow; I don’t have lungs, but I need air; I don’t have a mouth, but water kills me. What am I?

What has 13 hearts but no other organs?

What building has the most stories?

The more you take, the more you leave behind. What am I?

How many times a day do the hands of a clock overlap?

A man lives on the 10th floor of a building. Every morning he takes the elevator down to the ground floor to go to work. When he returns in the evening, he takes the elevator to the 7th floor and walks up the stairs to his apartment on the 10th floor. However, on rainy days, he takes the elevator all the way to the 10th floor. Why?

A barber shaves all those, and only those, who do not shave themselves. Who shaves the barber?

If you have a bowl with six apples and you take away four, how many do you have?

What breaks but never falls, and what falls but never breaks?

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?

What invention lets you look right through a wall?

What can travel around the world while staying in a corner?

What has a head and a tail but no body?

What can you catch but never throw?

What grows the more it is shared?

What ancient practice involves clever word puzzles that challenge the mind?

This statement is false. Is the statement true or false?

I am not alive, but I grow; I don’t have lungs, but I need air; I don’t have a mouth, but water kills me. What am I?

Which is heavier: a pound of feathers or a pound of rocks?

If you have me, you want to share me. If you share me, you haven’t got me. What am I?

What gets wetter and wetter the more it dries?

How many months have 28 days?

What is black when you buy it, red when you use it, and gray when you throw it away?

What has to be broken before you can use it?

I run, yet I have no legs. What am I?

What has roots that nobody sees, is taller than trees, up, up it goes, and yet never grows?

The more you take, the more you leave behind. What am I?

I am always hungry, I must always be fed. The finger I touch will soon turn red. What am I?

What belongs to you, but other people use it more than you?

What has a head and a tail but no body?

I am not alive, but I grow; I don’t have lungs, but I need air; I don’t have a mouth, but water kills me. What am I?

What is so fragile that saying its name breaks it?

What walks on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon, and three legs in the evening?

What moves faster: heat or cold?

I have no life, but I can die. What am I?

What has keys, but no locks; space, but no room; and you can enter, but not go in?

What is always coming but never arrives?

What can be broken, but is never held?

I have cities, but no houses. I have mountains, but no trees. I have water, but no fish. What am I?

I am not alive, but I grow; I don’t have lungs, but I need air; I don’t have a mouth, but water kills me. What am I?

If you multiply me by any number, the sum of the digits in the result will always be 9. What number am I?

You are trapped in a room with three doors. One leads to a room of blazing fire, one to a room with assassins with loaded guns, and the third to a room with lions that haven’t eaten in three years. Which door do you open?

A time traveler goes back in time and kills his grandfather before his father is conceived. What happens?

What 8-letter word can have a letter taken away and it still makes a word. Take another letter away and it still makes a word. Keep on doing that until you have one letter left. What is the word?

I have cities, but no houses. I have mountains, but no trees. I have water, but no fish. What am I?

A father is 4 times as old as his son. In 20 years, the father will be twice as old as his son. How old are they now?

A broken clock shows the correct time twice a day, but a clock that is 5 minutes fast never shows the correct time. Why?