RIDDLES

1. Lovely and round, I’m shimmery white, grown in the darkness, a lady’s delight. What am I?
Answer: A pearl

2. Two mums and two daughters went out for dinner and each ate one portion. Only three
portions were eaten in total, how is this possible?
Answer: It was a grandmother (who is a mother), a mother (who is a mother and a daughter),
and a daughter who went out for dinner.

3. What breaks yet never falls, and what falls yet never breaks?
Answer: Day and night

4. People knead me to buy things. What am I?

Answer: Dough

5. You walk into a room with a rabbit holding a carrot, a pig eating slop, and a chimp holding a
banana. Which animal in the room is the smartest?
Answer: You, hopefully.

6. If it takes 5 elves, 5 minutes to make 5 dolls, then how long will it take 100 elves to make
100 dolls?
Answer: It takes 1 elf 5 minutes to make a doll, so it would take 100 elves 5 minutes to make
100 dolls.

7. A man is trapped in a room. The room has only two possible exits: two doors. Through the
first door, there is a room constructed from magnifying glass. The blazing hot sun instantly fries
anything or anyone that enters. Through the second door, there is a fire-breathing dragon. How
does the man escape?
Answer: He waits until night time and then goes through the first door.
8. A certain crime is punishable if attempted but not punishable if committed. What is it?
Answer: Suicide

9. Mr. Brown was killed on Sunday afternoon. His wife said she was reading a book at the time.
The butler said he was taking a shower. The chef said he was making breakfast. The maid said
she was folding clothes, and the gardener said he was planting tomatoes. Who did it?
Answer: The chef. Mr. Brown was killed in the afternoon and yet the chef claimed he was
making breakfast?

10. If you have a three-liter jug, a five-liter jug, and an unlimited supply of mulled wine, how
would you get exactly four liters without estimating?
Answer: Fill the five-gallon jug. Then, fill the three-gallon jug from the five-gallon one, leaving
two gallons. Pour out the wine from the three-gallon jug. Transfer the wine from the five-gallon
jug to the three-gallon jug. Fill the five-gallon jug and use it to fill the remaining space for one
gallon in the three-gallon jug. You will be left with four gallons of wine in the five-gallon jug.

11. How many bananas can you eat if your stomach is empty?
Answer: Just one. After that, your stomach is no longer empty.

12. I can be hot or cold. I can run and be still. I can be hard and soft. What am I?
Answer: Water

13. How can you tell that Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are about to get married?
Answer: They all have rings.

14. How can kids can drink beer and not get drunk?
Answer: They can drink root beer!

15. A man sails off on a cruise between Mexico and the USA. He doesn’t speak to anyone, stop
at any ports, or even come out of his cabin, yet he makes $300,000 from his trip. How?
Answer: He’s a smuggler.

16. A woman shoots her husband. Then she holds him underwater for over 5 minutes. Finally,
she hangs him. But 5 minutes later they both go out together and enjoy a wonderful dinner. How
can this be?
Answer: The woman was a photographer. She shot a picture of her husband, developed it, and
hung it up to dry.

17. A man rode into town on Tuesday, and left two days later on Tuesday. How so?
Answer: Tuesday was his horse’s name.

18. Why can’t we take a picture of a man with a wooden leg?

Answer: A wooden leg is not a camera.

19. I have four wings, but cannot fly. I never laugh and never cry. On the same spot, I’m always
found, toiling away with little sound. What am I?
Answer: A windmill!

20. You see a boat filled with people, yet there isn’t a single person on board. How is that
possible?
Answer: Everyone is married.

21. I am taken from a mine, and shut up in a wooden case, from which I am never released; yet
I am used by almost everybody. What am I?
Answer: Pencil lead.
22. A man and a dog were going down the street. The man rode, yet walked. What was the
dog’s name?
Answer: Yet.

23. What does a dog do that a man steps into?

Answer: Pants.

24. What has four legs like a dog, two eyes like a dog, looks just like a dog but is not a dog?
Answer: A picture of a dog.

25. What has a neck but no head?

Answer: A bottle.
26. What has a head but no neck?
Answer: A beer.

27. What is the difference between a jailer and a jeweler?

Answer: A jailer watches cells and a jeweler sells watches.

28. How would I draw a line, then make it longer without touching it?
Answer: I’d have to draw a shorter line. Then the first line would be longer.

29. If everyone in the U.S. bought a white car, what would the country be?
Answer: A white car-nation.

30. I have keys but no locks. You can enter, but you can’t go outside. I have space but no room.
What am I?
Answer: A keyboard.

61. What do you answer even though it never asks you questions?
Answer: A doorbell or a phone

62. What word describes a woman who does not have all her fingers on one hand?
Answer: Typical. She would not be so if she had 10 fingers on one hand.

63. First, think of the person who lives in disguise, who deals in secrets and tells naught but
lies. Next, tell me what’s always the last thing to mend, the middle of the middle and the end of
the end? Finally, give me the sound often heard during the search for a hard-to-find word. Now,
string them together, and answer me this: Which creature would you be unwilling to kiss?
Answer: A spider
64. Mr. and Mrs. Mustard have 6 daughters and each daughter has one brother. How many
people are in the Mustard family?
Answer: There are 9 Mustards in the family. Since each daughter shares the same brother, there
are 6 girls, 1 boy, and Mr. and Mrs. Mustard.

65. What word in the English language does the following: the first two letters signify a male,
the first three letters signify a female, the first four letters signify a great, while the entire word
signifies a great woman. What is the word?
Answer: Heroine. He Her Hero Heroine

66. How can you drop a raw egg from a height onto a concrete floor without cracking it?
Answer: Concrete floors are very hard to crack.

67. Strip the skin under my skin, and my flesh you’ll reveal. It tastes sweet and tart, now throw
out the peel. What is it?
Answer: Orange

68. Which of the following is the largest? Triangle, circle, square, or rectangle?
Answer: Rectangle, it has the most letters

69. What building has the most stories?

Answer: A library

70. Pronounced as 1 letter, And written with 3, 2 letters there are, and 2 only in me. I’m double,
I’m single, I’m black blue, and grey, I’m read from both ends, and the same either way. What am
I?
Answer: Eye

71. Sometimes I shine, sometimes I’m dull, sometimes I am big, and sometimes I am small. I
can be pointy, I can be curved, and don’t ask me questions because even though I’m sharp, I’m
not smart enough to answer you. What am I?
Answer: A knife

72. It was an especially hot day and a man was walking in the desert. In the distance, the man
suddenly saw a restaurant. He rejoiced, ran to it, and immediately asked the waiter for a glass of
water. Instead, the waiter pulled out a gun and pointed it at the man’s head. The man replied
with, “thank you.” Why did the man thank the waiter?
Answer: It was a water gun!

73. Who has married many women but was never married?
Answer: The priest
74. I come from a mine and get surrounded by wood always. Everyone uses me. What am I?
Answer: Pencil lead

75. I am believed to be one-dimensional, and tinier than anything can be. Many say I’m the
basis of all that we see. What am I?
Answer: A string

76. Break it and it gets better; set it and it’s harder to break.
Answer: Record

77. Forward, I am heavy; backward, I am not. What am I?

Answer: A ton

78. You measure my life in hours and I serve you by expiring. I’m quick when I’m thin and
slow when I’m fat. The wind is my enemy.
Answer: A candle

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

80. The cock crew, the sky was blue, and the bells in heaven were striking 11. ‘Tis time for this
poor soul To go to heaven. What am I?
Answer: The fox burying his grandmother under a hollybush.

81. A doctor and a bus driver are both in love with the same woman, an attractive girl named
Sarah. The bus driver had to go on a long bus trip that would last a week. Before he left, he gave
Sarah seven apples. Why?
Answer: An apple a day keeps the doctor away!

82. You have me today, Tomorrow you’ll have more; As your time passes, I’m not easy to
store; I don’t take up space, But I’m only in one place; I am what you saw, But not what you see.
What am I?
Answer: Memories

83. If two snakes marry, what will their towels say?

Answer: Hiss and hers

84. On Christmas Eve, when Santa leaves his workshop at the North Pole, what direction does
he travel?
Answer: South. The only way to travel from the North Pole is south.

85. What four-letter word ends in it and can be found at the bottom of birdcages?
Answer: Grit
86. People make me, save me, change me, raise me. What am I?
Answer: Money

87. If someone is packing heat what are they carrying?

Answer: A gun.

88. Four cars come to a four-way stop, each coming from a different direction. They can’t
decide who got there first, so they all go forward at the same time. All 4 cars go, but none crash
into each other. How is this possible?
Answer: They all made right-hand turns.

89. With pointed fangs, I sit and wait. With piercing force, I crunch out fate. Grabbing victims,
proclaiming might, physically joining with a single bite. What am I?
Answer: A stapler

90. When does Christmas come before Thanksgiving?

Answer: In the dictionary.

91. A drunk man comes home and finds his wife in bed with another man. He goes and grabs
his gun out of the closet! What was opened first?
Answer: A bottle.

92. If the end of the year is on December 31st, what is the end of Christmas?
Answer: The letter ‘s.’ It’s the last letter in Christmas, so it’s obviously the end!

93. What does a man do only once in his lifetime, but women do once a year after they are 29?
Answer: Turn 30

94. What did the smelly feet and smelly shoes say to each other before going on a long day of
walking?
Answer: This socks!

95. I have a head like a cat and feet like a cat, but I am not a cat. What am I?
Answer: A kitten

96. Two in a corner, one in a room, zero in a house, but one in a shelter. What am I?

Answer: The letter “R.”

97. A plane crashed between the border of France and Belgium. Where were the survivors
buried?

Answer: They weren’t. Survivors don’t need to be buried.

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

Answer: Nothing

99. What runs, but never walks. Murmurs, but never talks. Has a bed, but never sleeps. And has a
mouth, but never eats?

Answer: A river

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

Answer: A map

101. Spelled forwards I’m what you do every day, spelled backward I’m something you hate.
What am I?

Answer: Live

102. The person who makes it has no need of it; the person who buys it has no use for it. The
person who uses it can neither see nor feel it. What is it?

Answer: A coffin

103. 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

104. No matter how little or how much you use me, you change me every month. What am I?

Answer: A calendar

105. I have branches, but no fruit, trunk, or leaves. What am I?

Answer: Bank

106. What belongs to you, but everyone else uses it.

Answer: Your name

107. If your uncle’s sister is not your aunt, what relation is she to you?

Answer: Your mother

108. What starts with a T, ends with a T, and has T in it?

Answer: A teapot

109. The 22nd and 24th presidents of the United States of America had the same parents but
were not brothers. How can this be possible?

Answer: They were the same man—Grover Cleveland

110. If two’s company, and three’s a crowd, what are four and five?

Answer: Nine

111. Sara has four daughters, and each of her daughters has a brother. How many children does
Sara have?

Answer: Five—each daughter has the same brother.

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

Answer: They weigh the same

113. Take one out and scratch my head, I am now black but once was red. What am I?

Answer: A match

114. Two fathers and two sons are in a car, yet there are only three people in the car. How?

Answer: They are grandfather, father, and son

115. Until I am measured, I am not known. Yet how you miss me, When I have flown. What am
I?

Answer: Time

116. How much dirt is in a hole that’s two feet by three feet?

Answer: None, it’s a hole.

117. What begins with an “e” and only contains one letter?

Answer: An envelope

118. What do you throw out when you want to use it but take in when you don’t want to use it?

Answer: An anchor

119. What word in the dictionary is spelled incorrectly?

Answer: Incorrectly

120. A man goes out in heavy rain with nothing to protect him from it. His hair doesn’t get wet.
How does he do that?

Answer: He’s bald.

121. What word is pronounced the same if you take away four of its five letters?

Answer: Queue

122. What is so fragile that saying its name breaks it?

Answer: Silence

123. What can fill a room but takes up no space?

Answer: Light

124. Forwards I am heavy, backward I am not. What am I?

Answer: Ton

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

Answer: Short

126. What has to be broken before you can use it?

Answer: An egg

127. What has a neck but has no head?

Answer: Guitar

128. What occurs once in a minute, twice in a moment, and never in 1,000 years?

Answer: The letter “M.”

129. What kind of coat is always wet when you put it on?

Answer: A coat of paint.

130. How many bananas can you eat if your stomach is empty?

Answer: Just one—after that, your stomach’s not empty anymore.

131. Which letter of the alphabet has the most water?

Answer: C

132. What has ten letters and starts with gas?

Answer: Automobile

133. What goes up but never comes down?

Answer: Your age

134. What tastes better than it smells?

Answer: Your tongue

135. Jared’s father has three sons: Snap, Crackle and…?

Answer: Jared

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

Answer: A promise

137. Which month has 28 days?

Answer: All of them

138. What has legs, but does not walk?

Answer: A chair

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

Answer: Darkness

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

Answer: A piano

141. What runs around the whole yard without moving?

Answer: Fence

142. Where does today come before yesterday?

Answer: In the dictionary

143. What goes up and down but doesn’t move?

Answer: A staircase

144. What is harder to catch the faster you run?

Answer: Your breath

145. What flowers are kissable?

Answer: Tulips

146. What has hands, but can’t clap?

Answer: A clock

147. What has words, but never speaks?

Answer: A book

148. What has a head and a tail but no body?

Answer: A coin

149. What building has the most stories?

Answer: The library

150. I am weightless but put me in a bucket and I will make it lighter. What am I?

Answer: A hole