short problem solving riddles

50+ Best Short Riddles to Remember (With Answers)

These short riddles are great for kids , teens, and adults to answer . A good riddle is one that challenges and elevates your critical thinking and lateral thinking skills. It’s a brain puzzle that can be a fun learning technique for kids . For example, if you’re a math teacher, you could put a math-related riddle, logic puzzle , or even a math pun at the end of a quiz to keep your kids entertained while using their brains at the same time. 

Easy Riddles 

Here are some easy short riddles . Some of these might be trick questions , but your brain will be sure to find the answers no problem!

There is a single-story yellow and pink house and everything is yellow and pink: yellow bricks , yellow doors, yellow windows, yellow walls, a pink cat, a pink fish , a pink computer, a pink chair, a pink table, a pink telephone, a pink shower . What color is the staircase?

There are no stairs. It’s a one-story house .

Which will burn longer: the candles on the birthday cake of a boy or the candles on the birthday cake of a girl?

No candles burn longer–they all burn shorter. 

David’s father has three sons: Snap, Crackle and…? 

A monkey, a squirrel, and a bird are racing to the top of a coconut tree. Who gets to the banana first” the monkey, the squirrel, or the bird?

There are no bananas at the top of a coconut tree!

When does 11+3=2?

On a clock.

All 5 sisters are busy. Ann is reading a book , Rose is cooking, Katy is playing chess, and Mary is doing the laundry. What is the 5th sister doing?

She’s playing chess, of course! 

If you multiply me by any other number, the answer will always remain the same. What number am I?

A king, a queen, and two twins all lay in a large room. How are there no adults in the room?

They’re all beds!

Samuel was out for a walk when it started to rain. He did not have an umbrella and he wasn’t wearing a hat. His clothes were soaked, yet not a single hair on his head got wet. How could this happen?

Because Samuel is bald! 

Which is correct: 18 plus 19 is 36. Or 18 plus 19 are 36?

Actually, both are incorrect – 18 plus 19 is 37!

Which word is least like the others? Third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth?

Third, it is the only one not ending in “th”

What goes up and up, but never ever comes back down?

A person’s age

What has two humps and is found at the North Pole?

A lost camel!

During which month do people sleep the least?

February (There are fewer days!)

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

Tricky Riddles 

These are some tricky brain teasers that will force anyone to really use their brain in search of the answer . 

You walk into a room that contains a match, a kerosene lamp, a candle, and a fireplace. What would you light first?

The match. 

I’m the beginning of the end and the end of time and space. I am in everything and surround every place. What am I?

The letter “E”.

What word in the English language has three consecutive double letters? ( Clue : it’s a compound word .)

Bookkeeper.

A man was found murdered on Sunday morning. His wife immediately called the police. The police went to the crime scene and question the wife and staff and got these alibis: The wife said she was sleeping, the cook was eating breakfast, the gardener was picking vegetables, the maid was getting the mail, the butler was cleaning the closet. The police instantly arrested the murderer. Who did it and how did they know?

It was the Maid. She said she was getting the mail but there’s no mail on Sundays!

I am a word of 5 letters and people eat me. If you remove the first letter , I become a form of energy. Remove the first two and I’m needed to live. Scramble the last 3 and you can drink me. What am I?

Wheat, heat, eat, tea

A man is asked what his daughters look like. He answers, “they are all blondes, but two, all brunettes, but two, and all redheads, but two.” How many daughters does he have?

Three. One is blonde, one is brunette, and one is a redhead.

A plane crashed between the border of Canada and America. Where do you bury the survivors?

They are survivors, you don’t bury them.

In a bus, there is a 26-year-old pregnant lady, a 30-year-old policeman, a 52-year-old random woman, and the driver who is 65 years old. Who is the youngest?

The baby of the pregnant lady.

What has thirteen hearts but no other organs?

A deck of cards.

I am a five letter word . I sound the same when you remove my first letter . I sound the same when you remove my 3rd letter . I sound the same when you remove my last letter , and I sound the same when you remove all three. Which word am I?

Empty, mpty, emty, emp-t, m t.

A boy and an engineer were fishing. The boy is the son of the engineer but the engineer is the father of the boy. Then who is the engineer?

The engineer is the boy’s mother. 

You always find me in the past, I can be created in the present, but the future can never taint me. What am I?

A woman is sitting in her hotel room when there is a knock at the door. She opened the door to see a man whom she had never seen before. He said, “Oh I’m sorry. I have made a mistake. I thought this was my room.” He then went down the corridor and in the elevator. The woman went back into her room and phoned security. What made the woman so suspicious of this man ?

You don’t knock on your own hotel room door! 

How can you drop a raw egg on the concrete floor without cracking it?

The egg won’t crack the concrete floor! 

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 glasses. 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?

He waits until night time and then goes through the first door.

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

A is the brother of B. B is the brother of C. C is the father of D. So how is D related to A?

A is D’s aunt.

Jeff is younger than Rodney but older than Debbie. Larry is older than Erica who is older than Jeff. Rodney is older than Larry. Who is the middle child?

You are participating in the swimming finals at the Olympics. In the final few seconds of the race, you narrowly pass the swimmer who was in third place. What place did you get?

Jimmy’s mother had three children. The first was called April, the second was called May. What was the name of the third?

Challenging Riddles 

Here are some of our favorite riddles , ones that are a lot more fun because of how challenging they are. 

A murderer is condemned to death. He has to choose between three rooms: the first is full of raging fires; the second, assassins with loaded guns, and the third, with lions who haven’t eaten in years. Which room is the safest?

The room with the lions because the lions are already dead. 

My buddies and I were inseparable mates Til one by one were we split My teacher, she gave me a smack on the pate And off in the corner I sit. Admittedly still I’m not hitting the books Though now I’m hugging a tree I guess in the end it’s not bad as it looks I went from a C to a B…

( Hint : it’s an object)

I occur twice in eternity, and I’m always within sight. What am I?

The letter “T” 

A man is found murdered in his office. The suspects are Peter, Julie, Jason, Molly, and Brian. In the office is a calendar with the numbers 6,4,9,10,11 written in blood. Who is the killer?

Jason is the killer. The numbers indicate months and the first letter of each month spells the name of the murderer, e.g. the 6th month is June and the first letter of June is J, the 4th month is April and the first letter of April is a, and so on.

When I am alive I do not speak. Anyone who wants to takes me captive and cuts off my head. They bite my bare body. I do no harm to anyone unless they cut me first. Then I soon make them cry. What am I?

Which English word is the odd one out – Stun, Ton, Evil, Letter , Mood, Bad, Snap, Straw?

Tim and Mel are long-distance lovers. Tim has just purchased an engagement ring for Mel and wants to mail it to her. Unfortunately, the only way to ensure the ring will be received is to place a lock on the package. Tim has locks and Mel has locks but neither have keys for each others’ locks. How can they ensure the ring isn’t stolen?

Tim places a lock on the package and sends it to Mel. Mel places one of her locks on the package and sends it back to Tim. Tim removes his lock and sends the package back to Mel.

The answer I give is yes, but what I mean is no. What was the question ?

“Do you mind?”

There are 3 switches outside of a room, all in the ‘off’ setting. One of them controls a lightbulb inside the room, the other two do nothing. You cannot see into the room, and once you open the door to the room, you cannot flip any of the switches any more. Before going into the room, how would you flip the switches in order to be able to tell which switch controls the light bulb?

Flip the first switch and keep it flipped for five minutes. Then unflip it, and flip the second switch. Go into the room. If the lightbulb is off but warm, the first switch controls it. If the light is on, the second switch controls it. If the light is off and cool, the third switch controls it.

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?

You walk into a creepy house by yourself. There is no electricity, plumbing or ventilation. Inside you notice 3 doors with numbers on them. Once you open the doors you will die a particular way. Door #1 You’ll be eaten by a lion who is hungry. Door #2 You’ll be stabbed to death. Door #3 There is an electric chair waiting for you. Which door do you pick?

Door #3, Since There Is No Electricity To Harm You.

A spider was given $28, an ant was given $21 and a chicken was given $7. How much money did the dog get?

$14 ($3.50 per leg)

A bag of onions weighs 175 lbs divided by 1/7th of its weight. How much does the bag of onions weigh?

35 lbs (1/7th of 35 is 5; 175 ÷ 5)

Never was, am always to be. No one ever saw me, nor ever will. And yet I am the confidence of all, to live and breathe on this terrestrial ball. What am I?

You throw away the outside, eat the inside, then throw away the inside. What is it?

Corn on the cob.

Turn me on my side and I am everything. Cut me in half and I am nothing. What am I?

The number 8. On its side, it looks like the symbol for infinity and when you cut it in half, it looks like two zeroes.

Bonus Logic Riddles

Here are some bonus brainteasers that might be a bit more challenging. Test your knowledge!  

Einstein’s Hard Riddle 

Now, if you’re really up for a challenge, here is Albert Einstein’s riddle , one that is believed to be developed when he was young. The best way to find the answer to this brain teaser is through logic and deductive reasoning. 

Think you can solve it? 

Five houses painted five different colors stand in a row. One person of a different nationality lives in each house . The five homeowners all drink some type of beverage, smoke a certain cigar brand, and have a certain kind of pet. But none of the owners drink the same beverage, smoke the same type of cigar, or have the same pet.

Here are the clues:

• The Brit lives in the red house . 2. The Swede keeps dogs as pets. 3. The Dane drinks tea. 4. The green house is on the immediate left of the white house . 5. The green house ‘s owner drinks coffee. 6. The owner who smokes Pall Mall rears birds. 7. The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill. 8. The owner living in the center house drinks milk. 9. The Norwegian lives in the first house . 10. The owner who smokes Blends lives next to the one who keeps cats. 11. The owner who keeps the horse lives next to the one who smokes Dunhill. 12. The owner who smokes Bluemasters drinks beer. 13. The German smokes Prince. 14. The Norwegian lives next to the blue house . 15. The owner who smokes Blends lives next to the one who drinks water.

Now, the question is… Who owns the fish?

Think you figured out the answer to this difficult riddle ? Well, here it is:

The German in house #4 owns the fish.

Hard Mythology Riddle  

There is a mythological story of a Sphinx, a monster with the body of a lion and the head of a woman. Apparently, the Sphinx sat on top of a rock along the road to the city of Thebes, stopping travelers and proposing to them a riddle . The Sphinx claimed that whoever failed the riddle would be killed, and evidently, not pass through to the city. 

This is the riddle : 

What animal walks on four legs in the morning, two legs during the day, and three legs in the evening?

Oedipus, the king of Thebes, figured out the answer to the riddle :

Man, who in childhood creeps on hands and knees, in manhood walks erect, and in old age with the aid of a staff. (Morning, day and night are representative of the stages of life.)

Here are some other fun riddles if you’re up for it: 

More Riddles

• Riddles with Answers
• Short Riddles
• Riddles for Adults
• Riddles for Teens
• Riddles for Kids
• Funny Riddles
• Tricky Riddles
• Hard Riddles
• Easy Riddles
• Math Riddles

January Nelson

January Nelson is a writer, editor, and dreamer. She writes about astrology, games, love, relationships, and entertainment. January graduated with an English and Literature degree from Columbia University.

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20 Tough Riddles for Adults That Will Have You Scratching Your Head

Put your logic and math skills to the test. No cheating!

So go grab a pencil and a piece of scratch paper and prepare to rip your hair out (and we really do mean that in the best way possible). When you think you’ve got the right answer, click the link at the bottom of each riddle to find the solution. Got it wrong? No worries, you have 19 other riddles to test out.

Navigate Through Our Riddles:

Puzzmo / The King’s Orders / How Many Eggs? / The Gold Chain / Pickleball / Circuit Breaker / Two Trains, Two Grandmas / Ant Math / Peppermint Patty / Great American Rail Trail / A Cruel SAT Problem / Movie Stars Cross a River / Tribute to a Math Genius / One Belt, One Earth / Elbow Tapping / Whiskey Problem / Doodle Problem / Stumping Scientists / What ’ s On Her Forehead? / Keanu for President / Who Opened the Lockers?

Riddle No. 1: The King’s Orders Make for One Hell of a Brain Teaser

Difficulty: easy.

King Nupe of the kingdom Catan dotes on his two daughters so much that he decides the kingdom would be better off with more girls than boys, and he makes the following decree: All child-bearing couples must continue to bear children until they have a daughter!

But to avoid overpopulation, he makes an additional decree: All child-bearing couples will stop having children once they have a daughter! His subjects immediately begin following his orders.

After many years, what’s the expected ratio of girls to boys in Catan?

The likelihood of each baby born being a girl is, of course, 50 percent.

Ready for the solution? Click here to see if you’re right .

Riddle No. 2: How Many Eggs Does This Hen Lay?

This problem is in honor of my dad, Harold Feiveson. It’s due to him that I love math puzzles, and this is one of the first problems (of many) that he gave me when I was growing up.

A hen and a half lays an egg and a half in a day and a half. How many eggs does one hen lay in one day?

Riddle No. 3: The Gold Chain Math Problem Is Deceptively Simple

Difficulty: moderate.

You’re rummaging around your great grandmother’s attic when you find five short chains each made of four gold links. It occurs to you that if you combined them all into one big loop of 20 links, you’d have an incredible necklace. So you bring it into a jeweler, who tells you the cost of making the necklace will be $10 for each gold link that she has to break and then reseal.

How much will it cost?

Riddle No. 4: Try to Solve This Pickleball Puzzle

Difficulty: 🚨hard🚨.

Kenny, Abby, and Ned got together for a round-robin pickleball tournament, where, as usual, the winner stays on after each game to play the person who sat out that game. At the end of their pickleball afternoon, Abby is exhausted, having played the last seven straight games. Kenny, who is less winded, tallies up the games played:

Kenny played eight games

Abby played 12 games

Ned played 14 games

Who won the fourth game against whom?

How many total games were played?

Riddle No. 5: Our Circuit Breaker Riddle Is Pure Evil. Sorry.

The circuit breaker box in your new house is in an inconvenient corner of your basement. To your chagrin, you discover none of the 100 circuit breakers is labeled, and you face the daunting prospect of matching each circuit breaker to its respective light. (Suppose each circuit breaker maps to only one light.)

To start with, you switch all 100 lights in the house to “on,” and then you head down to your basement to begin the onerous mapping process. On every trip to your basement, you can switch any number of circuit breakers on or off. You can then roam the hallways of your house to discover which lights are on and which are off.

What is the minimum number of trips you need to make to the basement to map every circuit breaker to every light?

The solution does not involve either switching on or off the light switches in your house or feeling how hot the lightbulbs are. You might want to try solving for the case of 10 unlabeled circuit breakers first.

Riddle No. 6: Two Trains. Two Grandmas. Can You Solve This Tricky Math Riddle?

Jesse’s two grandmothers want to see him every weekend, but they live on opposite sides of town. As a compromise, he tells them that every Sunday, he’ll head to the subway station nearest to his apartment at a random time of the day and will hop on the next train that arrives.

If it happens to be the train traveling north, he’ll visit his Grandma Erica uptown, and if it happens to be the train traveling south, he’ll visit his Grandma Cara downtown. Both of his grandmothers are okay with this plan, since they know both the northbound and southbound trains run every 20 minutes.

But after a few months of doing this, Grandma Cara complains that she sees him only one out of five Sundays. Jesse promises he’s indeed heading to the station at a random time each day. How can this be?

The trains always arrive at their scheduled times.

Riddle No. 7: Here’s a Really F@*#ing Hard Math Problem About Ants

Max and Rose are ant siblings. They love to race each other, but always tie, since they actually crawl at the exact same speed. So they decide to create a race where one of them (hopefully) will win.

For this race, each of them will start at the bottom corner of a cuboid, and then crawl as fast as they can to reach a crumb at the opposite corner. The measurements of their cuboids are as pictured:

If they both take the shortest possible route to reach their crumb, who will reach their crumb first? (Don’t forget they’re ants, so of course they can climb anywhere on the edges or surface of the cuboid.)

Remember: Think outside the box.

Riddle No. 8: This Peppermint Patty Riddle Is Practically Impossible

You’re facing your friend, Caryn, in a “candy-off,” which works as follows: There’s a pile of 100 caramels and one peppermint patty. You and Caryn will go back and forth taking at least one and no more than five caramels from the candy pile in each turn. The person who removes the last caramel will also get the peppermint patty. And you love peppermint patties.

Suppose Caryn lets you decide who goes first. Who should you choose in order to make sure you win the peppermint patty?

First, solve for a pile of 10 caramels.

Riddle No. 9: Can You Solve the Great American Rail-Trail Riddle?

This problem was suggested by the physicist P. Jeffrey Ungar.

Finally, the Great American Rail-Trail across the whole country is complete! Go ahead, pat yourself on the back—you’ve just installed the longest handrail in the history of the world, with 4,000 miles from beginning to end. But just after the opening ceremony, your assistant reminds you that the metal you used for the handrail expands slightly in summer, so that its length will increase by one inch in total.

“Ha!” you say, “One inch in a 4,000 mile handrail? That’s nothing!” But … are you right?

Let’s suppose when the handrail expands, it buckles upward at its weakest point, which is in the center. How much higher will pedestrians in the middle of the country have to reach in summer to grab the handrail? That is, in the figure below, what is h ? (For the purposes of this question, ignore the curvature of the Earth and assume the trail is a straight line.)

Pythagoras is a fascinating historical figure.

Riddle No. 10: This Riddle Is Like an Especially Cruel SAT Problem. Can You Find the Answer?

Amanda lives with her teenage son, Matt, in the countryside—a car ride away from Matt’s school. Every afternoon, Amanda leaves the house at the same time, drives to the school at a constant speed, picks Matt up exactly when his chess club ends at 5 p.m., and then they immediately return home together at the same constant speed. But one day, Matt isn’t feeling well, so he leaves chess practice early and starts to head home on his portable scooter.

After Matt has been scooting for an hour, Amanda comes across him in her car (on her usual route to pick him up), and they return together, arriving home 40 minutes earlier than they usually do. How much chess practice did Matt miss?

Consider the case where Amanda meets Matt exactly as she’s leaving their house.

Riddle No. 11: Can You Get These 3 Movie Stars Across the River?

Three movie stars, Chloe, Lexa, and Jon, are filming a movie in the Amazon. They’re very famous and very high-maintenance, so their agents are always with them. One day, after filming a scene deep in the rainforest, the three actors and their agents decide to head back to home base by foot. Suddenly, they come to a large river.

On the riverbank, they find a small rowboat, but it’s only big enough to hold two of them at one time. The catch? None of the agents are comfortable leaving their movie star with any other agents if they’re not there as well. They don’t trust that the other agents won’t try to poach their star.

For example, Chloe’s agent is okay if Chloe and Lexa are alone in the boat or on one of the riverbanks, but definitely not okay if Lexa’s agent is also with them. So how can they all get across the river?

There isn’t just one way to solve this problem.

Riddle No. 12: This Ludicrously Hard Riddle Is Our Tribute to a Late Math Genius. Can You Figure It Out?

On April 11, John Horton Conway , a brilliant mathematician who had an intense and playful love of puzzles and games, died of complications from COVID-19. Conway is the inventor of one of my favorite legendary problems (not for the faint of heart) and, famously, the Game of Life . I created this problem in his honor.

Carol was creating a family tree, but had trouble tracking down her mother’s birthdate. The only clue she found was a letter written from her grandfather to her grandmother on the day her mother was born. Unfortunately, some of the characters were smudged out, represented here with a “___” . (The length of the line does not reflect the number of smudged characters.)

“Dear Virginia,

Little did I know when I headed to work this Monday morning, that by evening we would have a beautiful baby girl. And on our wedding anniversary, no less! It makes me think back to that incredible weekend day, J___ 27th, 19___ , when we first shared our vow to create a family together, and, well, here we are! Happy eighth anniversary, my love.

Love, Edwin”

The question: When was Carol’s mother born?

This problem is inspired by Conway’s Doomsday Rule .

Riddle No. 13: To Solve This Twisty Math Riddle, You Just Need One Belt and One Earth

Imagine you have a very long belt. Well, extremely long, really … in fact, it’s just long enough that it can wrap snugly around the circumference of our entire planet. (For the sake of simplicity, let’s suppose Earth is perfectly round, with no mountains, oceans, or other barriers in the way of the belt.)

Naturally, you’re very proud of your belt. But then your brother, Peter, shows up—and to your disgruntlement, he produces a belt that’s just a bit longer than yours. He brags his belt is longer by exactly his height: 6 feet.

If Peter were also to wrap his belt around the circumference of Earth, how far above the surface could he suspend the belt if he pulled it tautly and uniformly?

Earth’s circumference is about 25,000 miles, or 130 million feet … but you don’t need to know that to solve this problem.

Riddle No. 14: This Elbow Tapping Riddle Is Diabolical. Good Luck Solving It.

In some future time, when the shelter-in-place bans are lifted, a married couple, Florian and Julia, head over to a bar to celebrate their newfound freedom.

They find four other couples there who had the same idea.

Eager for social contact, every person in the five couples enthusiastically taps elbows (the new handshake) with each person they haven’t yet met .

It actually turns out many of the people had known each other prior, so when Julia asks everyone how many elbows they each tapped, she remarkably gets nine different answers!

The question: How many elbows did Florian tap?

What nine answers did Julia hear?

Riddle No. 15: You’ll Need a Drink After Trying to Solve This Whisky Riddle

Alan and Claire live by the old Scottish saying, “Never have whisky without water, nor water without whisky!” So one day, when Alan has in front of him a glass of whisky, and Claire has in front of her a same-sized glass of water, Alan takes a spoonful of his whisky and puts it in Claire’s water. Claire stirs her whisky-tinted water, and then puts a spoonful of this mixture back into Alan’s whisky to make sure they have exactly the same amount to drink.

So: Is there more water in Alan’s whisky, or more whisky in Claire’s water? And does it matter how well Claire stirred?

The size of the spoon does not matter.

Riddle No. 16: The Doodle Problem Is a Lot Harder Than It Looks. Can You Solve It?

This week’s riddle is relatively simple—but sinister all the same.

The question: Can you make 100 by interspersing any number of pluses and minuses within the string of digits 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1? You can’t change the order of the digits! So what’s the least number of pluses and minuses needed to make 100?

For instance, 98 - 7 - 6 + 54 - 32 shows one way of interspersing pluses and minuses, but since it equals 107, it’s not a solution.

I call this a “doodle problem”: one that’s best worked on during meetings where you might be doodling otherwise.

You might want to start looking for solutions that use a total of seven pluses and minuses (although there are ways to use fewer).

Ready for the solution? Click here to see if you’re right.

Riddle No. 17: This Math Puzzle Stumped Every Scientist but One. Think You Can Crack It?

Difficulty: hard.

In honor of Freeman Dyson, the renowned physicist who died last month , here’s a legendary tale demonstrating his quick wit and incredible brain power.

One day, in a gathering of top scientists, one of them wondered out loud whether there exists an integer that you could exactly double by moving its last digit to its front. For instance, 265 would satisfy this if 526 were its exact double—which it isn’t.

After apparently just five seconds , Dyson responded, “Of course there is, but the smallest such number has 18 digits.”

This left some of the smartest scientists in the world puzzling over how he could have figured this out so quickly.

So given Dyson’s hint, what is the smallest such number?

My second grader has recently learned how to add a 3-digit number to itself using the classic vertical method:

18-digit numbers, of course, can be added in the same way.

Riddle No. 18: Figure Out What’s on Her Forehead

Cecilia loves testing the logic of her very logical friends Jaya, Julian, and Levi, so she announces:

“I’ll write a positive number on each of your foreheads. None of the numbers are the same, and two of the numbers add up to the third.”

She scribbles the numbers on their heads, then turns to Jaya and asks her what her number is. Jaya sees Julian has 20 on his forehead, and Levi has 30 on his. She thinks for a moment and then says, “I don’t know what my number is.” Julian pipes in, “I also don’t know my number,” and then Levi exclaims, “Me neither!” Cecilia gleefully says, “I’ve finally stumped you guys!”

“Not so fast!” Jaya says. “Now I know my number!”

What is Jaya’s number?

Jaya could be one of two numbers, but only one of those numbers would lead to Julian and Levi both not knowing their numbers. Why?

Riddle No. 19: Can You Get Keanu Reeves Elected As President?

It’s 2024, and there are five candidates running in the democratic primary: Taylor Swift, Oprah Winfrey, Mark Cuban, Keanu Reeves, and Dwayne Johnson. (Hey, it could happen.) As usual, the first primary is in Iowa.

In an effort to overcome its embarrassment after the 2020 caucus debacle , the Iowa Democratic Party has just announced a new, foolproof way of finding the best candidate: there will be four consecutive elections.

First, candidate 1 will run against candidate 2. Next, the winner of that will run against candidate 3, then that winner will run against candidate 4, and finally the winner of that election will run against the final candidate. By the transitive property, the winner of this last election must be the best candidate ... so says the Iowa Democratic Party.

Candidate Keanu has been feeling pretty low, as he knows he is ranked near the bottom by most voters, and at the top by none. In fact, he knows the Iowa population is divided into five equal groups, and that their preferences are as follows:

Keanu is childhood friends with Bill S. Preston, Esq., the new head of the Iowa Democratic Party. Preston, confident that the order of the candidates doesn’t matter for the outcome, tells Keanu he can choose the voting order of the candidates.

So what order should Keanu choose?

How would Keanu fare in one-to-one races against each candidate?

Riddle No. 20: Who Opened All These Damn Lockers?

There are 100 lockers that line the main hallway of Chelm High School. Every night, the school principal makes sure all the lockers are closed so that there will be an orderly start to the next day. One day, 100 mischievous students decide that they will play a prank.

The students all meet before school starts and line up. The first student then walks down the hallway, and opens every locker. The next student follows by closing every other locker (starting at the second locker). Student 3 then goes to every third locker (starting with the third) and opens it if it’s closed, and closes it if it’s open. Student 4 follows by opening every fourth locker if it’s closed and closing it if it’s open. This goes on and on until Student 100 finally goes to the hundredth locker. When the principal arrives later in the morning, which lockers does she find open?

Make sure you pay attention to all of the factors.

Laura Feiveson is an economist for the government, a storyteller, and a lifelong enthusiast of math puzzles.  She lives in Washington, DC with her husband and two daughters. 

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14 challenging brainteasers and riddles only smart people can solve

• Insider compiled a list of challenging logic problems, riddles, and word puzzles.
• We've also included the answers below each picture, so don't scroll too quickly.
• Some are a play on words, while others need multiple steps to figure out.

Get ready for a challenge. 

The 14 puzzles below are a mix of riddles, logic problems, and word games, but they all have one thing in common: They'll take brainpower to solve.

Keep reading to see if you can figure out the answers — and to see how smart you really are.

1. If you have me, you want to share me. If you share me, you don't have me. What am I?

Answer : A secret.

Source: RhinoBarbarian, Reddit

2. You're escaping a labyrinth, and there are three doors in front of you. The door on the left leads to a raging inferno. The door in the center leads to a deadly assassin. The door on the right leads to a lion that hasn't eaten in three months. Which door do you choose?

Answer: The door on the right.

Explanation:  The lion would be dead after not eating for three months.

Source:  AntmanIV, Reddit

3. If I am holding a bee, what do I have in my eye?

Answer: Beauty.

Explanation:  This riddle is a play on the proverb, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." In this case, you are the "bee-holder." Thus, beauty is in your eye.

Source: lipwiggler, Reddit

4. An old man dies, leaving behind two sons. In his will, he orders his sons to race with their horses, and the one with the slower horse will receive his inheritance. The two sons race, but since they're both holding their horses back, they go to a wise man and ask him what they should do. After that, the brothers race again — this time at full speed. What did the wise man tell them?

Answer: To switch horses.

Explanation:  After they switch horses, whoever wins the race will get the inheritance because they still technically own the losing (i.e., slower) horse.

Source:  qweiopasd, Reddit

5. Turn me on my side and I am everything. Cut me in half and I am nothing. What am I?

Answer: The number 8.

Explanation:  On its side, the number 8 looks like an infinity symbol. Cut in half, the number 8 becomes two zeros.

Source: romz7, Reddit

6. A farmer needs to take a fox, a chicken, and a sack of grain across a river. The only way across the river is by a small boat, which can only hold the farmer and one of the three items. Left unsupervised, the chicken will eat the grain, and the fox will eat the chicken. However, the fox won't try to eat the grain, and neither the fox nor the chicken will wander off. How does the farmer get everything across the river?

Answer: The farmer must follow these steps.

1. Take the chicken across the river. 2. Come back with an empty boat. 3. Take the grain across the river. 4. Bring the chicken back. 5. Take the fox across the river. 6. Come back with an empty boat. 7. Take the chicken across the river.

Source: someguyinworld, Reddit

7. If you have a 7-minute hourglass and an 11-minute hourglass, how can you boil an egg in exactly 15 minutes?

Answer: To boil the egg in exactly 15 minutes, follow these steps.

1. Start both hourglasses as you start boiling the egg. 2. After the 7-minute hourglass runs out, turn it to start it again. 3. Four minutes later, when the 11-minute hourglass runs out, turn the 7-minute hourglass again. 4. Wait for the 7-minute hourglass to run out, which will take another four minutes and get you to exactly 15 minutes of boiling time.

Source:  DarylHannahMontana, Reddit

8. You are walking down a road and come to a fork. One path leads to certain death; the other leads to eternal happiness. You don't know which is which. In the middle of the fork, you come across two brothers who know which road is which. One brother always tells the truth and the other always lies. You can only ask them one question. How would you determine which road to take?

Answer: Ask each brother, "If you were your brother, which road would you say leads to eternal happiness?"

Explanation:  Let's say the path on the right leads to eternal happiness. After you ask your question, both brothers will tell you the exact same thing: "He would say the left path leads to eternal happiness."

As Reddit user OnscreenForecaster explained, "In either case ... you would pick the opposite of what they both say because one is telling the truth about it being a lie, and one is lying about it being the truth."

Source:  SneeKeeFahk, Reddit

9. What is next in this sequence of numbers: 1, 11, 21, 1211, 111221, 312211, ______?

Answer: 13112221.

Explanation:  Each sequence of numbers is a verbal representation of the sequence before it. Thus, starting with 1, the next sequence would be "one one," or "11." That sequence is followed by "two one," or "21," and so on and so forth.

Still confused? Here's a good explanation by Reddit user hankthetank921 :

The first number is just ONE (amount) "1" (0-9 numeral). So if you say there's ONE "1" (seriously just say it aloud) the next number would be an 11. Then there are TWO "1's", creating 21. Then ONE "2" and ONE "1" which creates 1,211. Then ONE "1", ONE "2", and TWO "1's" creating 111,221 ... and so on.

Source: arsenal7777, Reddit

10. Four people arrive at a river with a narrow bridge that can only hold two people at a time. It's nighttime and they have one torch that has to be used when crossing the bridge. Person A can cross the bridge in one minute, B in two minutes, C in five minutes, and D in eight minutes. When two people cross the bridge together, they must move at the slower person's pace. Can they all get across the bridge in 15 minutes or less?

Answer: Yes, they can cross in exactly 15 minutes.

Explanation:  The group of four must follow these steps.

1. First, A and B cross the bridge and A brings the light back. This takes 3 minutes. 2. Next, C and D cross and B brings the light back. This takes another 10 minutes. 3. Finally, A and B cross again. This takes another 2 minutes.

Source:  bananaslayer100, Reddit

11. A rebus is a pictogram that represents a word, phrase, or saying. For example, "Ci ii" represents "See eye to eye." What word or phrase does the following rebus represent: O_ER_T_O_?

Answer: Painless operation.

Explanation :  The letters missing in O_ER _T _O_ (OPERATION) spell out PAIN. Thus, "pain-less" operation.

Source:  kjivxx, Reddit

12. During a recent census, a man told the census taker that he had three children. When asked their ages, he replied, "The product of their ages is 72. The sum of their ages is the same as my house number." The census taker ran to the man's front door and looked at the house number. "I still can't tell," she complained. The man replied, "Oh that's right, I forgot to tell you that the oldest one likes chocolate pudding." The census taker then promptly wrote down the ages of the three children. How old are they?

Answer: 3, 3, and 8.

Explanation:  As Reddit users  TT1103 and RedditRage explained, the key to this brain teaser is that the census taker looks at the house number. In other words, she knows the sum of the children's ages.

However, at that point of the riddle, she still can't tell how old the man's children are. Therefore, she has to be stuck between multiple possibilities. To narrow it down further, only two sets of numbers that multiply to 72 share the same sum: (2,6,6) and (3,3,8).

After the man reveals that his oldest   child likes chocolate pudding, however, the census taker can differentiate between the two options. That is, only the latter of those two sets has a distinct "oldest" child.

Source: mikebrown_pelican, Reddit

13. You're 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?

Answer: The match.

Source: notarobot45, Reddit

14. There are five bags of gold that all look identical, and each has 10 gold pieces in it. One of the five bags has fake gold in it. The real gold, fake gold, and all five bags are identical in every way, except the pieces of fake gold each weigh 1.1 grams, and the real gold pieces each weigh 1 gram. You have a perfectly accurate digital gram scale and can use it only once. How do you determine which bag has the fake gold?

Answer: Take one gold piece from the first bag, two from the second bag, three from the third bag, four from the fourth bag, and five from the fifth bag. If the weight on the scale ends in .1, then you know the first bag has the fake gold. If the weight on the scale ends in .2, then the second bag has the fake gold, and so on and so forth.

Source: dankability, Reddit

• Main content

• Logic Riddles

by Dr. Riddles | Dec 10, 2017 | For Adults , For Kids , Math & Logic

Logic Riddles and Answers

Show answer.

3 (the grandmother is also a mother; the mother is also a daughter) – OR – 2 (both people are mothers and daughters and one is a grandmother)

Hard Logic Riddles

If you are someone you know has an Einsteinian brain, then these hard logic riddles will truly put it to the test. Engaging in sustained, focused logical thinking is a difficult pursuit and this collection will certainly include a logic riddle or two that will strain your brain to its fullest. And if you are just so smart that you make Einstein look like a moron, then you might enjoy this collection of extremely hard riddles .

Short Logic Riddles

You’ve reached the end! But it doesn’t have to be. Try some of these   funny riddles  or short riddles !

Really like logic? Ever considered learning how to become an attorney ?

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LOGIC PUZZLES

Test your ingenuity and knowledge with these logic puzzles. Deduction is the key so get your thinking cap dusted off and start logically working through our puzzling content. Sharpen Your Mind and Put Your Problem Solving Skills to Work.

• Logic Puzzles

Logic Puzzles to Solve

You'll like these riddle puzzles on days that end with Y. You'll like these logic puzzles are available on days that end with Y. How many days can you try out our logic puzzles? Answer: Every day!

You Walk Up To A Mountain That Has Two Paths

What Weighs More A Pound Of Feathers Or A Pound Of Stones?

A logician with some time to kill in a small town decided to get a haircut.

George, Helen, And Steve Are Drinking Coffee

Little tommy tittletat riddle.

A Fox, A Goose And A Sack Of Corn

Math equation riddle.

Which One Does Not Belong?

If you have two coins which total 35 cents and one of the coins is not a dim, i am a 5 letter word take away the first letter and i am a place's name, open me, and you can me without a mirror riddle, redo what has been undone, most feathers, what only works the first time you use it, bus stop riddle, number of chairs, what's 3/7 chicken, 2/3 cat, and 2/4 goat, i can hold you prisoner, the wise daughter riddle, if you see me, i see you. if you move, then i'll move too, search riddles, follow riddles, share riddles.

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30 Math Riddles (With Answers)

Math may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but when you think about it, it’s everywhere. Most of us likely do some type of math just about every day. So how can we make learning math and improving our problem-solving abilities more enjoyable? The answer is easy—riddles! And these math riddles are a great place to start.

These riddles span various age levels and abilities. Try some out yourself or gather the kids and make it a family or school activity. Math is fundamental, so there’s no time like the present to fine-tune those skills!

Calling All Math Masters!

If you enjoy math riddles, you’re bound to love the Math Masters category of our in-home scavenger hunts ! All you’ll need is your family, your internet-enabled device, and your competitive spirit. Our intuitive interface will have you connected, solving clues, and completing challenges in no time.

Developed in conjunction with 2 elementary school teachers, this hunt makes problem-solving a blast! When you’re done with that category, there are several more from which you can choose. The one thing they all have in common is FUN!

1. Riddle: A merchant can place 8 large boxes or 10 small boxes into each carton for shipping. In one shipment, he sent a total of 96 boxes. If there are more large boxes than small boxes, how many cartons did he ship? Answer: 11 cartons total: 7 cartons of large boxes (7 * 8 = 56 boxes), 4 cartons of small boxes (4 * 10 = 40 boxes).

2. Riddle: I have a calculator that can display ten digits. How many different ten-digit numbers can I type using just the 0-9 keys once each, and moving from one keypress to the next using the knight’s move in chess? (In chess, the knight move in an L-shape—one square up and two across, two squares down and one across, two squares up and one across, and other like combinations.) Answer: You can form the numbers 5034927618 and 5038167294. You can also form their reverses: 8167294305 and 4927618305. Hence four different numbers can be made.

3. Riddle: When my dad was 31, I was just 8 years old. Now his age is twice as old as my age. What is my present age? Answer: When you calculate the difference between the ages, you can see that it is 23 years. So you must be 23 years old now.

4. Riddle: An insurance salesman walks up to a house and knocks on the door. A woman answers, and he asks her how many children she has and how old they are. She says I will give you a hint. If you multiply the 3 children’s ages, you get 36. He says this is not enough information. So she gives a him 2nd hint. If you add up the children’s ages, the sum is the number on the house next door. He goes next door and looks at the house number (13) and says this is still not enough information. So she says she’ll give him one last hint which is that her oldest of the 3 plays piano. Why would he need to go back to get the last hint after seeing the number on the house next door? Answer: After the first hint, there are several different options. When he realizes the sum is 13, the answer is one of two possibilities. The third hint indicates there is an “oldest” daughter. Since one of the two options includes older twins (1 + 6 + 6 = 13) and the other includes young twins (2 + 2 + 9 = 13), the daughters must be 2, 2, and 9.

5. Riddle: Scott has $28.75. He purchased three cookies that cost $1.50 each, five newspapers that each cost $0.50, five flowers for $1.25 each, and used the remainder of the cash on a pair of sunglasses. How much were the sunglasses? Answer: $15.50.

6. Riddle: What is the smallest whole number that is equal to seven times the sum of its digits? Answer: 21. The two-digit number ab stands for 10a + b since the first digit represents 10s and the second represents units. If 10a + b = 7(a + b), then 10a + b = 7a + 7b, and so 3a = 6b, or, more simply, a = 2b. That is, the second digit must be twice the first. The smallest possible number is 21.

7. Riddle: A monkey is trying to climb a coconut tree. He takes 3 steps forward and slips back 2 steps downward. Each forward step is 30 cm and each backward step is 40 cm. How many steps are required to climb a 100 cm tree? Answer: 50 steps.

8. Riddle: In a mythical land 1/2 of 5 = 3. If the same proportion holds, what is the value of 1/3 of 10? Answer: 4.

9. Riddle: It is 9 am now. Rita studies for 2 hours, takes a bath for 1 hour, and then has lunch for 1 hour. How many hours are left before 9 am tomorrow? Answer: 20 hours.

10. Riddle: There is an empty basket that is one foot in diameter. What is the total number of eggs that you can put in this empty basket? Answer: Only one egg! Once you put an egg into the basket, it’s no longer an empty basket!

Need a break from all that math? Our list of funny riddles is giggle-worthy!

11. Riddle: You know 2 + 2 gives you the same total as 2 x 2. Find a set of three different whole numbers whose sum is equal to their total when multiplied. Answer: The three different whole numbers whose sum is equal to their total when multiplied are 1, 2, and 3.

12. Riddle: If you multiply this number by any other number, the answer will always be the same. What is the number? Answer: Zero.

13. Riddle: A grandfather, two fathers, and two sons went to a movie theater together and everyone bought one movie ticket each. Movie tickets cost $7.00 and their total was $21.00. How? Answer: They purchased 3 tickets. The grandfather is also a father and the father is also a son.

14. Riddle: A small number of cards has been lost from a complete deck. If I deal cards to four people, three cards remain. If I deal to three people, two remain. If I deal to five people, two cards remain. How many cards are there? Answer: There are 47 cards. A complete deck is 52 cards. 5 cards have been lost.

15. Riddle: Tom was on the way to the park. He met a man with seven wives and each of them came with seven sacks. All these sacks contain seven cats and each of these seven cats had seven kittens. So in total, how many were going to the park? Answer: 1. Only Tom was going to the park.

16. Riddle: I am an odd number; take away a letter and I become even. What number am I? Answer: Seven. (SEVEN-S=EVEN.)

17. Riddle: How can you add eight 8’s to get the number 1,000? Answer: 888 + 88 + 8 + 8 + 8 = 1,000.

18. Riddle: If there are four apples and you take away three, how many do you have? Answer: Three apples.

19. Riddle: I am one with a couple of friends. Quarter a dozen, and you’ll find me again. What number am I? Answer: 3.

20. Riddle: Tom weighs half as much as Peter and Jerry weigh three times the weight of Tom. Their total weight is 720 pounds. Can you figure out the individual weights of each man? Answer: Tom weighs 120, Peter weighs 240, and Jerry weighs 360.

Find these math riddles too hard? How about some easy riddles ?

21. Riddle: If it is two hours later, then it will take half as much time till it’s midnight as it would be if it were an hour later. What time is it? Answer: 9:00 PM.

22. Riddle: In an alien land far away, half of 10 is 6. If the same proportion holds true, then what is 1/6th of 30 in this alien land? Answer: 6.

23. Riddle: In two years, Tom will be twice as old as he was five years ago. How old is Tom? Answer: 12.

24. Riddle: A little boy goes shopping and purchases 12 tomatoes. On the way home, all but 9 get mushed and ruined. How many tomatoes are left in good condition? Answer: 9 tomatoes

25. Riddle: A carton contains apples that were divided into two equal parts and sold to two traders Tarun and Tanmay. Tarun had two fruit shops and decided to sell an equal number of apples in both shops, A and B respectively. A mother visited shop A and bought all the apples in the shop for her kids. But one apple was left after dividing all the apples among her children. If each child got one apple, what is the minimum number of apples in the carton? Answer: 12. That is the minimum possible number of apples for each child to have at least one.

26. Riddle: A duck was given $9, a spider was given $36, and a bee was given $27. Based on this information, how much money would be given to a cat? Answer: $18 ($4.50 per leg).

27. Riddle: The speed of a train is 3 meters/second and it takes 10 seconds to cross a lamp post. What is the length of the train? Answer: 30 meters. The time taken by the train to pass the stationary object is equal to the length of the train divided by the speed of the train.

28. Riddle: It takes 12 men 12 hours to construct a wall. Then how long will it take for 6 men to complete the same wall? Answer: It would probably take 24 hours, but there is no need to make it again. The job is already done!

29. Riddle: What are four consecutive prime numbers that, when added, equal 220? Answer: 220= 47+ 53+ 59+ 61

30. Riddle: An athlete can jump FOREVER. However, every time she jumps, she goes half as far as her prior jump. On her very first jump, she goes half a foot. On her second jump, she goes a quarter of a foot, and so. How long will it take her to get a foot away from her starting point? Answer: She will NEVER travel a full foot because the distance keeps being reduced by half.

Say it with us—math is cool! Which of our math questions got you thinking? Share your thoughts in the comments section.

And don’t forget to try a Let’s Roam Scavenger Hunt or any of our other activities that will let you roam from home . When you’re ready to get out and about, we have city art walks and scavenger hunts all over the world. Try one today!

Frequently Asked Questions

Use puzzles, riddles, and games based on mathematics. This list of math riddles should help! Or consider a math-themed scavenger hunt —you’ll have a little math master on your hands!

Math riddles make math more fun and, when learning is fun, it becomes easier. Before you know it, you (or your children) will be thinking like a true mathematician!

888 + 88 + 8 + 8 + 8 = 1,000. Find this and 30 math riddles at LetsRoam.com, along with other family-friendly activities , including a math-themed scavenger hunt .

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107 Awesome Riddles for Kids [With Answers]

Written by Laney Kennedy

Reviewed by Joshua Prieur, Ed.D.

Teachers & Parents

Use Prodigy to help kids love learning math and English!

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Easy riddles for kids

Math riddles for kids.

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Animal riddles for kids, english riddles for kids, halloween riddles for kids, holiday riddles for kids.

Many of us can agree: the triumph that comes with solving a tough riddle is a feeling like no other. And chances are, your child will love riddles too!

There are plenty of reasons to introduce riddles to your child. Riddles are a great way to stimulate children’s minds. Plus, they’re a fun activity to keep kids occupied and  learning at home.

We collected the  107 best riddles for kids  (and adults, too!) to keep your child entertained and get their brains working. 

Try them out below!

What is a riddle?

A riddle is a fun type of  brain teaser  that exists as a question or statement to be solved. 

Usually, riddles are worded in a puzzling or misleading way. Many have a double or hidden meaning that requires creative, outside-the-box thinking. Their answers are often unexpected, so the reader must think very carefully when solving them. 

107 Fun riddles for kids

Put your thinking caps on and see how many you can solve with your child. Make sure to scroll slowly so you don't spoil the answers!

P.S. Want to print these to use later? We've put together a cheat sheet with best riddle picks just for you –  download our free printable version here!

These riddles will engage your child without causing too much frustration. Perfect for warming up their brain so they can keep solving more!

1. Riddle: How many months of the year have 28 days?

Answer: All of them! Every month has *at least* 28 days.

2. Riddle: What has hands and a face, but can’t hold anything or smile ?

Answer: A clock.

3. Riddle: It belongs to you, but your friends use it more. What is it?

Answer: Your name.

4. Riddle: Kate’s mother has three children: Snap, Crackle and ___?

Answer: Kate! It’s Kate’s mother, after all. (This is a good example of how riddles use your existing expectations to trick you. Even though the answer is right in front of you, you’re tempted to continue the pattern instead.)

Image source: PopIcon

5. Riddle: If you don’t keep me, I’ll break. What am I?

Answer: A promise.

6. Riddle: There’s only one word in the dictionary that’s spelled wrong. What is it?

Answer: The word “wrong.” It’s the only word that’s spelled W-R-O-N-G.

7. Riddle: You’re running a race and at the very end, you pass the person in 2nd place. What place did you finish the race in?

Answer: You finished in 2nd place.

8. Riddle: I have a tail and a head, but no body. What am I?

Answer: A coin.

9. Riddle: What 2 things can you never eat for breakfast?

Answer: Lunch and dinner.

10. Riddle: I am so simple that I can only point, yet I guide people all over the world.

Answer: Compass.

11. Riddle: What has thirteen hearts, but no other organs?

Answer: A deck of cards.

10. Riddle: Which word becomes shorter when you add 2 letters to it? 

Answer: The word “short.”

11. Riddle: What’s the capital of France?

Answer: The letter “F.”  It's the only capital letter in France.

12. Riddle: What gets wet as it dries?

Answer: A towel.

13. Riddle: What has keys but can't open locks?

Answer: A piano.

14. Riddle: What can you catch but not throw?

Answer: A cold.

15. Riddle: What can travel around the world while staying in a corner?

Answer: A stamp.

16. Riddle: What comes down but never goes up?

Answer: Rain.

17. Riddle: I go up and down, but never move. What am I?

Answer: A staircase.

Math riddles are a good way to get your child practicing math  while having fun.  They’ll need to use their math knowledge and problem-solving skills to find the answer to these riddles. 

Tip: Pair your math riddles with  math puzzles  and  math jokes  to keep your child entertained with math for ages!

1. Riddle: When Grant was 8, his brother was half his age. Now, Grant is 14. How old is his brother?

Answer: His brother is 10. Half of 8 is 4, so Grant’s brother is 4 years younger. This means when Grant is 14, his brother is still 4 years younger, so he’s 10.

2. Riddle: Two fathers and 2 sons spent the day fishing, but only caught 3 fish. This was enough for each of them to have one fish. How is this possible?

Answer: There were only 3 people fishing. There was one father, his son, and his son's son. This means there were 2 fathers and 2 sons, since one of them is a father and a son.

3. Riddle: Liam was 11 the day before yesterday, and next year he’ll turn 14. How is this possible?

Answer: Today is January 1st, and Liam’s birthday is December 31st. Liam was 11 the day before yesterday (December 30th), then turned 12 the next day. This year on December 31st he’ll turn 13, so next year he’ll turn 14.

4. Riddle: Mrs. Brown has 5 daughters. Each of these daughters has a brother. How many children does Mrs. Brown have?

Answer: They have 6 children. Each daughter has the same brother. There are 5 daughters and 1 son.

5. Riddle: It’s raining at midnight, but the forecast for tomorrow and the next day is clear. Will there be sunny weather in 48 hours?

Answer: No, it won’t be sunny because it will be dark out. In 48 hours, it will be midnight again.

6. Riddle: There are 3 apples in the basket and you take away 2. How many apples do you have now?

Answer: You have 2 apples. You took away 2 apples and left 1 in the basket.

7. Riddle: What can you put between 7 and 8, to make the result greater than 7, but less than 8?

Answer: A decimal point. Your result would be 7.8, which is between 7 and 8.

8. Riddle: A new clothing store has a unique method of pricing items. A vest costs $20, a tie costs $15, a blouse costs $30, and underwear costs $45. How much would pants cost?

Answer: $25. The pricing method charges $5 for each letter needed to spell the item.

9. Riddle: 81 x 9 = 801. What do you need to do to make this equation true?

Answer: Turn it upside down. 108 = 6 x 18.

10. Riddle: Double it and multiply it by 4. Then divide it by 8 and you’ll have it once more. What number is it?

Answer: Any number. If a number is doubled and multiplied by 4, it’s actually been multiplied by 8, so dividing by 8 will get you the original number again. 

11. Riddle: What 3 numbers give the same result when multiplied and added together?

Answer: 1, 2, and 3 ( 1 + 2 + 3 = 6 and 1 x 2 x 3 = 6).

12. Riddle: Zoey has a very big family. She has 20 aunts, 20 uncles and 50 cousins. Each of her cousins has an aunt who is not Zoey’s aunt. How is this possible? 

Answer: Their aunt is Zoey’s mom!

13. Riddle: I am an odd number. Take away a letter and I become even. What number am I?

Answer: Seven.

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

Answer: Neither—they both weigh a ton.

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

Answer: 194. (great for teaching place value!)

16. Using only addition, how can you add eight 8's to get the number 1,000?

Answer: 888 + 88 + 8 + 8 + 8 = 1,000.

Want to make learning math fun and engaging?

Parents and teachers can use Prodigy Math to help kids master curriculum-aligned math skills and grow their love of learning – all while having fun!

Hard riddles for kids 

Did your child ace the last two categories? Try to stump them with these brain-teasingly tricky riddles for kids that are a bit more of a challenge. 

1. Riddle: I go all around the world, but never leave the corner. What am I?

2. Riddle: You’ll find me in Mercury, Earth, Mars and Jupiter, but not in Venus or Neptune. What am I?

Answer: The letter “R.”

3. Riddle: What can go up a chimney down, but can’t go down a chimney up?

Answer: An umbrella.   If your umbrella is “down,” it can fit through a chimney, but if it’s “up,” it won’t fit!

4. Riddle: I make a loud sound when I’m changing. When I do change, I get bigger but weigh less. What am I?

Answer: Popcorn.

5. Riddle: A bus driver was heading down a busy street in the city. He went past three stop signs without stopping, went the wrong way down a one-way street, and answered a message on his phone. But the bus driver didn’t break any traffic laws. How? 

Answer: He was walking, not driving. ( This riddle adds irrelevant information to deceive the reader. You expect that since he’s a bus driver, he’s currently driving the bus — but it never actually says that!)

6. Riddle: It has keys, but no locks. It has space, but no room. You can enter, but can’t go inside. What is it?

Answer: A keyboard.

7. Riddle: I can fill a room, but I take up no space. What am I?

Answer: Light.

8. Riddle: It’s the only place in the world where today comes before yesterday. Where is it?

Answer: The dictionary.

9. Riddle: If I have it, I don’t share it. If I share it, I don’t have it. What is it?

Answer: A secret.

10. Riddle: What goes away as soon as you talk about it?

Answer: Silence.

11. Riddle: A railroad crossing without any cars. Can you spell that without any R’s?

Answer: T-H-A-T (This one is tricky! It makes readers think they’re supposed to describe the scenario without using the letter “R.” But the first sentence was actually used to distract the reader from the real question.)

12. Riddle: What can run but cannot walk?

Answer: Water.

13. Riddle: What has a mouth but can’t speak?

Answer: A river.

14. Riddle: What has one eye but can’t see?

Answer: A needle.

15. Riddle: Everyone has me but no one can lose me. What am I?

Answer: A shadow.

16. Riddle: What starts with T, ends with T, and has T inside it?

Answer: A teapot.

17. Riddle: There's a one-story house. Everything in the red house is red, the walls are red, the bathroom is red, the floor is red, the kitchen is red, all of the bedrooms are red. So, what color are the stairs?

Answer: There's no stairs, it's a one-story house.

18. Riddle: What can you hold in your left hand but not in your right hand?

Answer: Your right elbow.

19. Riddle: What kind of coat can be put on only when wet?

Answer: A coat of paint.

20. Riddle: If an electric train is traveling south, which way is the smoke going?

Answer: There’s no smoke as it’s an electric train.

21. Riddle: What kind of room has no walls or corners?

Answer: A mushroom.

22. Riddle: What do the numbers 11, 69, and 88 all have in common?

Answer: They all read the same way when placed upside down.

23. Riddle: I’m very tall when I’m young but get shorter as I get older. What am I?

Answer: A candle.

24. Riddle: I have no wings, but I can fly. And I have no eyes, but I can cry. What am I?

Answer: A cloud.

25. Riddle: I'm light as a feather, but even the world's strongest man couldn't hold me for much longer than a minute. What am I?

Answer: Breath.

Want to get your child giggling with these riddles and puns? 

Show them these riddles that also double as jokes! 

The answers might not be what you expect, because each one comes with a funny punchline for the solution.  

1. Riddle: What can jump higher than a building?

Answer: Anything that can jump — buildings don’t jump, silly!

2. Riddle: An elephant in Africa is called Lala. An elephant in Asia is called Lulu. What do you call an elephant in Antarctica?

Answer: Lost.

3. Riddle: Imagine you are in a room with no windows or doors. How will you get out?

Answer: Stop imagining.

4. Riddle: A group of bunnies were having a birthday party. What kind of music were they listening to?

Answer: Hip hop music.

5. Riddle: Where would you take a sick boat?

Answer: To the dock.

6. Riddle: What kind of room has no doors or windows?

7. Riddle: I’m orange, I wear a green hat and I sound like a parrot. What am I?

Answer: A carrot.

8. Riddle: What fruit can you never cheer up?

Answer: A blueberry.

9. Riddle: What did the zero say to the eight?

Answer: “Nice belt!”

10. Riddle: What do you get if you cross a vampire and a snowman?

Answer: Frostbite.

11. Riddle: What do elves learn at school?

Answer: The Elf-abet.

12. Riddle: What does a ghost use to wash its hair?

Answer: Sham-boo!

13. Riddle: What has a head but no brain?

Answer: A lettuce.

14. Riddle: Most people think of me as money. But when they find me in the water, they won’t get any money out of me. What am I?

Answer: A river bank!

15. Riddle: Where would you take a sick boat?

16. Riddle: What question can you never answer yes to?

Answer: Are you asleep yet?

17. Riddle: What kind of band never plays music?

Answer: A rubber band.

18. Riddle: What can be cracked, made, told, and played?

Answer: A joke.

There’s no doubt that kids love animals. Here’s some of the best riddles for kids that focus on animals. Let’s start with some easy riddles:

1. Riddle: What jumps when it walks and sits when it stands?

Answer: A kangaroo.

2. Riddle: I sleep during the day and fly at night, but I have no feathers to aid my flight. What am I?

Answer: A bat.

3. Riddle: I can honk without using a horn. What am I?

Answer: A goose.

4. Riddle: Why do cats make good warriors?

Answer: Because they’ve got 9 lives.

5. Riddle: The English alphabet goes from A to Z but my name goes from Z to A. What am I?

Answer: A Zebra.

Now, let’s test their thinking skills a little more with these trickier animal riddles:

6. Riddle: I am the fastest animal but cannot climb the tree. What am I? 

Answer: A cheetah.

7. Riddle: I have horns but I can’t beep. I like to bleat but I’m not a sheep. What am I?

Answer: A goat.

8. Riddle: I hide my treasure in the ground, my tail is big and fluffy. If you spot me in a tree, please don’t call me scruffy. What am I?

Answer: A squirrel.

9. Riddle: I live in a bowl. I can swim. I have a tail. I also have fins and big eyes. What am I?

Answer: A goldfish.

10. Riddle: I have a hole in my back and legs I lack. I live where I can’t breathe and I eat without teeth. What am I?

Answer: A whale.

11: I have a thousand needles but I do not sew. What am I?

Answer: A porcupine.

Riddles can also be used to help kids understand more about how English works, including things like the alphabet. Here are some easy riddles that test out your child’s knowledge of the English language.

1. Riddle: I am the beginning of everything, the end of everywhere.I'm the beginning of eternity, the end of time & space. What am I?

Answer: The letter E.

2. Riddle: What is in seasons, seconds, centuries and minutes but not in decades, years or days?

Answer: The letter N.

3. Riddle: How many letters are in the alphabet?

Answer: 11 letters (there's only 11 letters in the phrase 'the alphabet').

4. Riddle: What happens once in a minute, twice in a moment but never in one thousand years?

Answer: The letter “M”.

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

Answer: “Short”.

6. Riddle: What word begins and ends with an E but only has one letter?

Answer: Envelope (there's an 'e' at the start and end of the word, and an envelope contains a letter).

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

Answer: The letter “C”.

Celebrate all things holiday-themed with these fun holiday riddles for kids below:

1. Riddle: I come in many colors, so beautiful and bright, I turn homes into a beautiful sight. What am I?

Answer: Christmas lights!

2. Riddle: Which one of Santa’s reindeer can be seen on Valentine’s day?

Answer: Cupid.

3. Riddle: What kind of ball doesn’t bounce?

Answer: A snowball!

4. Riddle: How does a snowman lose weight?

Answer: He waits for the weather to get warmer.

5. Riddle: Why do mummies like Christmas so much?

Answer: Because of all the wrapping!

6. Riddle: Santa has one neighborhood left to visit on his way to the North Pole. In that neighborhood, there's a blue house made of gingerbread, a red house made of peppermint, and a white house made of vanilla. If Santa flies to the blue house first, then to the red house and then to the white house, where does he go next?

Answer: He goes back to the North pole (his home!).

7. Riddle: I fall but I never get hurt. 

Answer: Snow. 

Celebrate all things spooky with this little list of halloween riddles below.

1. Riddle: Why were the little ghosts so successful in Little League?

Answer: They had plenty of team spirit.

2. Riddle: How do you fix a damaged jack-o-lantern?

Answer: You use a pumpkin patch.

3. Riddle: I protect, I stand tall. My goal is to strike fear in all. What am I?

Answer: A scarecrow.

5. Riddle: I have a body, arms, legs and a head, but have no heart nor no guts. What am I?

Answer: A skeleton.

6. Riddle: Often buried with fabulous wealth I'm often called wrapped up in myself. What am I?

Answer: A mummy. (Ideal if kids are learning about Egyptian history!)

Benefits of riddles for kids

Kids of all ages love solving riddles. But do you know how many great benefits they have for your child’s learning and development? 

Riddles for kids can:  

• Improve  reading comprehension
• Help children focus and pay attention
• Boost problem solving and critical thinking
• Strengthen language skills  and linguistic awareness
• Promote analytical thinking and deductive reasoning

Riddles can also boost your child's mood, make them laugh, and give them a sense of accomplishment. 

And best of all, it gives you a chance to bond. Work on solving each riddle together as a fun family activity!

How to help your child create their own riddles

Once your child has completed our list of riddles, take their skills to the next level with homemade riddles! Encourage your child to create their own riddles using the following steps: 

1. Start with the answer

Come up with the solution to your riddle first, then work backwards to create your question. Your solution can be almost anything, but choosing a physical object is an easy way to start. 

Ex. The answer to my riddle is “carrot.”

2. Brainstorm

Write down any words or phrases that could be associated with your answer. 

• Similar things
• Things it does 
• Features it has
• How to describe it

Ex. Carrots are orange with green leaves on top. 

3. Think like your answer

If your answer were a person, what would they think? What would they do? How would they describe themselves? How would they see the world around them? 

Ex. If I were a carrot, I might think I was wearing a green hat.

4. Think outside the sentence

Use figurative language — like a metaphor, simile, personification or hyperbole — to make comparisons or describe your answer in new ways. This is often what makes the riddle tricky for the reader to solve. 

Ex. A carrot sounds like “a parrot.” 

5. Write your riddle!

Now that you have the backbone of your riddle, the only thing left to do is write! Use clear, descriptive language to write out your riddle, then share it with friends and family to see if they can solve it. 

If you want to show your riddle in a different way, you could even think about presenting it as a pun, like a knock-knock joke! Or if you’re looking to make a really tricky riddle or a brain teaser, you could use something visual like a deck of cards.

Ex. I’m orange, wear a green hat and sound like a parrot. What am I? 

How many riddles did your child get right? Which one was their favorite? 

Engage your child with self-guided learning they’ll  love

More than 50 million teachers and kids around the world love  Prodigy  — the game-based math and English platform for 1st-8th grade that  makes learning fun ! 

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And you can boost math practice even more! The optional  Membership  unlocks exclusive in-game rewards for your child. This makes them more motivated to play, so you can get more helpful data to support them. 

Think You're Pretty Clever? Try Solving These Riddles for Adults

T here are a bunch of ways you can pass time when you're feeling bored, but few can work your mind the way that riddles do. Whether you're looking for a fun road trip game or just waiting for dinner to be served with a group of friends—using your wits to solve a fun riddle will decrease your feeling of restlessness. So, you can probably assume where this is going next—here's a list of 75 different riddles (with answers!) that are just waiting for you and your pals to solve.

You may be good at dad jokes —or mom jokes for that matter—but there's a good chance that some of these riddles will definitely stump you. Don't worry, though, because we also included some easier brain teasers that can double as riddles for kids . There's quite a range, in fact, so go ahead and read these if you want to frazzle your mind a bit. Oh, and definitely let us know in the comments how many you were able to solve!

Simple Riddles for Adults

• What is harder to catch the faster you run? Your breath.
• Which letter of the alphabet has the most water? C.
• What flowers are kissable? Tulips.
• What has many keys but can’t open a single lock? A piano.
• Where does today come before yesterday? In the dictionary.
• What five-letter word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it? Short.
• What can go up but can't go down? Your age.
• What has a head and a tail but no body? A coin.
• What can't be touched but can be broken? A promise.
• What goes up and down but doesn’t move? A staircase.
• What has legs, but does not walk? A chair.
• Jared’s father has three sons: Snap, Crackle, and what's the third? Jared.
• How many months have 28 days? 12.
• What has words, but never speaks? A book.
• What has hands, but can’t clap? A clock.
• What runs around the whole yard without moving? Fence.
• What tastes better than it smells? Your tongue.
• What has three letters and starts with gas? Car.
• The more of this there is, the less you see... What is it? Darkness.
• What type of coat is always wet? A coat of paint.
• What occurs once in a minute, twice in a moment, and never in 1,000 years? The letter “M.”
• What has a neck but has no head? Guitar.

Difficult Riddles for Adults

• What runs, but never walks. Murmurs, but never talks. Has a bed, but never sleeps. And has a mouth, but never eats? A river.
• What is so fragile that saying its name breaks it? Silence.
• Forwards I am heavy, backward I am not. What am I? Ton.
• I have cities, but no houses. I have mountains, but no trees. I have water, but no fish. What am I? A map.
• If you eat it you, you'll still be hungry. What is it? Nothing.
• No matter how little or how much you use me, you change me every month. What am I? A calendar.
• What five-letter word has one left when two letters are removed? Stone.
• People make me, save me, change me, raise me. What am I? Money.
• Melissa has four daughters, and each of her daughters has a brother. How many children does Melissa have? Five—each daughter has the same brother.
• What can fill a room but takes up no space? Light.
• You see me once in June, twice in November, and not at all in May. What am I? The letter “E.”
• Two in a corner, one in a room, zero in a house, but one in a shelter. What am I? The letter “R.”
• You walk into a room that has a match, a kerosene lamp, a candle, and a fireplace. What would you light first? The match.
• 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? A coffin.
• How much dirt is in a hole that’s two feet by three feet? None, it’s a hole.
• 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? He’s bald.
• I have branches, but no fruit, trunk, or leaves. What am I? A bank.
• A cowboy rides into town on Friday. He stays three days, then rides out of town on Friday. How? His horse is named Friday.

Witty Riddles for Adults

• What can you hold in your right hand, but never in your left hand? Your left hand.
• When is a door no longer a door? When it’s ajar.
• Name a band that doesn't play music? A rubber band.
• What gets smaller every time it takes a bath? Soap.
• What has teeth, but doesn't bite? A comb.
• What has a bottom at the top? Your legs.
• What is yellow and smells like green paint? Yellow paint.
• What kind of room has no doors or windows? A mushroom.
• What has tons of eyes, but can’t see? A potato.
• What has to be broken before you can use it? An egg.
• What time is it when the Giant sits on a fence? It's time to get a new fence.
• What two things can you never eat for breakfast? Lunch and dinner.
• What part of the chicken has the most feathers? The outside.
• What is easy to catch, but impossible to throw? A cold.
• What has a singular eye, but can’t see? A needle.
• What is the end of everything? The letter “G.”
• What can travel the globe without leaving its corner? A stamp.
• What gets wet even when it dries? A towel.

Mind-Stumping Riddles for Adults

• What word is pronounced the same if you take away four of its five letters? Queue.
• Two fathers and two sons are in a car, yet there are only three people in the car. How? They are grandfather, father, and son.
• The 22nd and 24th presidents of the United States of America had the same parents but were not brothers. How can this be possible? They were the same man—Grover Cleveland.
• What belongs to you, but everyone else uses it. Your name.
• What do you throw out when you want to use it but take in when you don’t want to use it? An anchor.
• What starts with a T, ends with a T, and has T in it? A teapot.
• Spelled forwards I’m what you do every day, spelled backward I’m something you hate. What am I? Live.
• What's always found on the ground but never gets dirty? A shadow.
• Which is heavier: a ton of bricks or a ton of feathers? They weigh the same.
• What word in the dictionary is spelled incorrectly? Incorrectly.
• Until I am measured, I am not known. Yet how you miss me, When I have flown. What am I? Time.
• A plane crashed between the border of France and Belgium. Where were the survivors buried? They weren’t. Survivors don’t need to be buried.
• If your uncle’s sister is not your aunt, what relation is she to you? Your mother.
• What begins with an “e” and only contains one letter? An envelope.
• Take one out and scratch my head, I am now black but once was red. What am I? A match.
• What do you buy to eat but never consume? Utensils.
• If two’s company, and three’s a crowd, what are four and five? Nine.

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