Everyone loves a good riddle. They’re a great way to flex your brain muscles and think about things in a way you might not have before. Or, in the case of some riddles, a great way to make you feel pretty dumb.
But the only way to eventually feel smarter is by continuing to practice thinking outside the box! With that in mind, here are 15 riddles designed to stretch your brain to its limits. (The answers are underneath each riddle, but no cheating!)
Forward I’m heavy, backward I’m not.
What am ?
Answer:
Ton
(Because “not” spelled backward is “ton.” Get it?)
A man has a bee in his hand.
What’s in his eye?
Answer:
Beauty
(Because “beauty is in the eye of the bee-holder.”)
A man wants to enter an exclusive club, but he doesn’t know the password, so he watches the bouncer to figure it out. A woman comes up and the bouncer says, “12.” The woman replies, “6.” The bouncer lets her in.
Another woman comes up and the bouncer says, “6.” The woman says “3” and the bouncer lets her in.
The man feels he’s heard enough and goes up to the door. The bouncer says “10,” and the man replies, “5.” The bouncer tells him to get lost.
What should the man have said instead?
Answer:
3 — the number of letters in the word “ten.”
Tear one off and scratch my head.
What once was red is black instead.
What am I?
Answer:
A match!
What tastes better than it smells?
Answer:
A tongue!
When you need me you throw me away.
When you don’t need me you bring me back.
What am I?
Answer:
An anchor.
If you throw me out a window, you’ll leave a grieving wife.
Bring me back, but through the door,
and give someone a new life.
What am I?
Answer:
The letter N.
(Remove the letter “n” from “window” and you get “widow.” Put the “n” in the word “door” and you get “donor.”)
Five hundred begins it, five hundred ends it, five in the middle is seen.
The first of all leters and the first of all numbers take the spaces between.
Now put it together and you will discover the name of a once-famous king.
Who is it?
Answer:
DAVID
(D is the Roman numeral for 500. V is the Roman numeral for 5. A is the first letter. I is the Roman numeral for 1 — the first number.)
Imagine you’re in a dark room with no windows and a locked door.
How do you get out?
Answer:
Imagine you have the key.
(Or stop imagining the room!)
You leave home running.
You make a right, then turn left twice.
You turn left one more time and see two men in masks. Who are they?
Answer:
The catcher and the umpire.
(They’re at home plate.)
I’m light as a feather, but the longer you hold me, the harder I am to keep.
What am I?
Answer:
Your breath.
(This one comes to us courtesy of author Jonathan Swift.)
We are all very little creatures;
all of us have different features.
One of us in glass is set;
One of us you’ll find in jet.
Another you may see in tin,
And a fourth is boxed within.
If the fifth you should pursue, It can never fly from you.
What are we?
Answer:
4 is 4.
(Once again, it’s the number of letters in the word — 3 in “one,” 3 in “two,” 5 in “three” and 4 in “four.”)
A murderer is condemned to death. He is given the choice between three rooms.
The first room is full of raging fires. The second is full of assassins with loaded guns. The third is full of lions that haven’t eaten in 3 years.
Which room should he choose?
Answer:
The room with the lions. They’re super dead.
Two fathers and their two sons go hunting in the woods.
They each shoot a rabbit and bring it home. They don’t lose any rabbits but only have three when they arrive. How is that possible?
Answer:
There are only three men — from three generations. A grandfather, his son, and his grandson.
