Can You Solve These Riddles?

By: Monica Lee
Estimated Completion Time
4 min
Can You Solve These Riddles?
Image: Shutterstock

About This Quiz

Riddles are fun, challenging and usually make you laugh or groan. So put on your thinking cap and see how many of these clever queries you can get through. If you're someone who likes a play on words, a pun, or just something silly, you'll want to spend time guessing the correct answer on every riddle. Go on, memorize a few these and make your friends moan and groan with your relish for riddles. 

We will give you a few tips along the way, like thinking about the keyword in the riddle and figuring out the answer by using its alternate meaning. Take for instance, "What are two things you cannot have for breakfast?" So the keyword is breakfast. Instead of thinking of breakfast foods, think of breakfast in another way, such as the first meal of the day. So, if it's the first meal of the day, the two things you cannot have for breakfast are... lunch and dinner! 

See how it works? Enjoy the brain tease and enjoy how language and logic can make you laugh out loud. Here's your starter riddle: what begins with a Q and ends with a laugh? The answer: this quiz! Your silly riddles await.  

What has a face and two hands but no arms and can run?
A clock
In this day of cell phones, nobody needs clocks anymore, so this one may have been a bit hard for some of you.
A toaster
A blender
A can opener

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What five-letter word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?
Apple
Bread
Short
Ah, so clever. If you want to make this quiz more challenging, try not to look at the choices and make a guess.
Drink

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What word begins and ends with an E but only has one letter in it?
Ease
Envelope
It's a riddle that makes you laugh when you figure it out! Oh, you had to be clever to get this one, since the "one letter" was something you mail.
Edge
Else

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What has a neck but no head?
A faucet
A bottle
If you hesitated in choosing an answer, let us explain. Generally, we don't refer to a faucet as having a neck, but we do refer to bottles as having a neck. In fact, we call a traffic jam a "bottleneck."
A giraffe
A person

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Which month has 28 days?
February
January
March
All of them
Find a month on the calendar that DOESN'T have the 28th on it. All of them do! Always look for the tricks in these riddles.

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What type of cheese is made backwards?
Swiss
Cheddar
Blue
Edam
If you spell each word backward you'll note that "edam" is the word "made". Here's a riddle tip: always look for a word that could mean two things.

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Why did the boy bury his flashlight?
So he could see in the dark
Because his batteries died
In most cultures, people bury those who have died. In this case, it's a funny way to convey the batteries are dead. Cute AND clever.
To protect him from "flash" floods
None of the above

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Which letter of the alphabet has the most water?
T
C
Although T (tea) and P (pee) contain water, the MOST water is found at C (sea). Silly, yet smart!
B
P

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What starts with a P, ends with an E and has thousands of letters?
People
Phone
Page
Post Office
Since a single page can't have thousands of letters on it, the only correct answer is a post office as it's the only one that picks up and delivers thousands of letters a day.

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What has to be broken before you can use it?
A saddle
An egg
Although it's nicer if shoes are broken in before they are used, that's not the correct answer. In this case, only eggs need to be broken, in order to consume them.
Shoes
None of the above

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What begins with T, ends with T, and has T in it?
Teapot
In this riddle the "T" inside it, is referring to "tea." So the correct answer is "teapot." Remember to look for those plays on words.
Test
Talent
Treat

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Three men were in a boat. It capsized, but only two got their hair wet. Why?
One stood on the other guy who was swimming.
One used a paddle to keep himself above the water.
One stayed underneath the boat where there was a pocket of air.
One was bald.
If you're bald, you don't have hair to get wet. When it comes to riddles, you know a long explanation isn't the answer. Look for the shortest and simplest one.

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Where does Friday come before Thursday?
In the calendar
In the work week
In the dictionary
Another clever one. The only time Friday would come before Thursday is when there is an alphabetical listing, like in a dictionary, for example.
It doesn't.

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Bobby throws a ball as hard as he can. It comes back to him, even though nothing and nobody touches it. How?
It's magic.
Bobby throws it straight up.
It's not magic, it's gravity. When Bobby throws the ball in the air it comes back to earth due to gravity. Gotcha!
A ghost threw it back.
It could never happen.

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Tracy’s father has five daughters – Tina, Tess, Tammy, Tabatha. What is the fifth daughter’s name?
Taylor
Tanya
Tracy
Since it's Tracy's father, the name of the fifth daughter is Tracy. With many of these riddles you need to hear similar ones before you figure out how the question hides the answer.
Samantha

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What is so delicate that saying its name breaks it?
A vase
A whisper
Silence
This might have taken some time to figure out as the answer is a word not an object that is breakable. But the answer is oh so clever, one has to forgive the misdirection.
A spider web

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What kind of tree can you carry in your hand?
Pine tree
Birch tree
Palm
Yep, we told you there would be moans and groans in this quiz. Although the answer could be "entree" and "shoetree," the best answer that will get you the biggest groan is "palm."
Apple tree

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If an electric train is travelling south, which way is the smoke going?
North
South
East
It's an electric train, there's no smoke.
Remember to look for the trick in the question. In this case, it's an electric train, so there's no direction to choose because there is no smoke.

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What goes up but never goes down?
A Ferris wheel
An elevator
Your age
Oh sure, there are answers like "hot air" and "the date" however, "your age" is the most obvious, and that's what riddles are all about.
Time on a clock

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If you threw a white stone into the Red Sea, what would it become?
Pink
Orange
Blue
Wet
This riddle used color as a distraction to make it harder to get the right answer. Forget about colors. Throw a rock into any body of water and it will become wet.

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What invention lets you look right through a wall?
A) An open door
B) A window
C) Glasses
D) A & B
An open door and a window (without curtains) let you see from one room to another, or from inside to outside. What a clever invention!

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A monkey, a squirrel, and a bird are racing to the top of a coconut tree. Who will get the mango first, the monkey, the squirrel, or the bird?
The monkey
The squirrel
The bird
No one; it's a coconut tree, there is are no mangoes.
Did you need to re-read the question? It's amazing how our minds make assumptions and imagine a mango tree when it's a coconut tree is what the riddle referenced.

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Which word in the dictionary is spelled incorrectly?
Peruse
Unwieldy
Incorrectly
Another trick question. All the words in the dictionary are spelled correctly. Even incorrectly is correctly spelled.
Spelled

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Why are teddy bears never hungry?
Because they are always stuffed
All of these are funny answers, but the one that makes the most sense and is the best play on words is "because they are already stuffed."
Because they are "barely" able to chew
Because they live on hugs and kisses
Because they just grin and bear it

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What do you call a man who does not have all his fingers on one hand?
Short-handed
Tight-fisted
Normal
It's normal to have fingers on both hands, not just on one! The other answers were good, but "normal" is the best answer.
Handy

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Why couldn’t the sailors play cards?
They forgot to bring them.
No one had a poker face.
The captain was standing on the deck.
It's a play on words, of course. You need to connect a ship's deck with a deck of cards to be able to guess the correct answer.
No one wanted to play 52 pick up.

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What did the outlaw get when he stole a calendar?
He got the book thrown at him.
He got 12 months.
When someone is caught for a crime such as stealing, they sometimes get a jail sentence, meaning time in prison. So the best answer uses a description of a calendar (12 months) to also provide the sentence for the crime.
He got a few hot "dates."
He got away with it.

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Have you heard about the restaurant on the moon?
A) Great food, but no atmosphere.
B) The cuisine is out of this world.
C) It takes light-years to get a reservation.
D) Any of the above.
Any answer that plays off the characteristics of a moon and a restaurant will fit this riddle. Enjoy them all!

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Why didn’t the hot dog star in the movie?
The roll was not good enough.
He didn't relish the roll.
The movie had started filming and he couldn't ketchup.
Any of the above
By changing the word "role," which refers to a role in a movie, to "roll" which refers to a hot dog bun, all the answers are a good fit for this riddle. Go with your favorite.

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What are two things you cannot have for breakfast? What's the most appropriate answer for this riddle?
Plate and napkin
Fork and knife
Cat and dog
Lunch and dinner
Although you shouldn't eat any of the first three answers for breakfast, you simply can't have lunch or dinner because you're having breakfast. Plus, it's most humorous answer of the bunch!

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What kind of cup can’t hold water?
Cupcake
Cupboard
Hiccup
All of the above
All of these answers make sense but we think the cleverest one is cupcake. But the choice is yours!

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I have a tail, a head, but I have no body. I am NOT a snake. What am I?
A clock
A coin
The wittiest answer is a coin. The riddle misdirected your thinking so that a type of animal might come to mind.
An amoeba
A beer

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Blue lives in the blue house, Mr. Pink lives in the pink house, and Mr. Brown lives in the brown house. Who lives in the white house?
Mr. White
Mrs. White
White
The President
Did we have you going there? It's all about misdirection to make you see how clever the riddle actually is. The President is the person who lives in the White House.

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Which weighs more, a pound of feathers or a pound of bricks?
Feathers
Bricks
They both weigh the same.
They both weigh a pound as the riddle states. So they weigh the same, but there are a lot more feathers in one pound than bricks in one pound!
None of these are the correct answer.

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Jack rode into town on Friday and rode out two days later on Friday. How can that be possible?
Jack lives in an alternate universe.
Jack's horse is named "Friday."
This riddle's key word is "rode." It might have led you to thinking about the horse, and then again, maybe it didn't. Either way, we hope you got a laugh.
Jack's watch that shows the time and day is broken. (He really rode out on Sunday.)
None of the above

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