About This Quiz
Humans have been testing their mental mettle with challenging riddles for thousands of years. See if you have what it takes to beat tricky riddles with this HowStuffWorks quiz!A clock that does not work at all will still be right twice a day, making it the better clock. A clock that loses a minute a day will only be correct every 720 days.
Advertisement
Your name belongs to you but will be said by others when talking to you or about you far more often than you will use it yourself. This tricky riddle has a simple answer.
Advertisement
This famous riddle is asked by Gollum of Bilbo Baggins in J.R.R Tolkien's "The Hobbit." The wind moves, makes noise and feels like it bites in the winter with no physical body parts.
Advertisement
If the man is "living" in Chelsea, he is still alive and should not be buried at all. To do so would be a crime.
Advertisement
This riddle is asked of Oedipus by the Sphinx in Sophocles' "Oedipus Rex." The answer is man, who walks on all fours as a baby, on two legs as an adult, and with a cane as they age.
Advertisement
This riddle refers to that while suicide is illegal, it is impossible to punish those who successfully undertake it. While suicide has been decriminalized is some western countries, it is still considered a crime in many parts of the world.
Advertisement
The speaker says that they are going to St. Ives. While they saw many others along the way, they did not say specifically that anyone other than themselves was going to St. Ives.
Advertisement
This old highly debatable riddle is deceptively easy to answer. Other animals, like dinosaurs, laid eggs long before their were chickens.
Advertisement
Smiles is the longest word in the dictionary. This is because there is a "mile" between the beginning and ending "S."
Advertisement
While this riddle does mention a bus driver, it does not specifically say that he was driving a bus at the time of breaking these traffic laws. As a pedestrian, he did not have to follow the rules of the road.
Advertisement
You light the match first, because without it none of the other objects can be lit. The wording of this riddle often tricks people.
Advertisement
This riddle is a funny one. It refers to the fact that you can crack, make, tell and play a joke.
Advertisement
In this classic riddle, the attending surgeon at the hospital is the boy's mother, making her unable to operate on him. It is deceptively simple.
Advertisement
This riddle comes from "The Hobbit" by J.R.R. Tolkien. It refers to the fact that all things end in time.
Advertisement
J.R.R. Tolkien worked this Old Norse riddle into his writings. The 30 white horses refer to teeth and the red hill refers to the tongue.
Advertisement
The answer to this riddle is charcoal. Charcoal is black at first, burns red, and turns to gray ash after it has been used.
Advertisement
This riddle refers to the varied movements and sizes of shadows, which become distorted by light. All things have a shadow.
Advertisement
This riddle refers to gloves. Despite having no physical living parts, they do have fingers and thumbs of their own.
Advertisement
Breaths are as light as air, yet no one can hold them for too long without serious consequences. This is what is referred to by this English-language riddle.
Advertisement
Fire is not alive, but it grows. It needs air to grow and is drowned by water, despite not having a mouth.
Advertisement
The answer to this riddle is "a bell." The hard tongue refers to the bell's clapper, which causes it to ring when it moves.
Advertisement
This riddle keeps it all in the family. If your father has a sister, her sister-in-law would be your mother.
Advertisement
The answer to this riddle is that James was bald. The hair on his head did not get wet, because he had no hair there to get wet.
Advertisement
This refers to the fact that sand can be used as part of building material, but also wear down that which has been built over time. While if sand gets in your eyes it can blind you, it can also be used to make glass, which can be used in glasses to help people see.
Advertisement
This riddle is a bit of wordplay. It refers to the fact that when you remove this "s" from "dozens" you are left with a "dozen," exactly 12.
Advertisement
Many older ships were made of wood, which is what this riddle refers to. They are also held together with nails, have no feet, and weighty bodies.
Advertisement
This riddle refers to the fact that the more a towel is used to dry off something else, the wetter it will get itself. This is a play on words.
Advertisement
Where there is an absence of anything, there is nothing. While dead men eat nothing, if living people eat nothing they will die.
Advertisement
The answer to this riddle can be seen in cities the world over. When the rain comes down umbrellas go up.
Advertisement
This logic problem comes from the Ancient Sumerian civilization. It refers to the power of education.
Advertisement
A coat of paint can be applied to a surface only when wet. This is unusual amongst coats.
Advertisement
Whether someone of a brother is their sister or brother, they will always be their sibling. The first sentence of this riddle is just misdirection.
Advertisement
This dark riddle has a deceptively simple answer. If you need a coffin for yourself, you would not know it.
Advertisement
This riddle all comes down to wordplay. When you take away the "whole" in "wholesome" you still have "some" left.
Advertisement
The answer to this riddle is "an echo." It has to do with their repetitive sound.
Advertisement