Think you’re good at riddles? These are the 50 hardest riddles in the world, collected from classic literature, lateral thinking puzzles and famous brain teasers that regularly stump adults. Read each one carefully – the trick is usually hidden in the words themselves.
Answers are hidden behind “Show answer”. No peeking until you’ve had a real go!
Contents
- Hard Word Riddles
- Lateral Thinking Puzzles
- Hard Riddles About Objects
- Hard Math and Logic Riddles
- More Riddle Collections
- Frequently Asked Questions
Hard Word Riddles
1. What walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon and three legs in the evening?
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Answer: A human – crawling as a baby, walking as an adult, using a cane in old age. This is the famous Riddle of the Sphinx.
2. What can run but never walks, has a mouth but never talks, has a head but never weeps, has a bed but never sleeps?
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Answer: A river.
3. The more of this there is, the less you see. What is it?
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Darkness.
4. I speak without a mouth and hear without ears. I have no body, but I come alive with the wind. What am I?
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Answer: An echo.
5. What has to be broken before you can use it?
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Answer: An egg.
6. What is so fragile that saying its name breaks it?
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Silence.
7. What English word is pronounced the same even if you take away four of its five letters?
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Queue.
8. What can fill a room but takes up no space?
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Light.
9. What has 13 hearts but no other organs?
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Answer: A deck of cards.
10. If you have me, you want to share me. If you share me, you haven’t got me. What am I?
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Answer: A secret. See the full riddle
11. I turn once, what is out will not get in. I turn again, what is in will not get out. What am I?
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Answer: A key.
12. What English word has three consecutive double letters?
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Bookkeeper (oo-kk-ee).
13. What can you keep after giving it to someone?
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Answer: Your word.
14. I have keys but no locks, space but no room. You can enter but can’t go outside. What am I?
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Answer: A keyboard.
15. I am an odd number. Take away one letter and I become even. What number am I?
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Seven (s-even). Full explanation
16. What begins with E, ends with E, but contains only one letter?
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Answer: An envelope.
17. Poor people have it, rich people need it, and if you eat it you die. What is it?
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Nothing.
18. What is seen in the middle of March and April that can’t be seen at the beginning or end of either month?
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Answer: The letter R.
19. What word looks the same upside down and backwards?
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SWIMS.
20. Two in a corner, one in a room, zero in a house, but one in a shelter. What is it?
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Answer: The letter R.
Lateral Thinking Puzzles
These puzzles describe a strange situation. Ask yourself what is not said in the story.
21. A man pushes his car to a hotel and tells the owner he’s bankrupt. Why?
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Answer: He’s playing Monopoly.
22. A man lives on the 10th floor. Every morning he takes the lift down to the ground floor. In the evening he takes the lift to the 7th floor and walks up the rest – unless it’s raining. Why?
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Answer: He is short and can only reach the 7th-floor button. On rainy days he uses his umbrella to press 10.
23. Two people are born at the exact same moment, but they have different birthdays. How?
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Answer: They are born in different time zones.
24. A woman has seven daughters, and each daughter has a brother. How many children does she have?
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Eight – the seven daughters share one brother.
25. Romeo and Juliet are found dead on the floor, surrounded by water and broken glass. How did they die?
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Answer: Romeo and Juliet are goldfish – their bowl was knocked over.
26. A man walks into a bar and asks for a glass of water. The bartender pulls out a gun and points it at him. The man says “thank you” and leaves. Why?
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Answer: He had hiccups – the scare cured them.
27. A boy fell off a 30-metre ladder but didn’t get hurt at all. How?
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Answer: He fell off the bottom step.
28. An assistant at a butcher’s shop is 1.80 m tall and wears size 46 shoes. What does he weigh?
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Meat. See the original riddle
29. The 22nd and 24th presidents of the United States had the same parents but were not brothers. How?
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Answer: They were the same man – Grover Cleveland served two separate terms.
30. A plane crashes exactly on the border of the USA and Canada. Where do they bury the survivors?
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Answer: You don’t bury survivors.
31. You’re in a race and you pass the person in last place. What position are you in now?
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Answer: It’s impossible – you can’t pass the last person if you’re behind them.
32. A man stands on one side of a river, his dog on the other. He calls the dog, which crosses without a bridge or boat and without getting wet. How?
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Answer: The river was frozen.
33. A father’s child, a mother’s child, yet no one’s son. Who am I?
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Answer: A daughter.
Hard Riddles About Objects
34. What has a head, a tail, is brown and has no legs?
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Answer: A penny.
35. What goes through cities and fields but never moves?
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Answer: A road.
36. What word starts with IS, ends with AND and has LA in the middle?
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Island.
37. I am black when you buy me, red when you use me and grey when you throw me away. What am I?
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Charcoal. Full answer
38. Feed me and I live. Give me a drink and I die. What am I?
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Fire.
39. What has many teeth but can’t bite?
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Answer: A comb.
40. I have branches, but no fruit, trunk or leaves. What am I?
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Answer: A bank.
41. What tastes better than it smells?
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Answer: Your tongue.
42. What gets sharper the more you use it?
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Answer: Your brain.
43. What has a heart that doesn’t beat?
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Answer: An artichoke.
44. You throw away the outside, cook the inside, eat the outside and throw away the inside. What is it?
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Corn on the cob.
45. What belongs to you, but other people use it more than you do?
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Answer: Your name.
Hard Math and Logic Riddles
46. A bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1.00 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?
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5 cents – not 10. Ball = 0.05, bat = 1.05, total 1.10.
47. If 5 machines take 5 minutes to make 5 widgets, how long would 100 machines take to make 100 widgets?
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5 minutes – each machine makes one widget in 5 minutes.
48. A patch of lily pads doubles in size every day. It takes 48 days to cover the whole lake. How long to cover half the lake?
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47 days.
49. What is the next letter: O, T, T, F, F, S, S, E, …?
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N – One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine.
50. Which is heavier: a tonne of feathers or a tonne of bricks?
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Neither – both weigh a tonne.
More Riddle Collections
- 1000+ Easy Riddles with Answers
- 500+ Hard Riddles for Kids
- Logic Puzzles with Answers
- Math Riddles with Answers
- Funny Riddles with Answers
- What Am I Riddles
- Riddles for Adults
- हिंदी पहेलियाँ (Hindi Riddles)
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the hardest riddle in the world?
There is no official winner, but the bat-and-ball riddle and the lift (elevator) riddle are famous for fooling most adults. The Riddle of the Sphinx is the oldest well-known hard riddle.
How do you get better at hard riddles?
Read every word slowly, question your first assumption, and think about other meanings of the words. Lateral thinking puzzles reward asking “what isn’t said?”.
Are these riddles suitable for kids?
Most are fine for teenagers. For younger children, try our easy riddles or hard riddles for kids collections.