1,128 Hard Riddles With Answers
These are the riddles that do not fall over on a first reading. Some hide a pun inside a pun; some describe an object so obliquely that you only see it once you stop picturing the obvious thing; a few are pure logic and simply need working through on paper.
The honest way to use a hard riddle is to sit with it. Read it twice, notice which word is carrying more than one meaning, and try the reading you dismissed first. That is nearly always where the answer is hiding.
Every riddle on this page has its answer and, where the reasoning is not obvious, an explanation of how you were supposed to get there. If you want harder still, try Expert Riddles for Adults; if you want the story-shaped kind, try Detective and Lateral-Thinking Riddles.
What can be found at the beginning of eternity the end of time and space the beginning of every end?
The letter E starts "eternity," ends "time" and "space," and begins the word "end."
Long and slinky like a trout, never sings till it's guts come out.
A gun is long and sleek like a fish, and it only 'sings' (fires with a bang) once its 'guts' (bullet and gunpowder) are expelled.
An iron horse with a flaxen tail. The faster the horse runs, the shorter his tail becomes.
A sewing needle ('iron horse') pulls thread ('flaxen tail') through fabric, and the thread supply shortens the more it's used.
When I'm born I fly. When I'm alive I lay. When I'm dead I run.
Snow 'flies' as it falls, 'lies' on the ground once settled, and 'runs' as melted water once it 'dies' (melts).
What occurs four times in every week, twice in every month, only once in a year but never in a day?
Counting the letter's occurrences in the words 'week,' 'month,' 'year,' and 'day' matches this exact pattern for the letter E.
I am a good state, there can be no doubt of it; but those who are in, entirely are out of it.
The riddle plays on double meaning: 'sane' is a good state of mind, but people who are 'in-sane' are by definition out of their right mind.
Long legs, crooked thighs, little head, and no eyes.
Kitchen tongs have long crossed 'legs' (arms), a small pivoting 'head' or hinge, and no eyes.
Turns us on our backs, and open up our stomachs. You will be the wisest of men though at start a lummox.
Opening a book (cracking its spine like a 'stomach', laying it back) can transform an ignorant person (a lummox) into a wise one.
You have it even if there is none.
The riddle plays loosely on the idea that people can still "have hope" even in a hopeless situation, though the phrasing itself is a bit paradoxical.
In Paris but not in France, the thinnest of its siblings.
"Paris" contains the letter I, which does not appear in "France"; among the letters unique to Paris, I is visually the thinnest.
This is the tallest peak in the happiest place on earth.
Disneyland, often called 'the happiest place on earth,' features the Matterhorn Bobsleds ride, modeled after the actual Swiss peak, as its tallest structure.
Currency that flirted with a British spy.
Miss Moneypenny is the character in the James Bond films who is fond of Agent 007, and her name puns on 'money' and 'penny.'
I tremble at each breath of air, and yet can heaviest burdens bear.
Water ripples at the slightest breeze yet can support enormous weight, such as ships, through buoyancy.
What eight letter word has "kst" in the middle, at the beginning, and at the end?
The source's intended wordplay is the word 'inkstand,' which hides the letters 'ink' and 'stand' inside an eight-letter word; the wording of this riddle is somewhat garbled in the original text.
What liquid can contain the soul?
This is a loose, poetic link: writing (done with ink) is said to capture a person's thoughts and 'soul' on the page.
I'm the start of eternity and the end of space. There are two of me in heaven and one in hell.
'Eternity' starts with E, 'spacE' ends with E, 'hEavEn' contains two E's, and 'hEll' contains one.
Gets rid of bad ones, short and tall. Tightens when used, one size fits all.
A hangman's noose tightens around anyone's neck regardless of height, historically used to eliminate 'bad ones.'
I saw the dead bring forth the living. I saw the living bring forth the dead. What did I see?
The source lists 'funeral' as the answer to this deliberately poetic and ambiguous riddle, though the imagery of the dead producing the living (and vice versa) is a looser fit than most riddles in this collection.
What would your father's only sister's sister-in-law be to you?
Your father's only sister's sister-in-law is your father's wife -- your mother -- since the sister-in-law of your aunt, through her marriage to your father, is your father's own spouse.
You'll have me at night and if you remove the first letter I denote the top, such as on a train.
'Supper' is the evening meal; drop its first letter S and you get 'upper,' as in an 'upper' berth -- the top bunk on a sleeper train.
An open ended barrel, it is shaped like a hive. It is filled with the flesh, and the flesh is alive!
A thimble is a small, hive-shaped, open-bottomed cap worn over a living finger (the 'flesh') to protect it while sewing.
Kills the bad ones and the sad ones. Tightens to fit, so one size fits.
A hangman's noose is a grim 'one size fits all' device that tightens around the neck regardless of the person's size.
Slayer of regrets, old and new, sought by many, found by few.
Redemption is the act of making up for past wrongs and erasing regrets, yet it's something many seek but few truly achieve.
I bind it and it walks. I loose it and it stops.
Strapping (binding) a sandal onto a foot lets a person walk; unstrapping it removes that ability, stopping them.
When the creeper passes, all the grass kneels.
As a plow (the 'creeper') is dragged across a field, it flattens ('kneels') the grass and soil in its path.
I have three hundred cattle, with a single nose cord.
This traditional riddle likens a string of many beads threaded on one cord to a herd of cattle tethered together by a single rope -- a loosely metaphorical, translated riddle.
There is a creature of God whose body is hard; it does not wish to eat unless you strike its head.
A chisel has a hard body and only 'bites' into material (works) when its head is struck with a mallet.
Needed to jack, but also to carp. I can't be used in rust, but can in the grass. What am I?
"Jack" and "carp" both contain the letter A, "rust" does not contain an A, and "grass" does.
I can travel from there to here by disappearing, and here to there by reappearing.
Remove the T from "there" and you get "here"; add the T back to "here" and it becomes "there" again.
What do we see every day, kings see rarely, and God never sees?
Ordinary people meet their "equals" every day, kings rarely meet anyone of equal status, and God, as supreme, has no equal at all.
Grows from the ground, bushes and grass, leaves of yellow, red and brown. Unruly plants get the axe, trim the hedge back down.
The riddle describes hair as if it were landscaping: it "grows," comes in shades like blond ("yellow"), red, and brown, and unruly growth gets trimmed, a haircut, just like an overgrown hedge.
High born, my touch is gentle. Purest white is my lace. Silence is my kingdom. Green is the color of my death.
Snow falls gently from high in the sky, is pure white and lacy in pattern, blankets the world in silence, and "dies," melts, into green grass come spring.
What can be seen but never found, that only hides in the unwound?
Relaxation is something you feel only when you let go of tension ("unwound"), and it can't be actively "found" by searching.
I am the third from a sparkle bright. I thrive throughout the day and night. Deep in the path of a cow's white drink. I've had thousands of millions of years to think. But one of my creatures is killing me. And so the question I ask to thee, is who am I?
Earth is the third planet from the sparkling sun, sits within the Milky Way ("cow's white drink" is milk), is billions of years old, and is being harmed by humanity, one of its own creatures.
What odd number becomes even when beheaded?
Removing the "S" from "seven" leaves "even," turning the odd number's name into the word for an even number.
I have split the one into five. I am the circle that few will spy. I am the path that breaks and gives. I am the bow no man may bend.
A rainbow splits white light into the colors of the spectrum, forms a faint circle rarely seen in full, appears in broken light through rain, and looks like a bow no one can actually string.
I use electricity and I killed my father. I am a king. I have a lot of girlfriends, but I also have a wife. Who am I?
In Greek mythology, Zeus wields lightning, overthrew his father Cronus to become king of the gods, was married to Hera, and had many other lovers.
Two little holes in the side of a hill. Just as you come to the cherry-red mill.
This poetically describes a face: the "hill" is your face, the "two little holes" are your nostrils, and the "cherry-red mill" is your mouth — together framing the nose.
Curtail me thrice, I am a youth; behead me once, a snake; complete, I'm often used, in truth, when certain steps you'd take.
Removing the last three letters of "ladder" leaves "lad" (a youth); removing just the first letter leaves "adder" (a snake); the whole word "ladder" is what you climb, step by step.
What occurs once in a minute, twice in a moment, and never in one thousand years?
The letter M appears once in "minute," twice in "moment," but not at all in "one thousand years."
Bold are the first; true are the second; playful are the third; clever are the fourth; forceful are the fifth.
The initials of the five described traits, Bold, Real, Adventurous, Clever, and Vigorous, spell out the word BRAVE, which the source gives as the answer.
My first is an insect; my second is a border; my whole puts the face in a tuneful disorder.
"Ant" (insect) plus "hem" (a border, or edge, of cloth) forms "anthem," and singing along to a rousing anthem can twist your face into odd, tuneful expressions.
Perfect with a head, perfect without a head; Perfect with a tail, perfect without a tail; Perfect with either, neither, or both.
The source's answer likely alludes to historical wigs, some styled with a tail (queue) and some without, and worn as full head-coverings or partial hairpieces -- a fairly obscure, loose fit compared to most riddles here.
My first is in fish but not in snail. My second is in rabbit but not in tail. My third is in up but not in down. My fourth is in tiara but not in crown. My fifth is in tree you plainly see. My whole a food for you and me.
The letters spell F (fish, not snail), R (rabbit, not tail), U (up, not down), I (tiara, not crown), and T (tree), together spelling 'fruit.'
I live in water. If you cut my head I'm at your door. If you cut my tail I'm fruit. If you cut both I'm with you.
'Pearl' forms in water inside an oyster; drop its first letter for 'earl' (a nobleman), drop its last letter for 'pear' (a fruit), and drop both to get 'ear,' which is always with you.
What surrounds the world, yet dwells within a thimble?
Outer space surrounds the entire world, yet the small pocket of empty space inside a sewing thimble is also, technically, space.
It is an arctic double breasted formal wear.
The clue's classic form usually points to a tuxedo-like penguin; the source instead answers 'snowsuit,' referencing a heavily layered cold-weather outfit, which is a looser fit for 'formal wear.'
A vessel have I, that is round as pear, moist in the middle, surrounded with hair; and often it happens that water flows there.
The eyeball is round and moist, ringed by lashes and brows, and tears (water) often flow from it.
I live above a star who never burns. I have 11 neighbors but they never turn. My initial are p, q, r, and sometimes s. What am I?
On a phone keypad, the 7 sits above the star (*) key, shares the pad with 11 other unmoving buttons, and its letters are P, Q, R, S.
Sometimes I am loud. And viewed with distaste. Poke out my "eye", then I'm on the front of your face.
'Noise' can be loud and unpleasant; remove the letter 'i' (its 'eye') and the remaining letters spell 'nose,' which sits on the front of your face.
If you look you cannot see me. If you see me you cannot see anything else. I can make anything you want happen, but later everything goes back to normal. What am I?
You can't spot imagination by looking around, but once you're lost in it nothing else registers -- and it can conjure anything, until reality returns.
What is part of you and all around you but if it entangles you, it will kill you?
The human body is made mostly of water, water surrounds us in rivers and oceans, yet becoming tangled and trapped underwater can drown a person.
It increases and decreases yet no one see it. It is not a fire and yet it can be quenched.
Thirst is an invisible feeling that grows or fades, and like a fire, it can be "quenched" -- in this case, by drinking water.
As I went over London Bridge I met my sister Jenny; I broke her neck and drank her blood and left her standing empty.
"Sister Jenny" is old slang for a bottle of gin: breaking her neck opens the bottle, drinking her blood is drinking the gin, and leaving her standing empty leaves the empty bottle behind.
Two brothers we are, great burdens we bear. All day we are bitterly pressed. Yet this I will say, we are full all the day, and empty when go to rest.
Two boots ("brothers") bear the weight of your body all day, remaining "full" of your feet until you take them off and empty them at night.
I ride, I ride; no tracks are left. I chop and chop; there are no chips left. He rides and rides; turns around: there is no road left.
A boat glides through water leaving no tracks, cuts through waves without leaving chips, and turns around at sea where there is no road at all.
My first keeps time, my second spends time, my whole tells time.
This is a charade riddle: "watch" keeps time, "man" spends his time on duty, and together "watchman" is someone who patrols keeping track through the night.
There is not wind enough to twirl that one red leaf, nearest of its clan, which dances as often as dance it can.
This passage more naturally describes a single trembling autumn leaf; the source lists "sun" as the intended answer, though the connection between a lone red leaf and the sun is a genuine stretch worth flagging.
My first is a title of honor; my second is myself; my third is your and I; my whole is a beautiful fixed star, seen in the winter.
"Sir" (a title of honor) plus "I" (myself) plus "us" (you and I) spells SIRIUS, the brightest star in the winter sky.
It happens when something has been cut with H2O.
Adding water (H2O) to a liquid to reduce its strength is the definition of diluting it.
What is the thing that stays the same size, but the more it's used the more it decreases?
The source lists 'iron' as the answer here, though the description of shrinking with use actually fits an item like a bar of soap far better; this appears to be a weak or mismatched answer in the original worksheet, which we retain as given.
My first is in some but not in all. My second is into but not in tall. My third in little but not in big. My fourth in pork but not in pig. My whole is made in nature's way. For clothing, rugs used every day.
Each clue isolates one letter present in the first word but absent from the second, spelling S-I-L-K -- the natural fiber woven into clothing and rugs. (The source text's "port" appears to be a scanning error for "pork," which is what actually supplies the letter K.)
As I went across the bridge, I met a man with a load of wood which was neither straight nor crooked. What kind of wood was it?
Sawdust is just loose wood particles with no defined shape at all, so it is neither straight nor crooked.
Twigs and spheres and poles and plates. Join and bind to reason make.
The bones of a skeleton resemble twigs, round joints resemble spheres, long bones resemble poles, and flat bones resemble plates, all joined together to form a functioning ('reasoning') body.
My first is a slice affords so nice; my second discomposes; my whole's a bed where honor's head devotedly reposes.
"Ham" is a nice slice of meat and "mock" means to unsettle or disturb (discompose); together they form "hammock," a bed where one might rest with honor.
My first is a term to relate a circumstance present or past; and those who are much prone to prate, my second will spout away fast. My whole, in the days of our youth, is what we extremely despised; and though it say nothing but truth, yet it never need hope to be prized.
"Tell" relates a past or present circumstance, and someone who prates (chatters) spins a "tale" quickly; together they form "telltale," a name children hated to be called even when telling the truth.
What eight letter word has 'kst' in middle, in the beginning and at the end?
The intended answer, INKSTAND (from "ink" plus "stand"), does contain the letters K, S and T clustered near its middle, though the printed clue about that pattern repeating at the very start and end appears distorted by scanning errors and doesn't check out cleanly letter-by-letter.
My first is equality; my second is inferiority; my whole is superiority.
Reading the described letter-clues in sequence spells "peerless," meaning without equal, matching the riddle's own play on "equality," "inferiority," and "superiority."
Something wholly unreal, yet seems real to I. Think my friend, tell me where does it lie?
The mind can create thoughts and illusions that feel completely real even though they exist only internally, and the riddle plays on "where does it lie," both meaning location and the act of telling a lie.
Can you guess the next letter in the series? "CYGTNLIT"
Each letter in 'CYGTNLIT' is the first letter of a word in the question itself ('Can You Guess The Next Letter In The...'), so the next letter continues the phrase with 'Series' -- S.
I am a strong as ten men Yet ten men cannot stand me up. What am I?
Water can be extremely forceful, yet because it has no fixed shape, no number of strong men could ever make it physically "stand up" on its own.
There are two meanings to me. With one I may need to be broken, with the other I hold on. My favorite characteristic is my charming dimple.
"Tie" has multiple meanings: a game "tie" may need to be broken to determine a winner, while a necktie is something you hold onto (wear), and a well-tied necktie often features a stylish dimple.
What kinds of men are always above board?
A pun on the idiom "above board" (meaning honest) -- chessmen (chess pieces) are literally always above the board during play.
It produces a flower but it is not its fruit; it produces branches which are its fruit.
A corn plant grows a tassel (flower) at its top, which is not the harvested part; instead, the ears growing along its stalk ("branches") are its useful "fruit."
What can be right but never wrong?
This is a wordplay riddle: a "right angle" is called "right" (a 90-degree angle) by name, so it can never technically be described as a "wrong angle."
You'll have me at night and if you remove the first letter I denote the top, such as on a train. What am I?
You eat "supper" at night, and removing its first letter leaves "upper," as in an "upper" berth or deck, such as on a train.
Blend a teapot shot so the pearlies won't rot!
"Pearlies" refers to teeth (pearly whites), and toothpaste is used to keep them from decaying ("rot"). Note: the riddle's own phrasing is oddly worded in the source, but the intended answer is clearly toothpaste.
My first is nothing but a name; my second is more small; my whole is of so little fame it has no name at all.
This is a compound-word riddle: 'name' (nothing but a name) plus 'less' (smaller) combine to form 'nameless,' a word that ironically has no name of its own.
You can read it both ways, I wear; one way it's a number, reversed a snare.
'Ten' spelled backward is 'net' -- a snare used to trap something -- making it readable both ways as intended.
It can make rain, but take away one leg and it'll give you pain.
'R' plus 'ain' spells 'rain'; remove one leg from the letter R and it becomes a 'P,' which plus 'ain' spells 'pain' -- a letter-based wordplay riddle.
What is the word that even in plain sight remains hidden?
This is a self-referential wordplay riddle: the word 'hidden,' printed right there on the page, is the answer itself -- hidden in plain sight until you notice it.
In two years, I know I'll be twice as old as I was five years ago, said Tom. How old is Tom?
Let Tom's age be x: x + 2 = 2(x - 5), which solves to x = 12, so Tom is twelve years old.
I occur twice in eternity. And I'm always within sight.
The word 'eternity' contains the letter T twice, and T also appears in the word 'sight.'
What is in the middle of nowhere?
Counting the letters of 'nowhere,' the letter H sits exactly in the middle.
What common English verb becomes its own past tense by rearranging its letters?
'Eat' rearranged becomes 'ate' -- its own past-tense form, made from the same letters.
I am a time for gathering crops. Remove the first three letters and I become an object you can wear. What am I?
'Harvest' is the crop-gathering season, and dropping its first three letters ('har') leaves 'vest,' a piece of clothing.
My second is performed by my first, and it is thought a thief by the marks of my whole might be caught.
The 'foot' (first part) performs the 'step' (second part), and the footsteps left behind can help catch a thief.
One am I, among six others: Largest, smallest, cold, dark and two brothers.
Among the seven continents, Asia is largest, Australia smallest, Antarctica coldest and darkest in winter, and North/South America are the 'two brothers,' leaving Europe as the remaining one.
The ones in the sea are prickly, but the ones on the street might pickpocket you.
A sea urchin is covered in sharp spines, while a 'street urchin' is old slang for a scrappy child who might pick pockets.
It's always above the negatives Yet it's lower than the first prime no matter how you multiply it's the same every time.
Zero sits directly above the negative numbers on a number line and below 2 (the first prime), and any number multiplied by zero always stays zero.
Five men were eating apples, A finished before B, but behind C. D finished before E, but behind B. What was the finishing order?
Working from the clues -- C before A before B, and B before D before E -- the only consistent finishing order is C, A, B, D, E.
What seven-letter word becomes longer when the third letter is removed?
Removing the third letter (U) from LOUNGER gives LONGER, a word that is literally 'longer' in meaning.
What word looks the same upside down and backwards?
The word 'SWIMS' reads the same when the page is flipped upside down and when it's viewed reflected, thanks to the symmetry of its letters.
I am not alive but seem so, because I dance and breathe with no legs or lungs of my own. What am I?
A flickering flame or a piece of animated art can seem lifelike, 'dancing' and 'breathing' with movement despite having no legs or lungs — though the riddle's link to fame specifically is an unusually loose fit worth noting.
I go from house to house, a messenger small and tight. Whether it rains or snows, I sleep outside at night. What am I?
The source gives "road" as the answer -- a road connects every house and stays outdoors through all weather, though the imagery of a "small and tight messenger" fits a road only loosely; a mail carrier or letter might seem a more literal match to that phrase.
I am bigger than an elephant but lighter than a feather. What am I?
A gust or storm of wind can be an enormous force of nature, yet air itself weighs next to nothing, lighter than a feather.
I am a mountain at night, meadow at day. What am I?
This is a loose, poetic fit -- an unmade bed with rumpled covers can look like a 'mountain' at night, while a made bed lies flat like a 'meadow' during the day.
I am owned by the poor, the rich does not need me. If you eat me, you will die! What am I?
The poor "have" nothing, the rich don't need nothing, and if you "eat nothing" (starve) you would die -- a classic riddle about the word "nothing."
When you take away the whole from me, there is always some left. What am I?
The riddle is a letter/word trick: remove 'whole' from 'wholesome' and 'some' is left over -- a play on the word itself rather than a real object.
I am free for the taking. Through all of your life, though given but once at birth. I am less than nothing in weight, but will fell the strongest of you if held. What am I?
A person's breath is given freely at birth, weighs nothing, and yet its absence — being unable to breathe — can overpower even the strongest person.
Frequently asked questions
Browse more riddles
Every category comes with the answers on the page.