2,066 Medium Riddles With Answers - page 3 of 21
This thing can bat but never hit. It is next to a ball that is never thrown. It is good luck when found and it falls when it is lost.
Eyelashes can "bat," sit right beside the eyeball, are considered lucky to find, and fall out when "lost."
Where jewelry pierces your head.
Earrings are jewelry that pierce through the earlobe, a part of the head.
Used to keep prisoners silent and to make temporary repairs on cars.
Duct tape is famously used to gag or bind people in movies, and its strength also makes it a go-to for quick, temporary car repairs.
What never asks questions but receives a lot of answers?
A ringing telephone doesn't ask anything itself, yet the person answering gives it a stream of spoken 'answers.'
Only two backbones and thousands of ribs.
A railroad's two parallel rails act like 'backbones,' while the many wooden crossties resemble ribs.
Mouth up it gets filled, mouth down it gets empty.
Turning a bottle's mouth upward lets it be filled with liquid, while turning it mouth-down empties it out.
My head bobs lazily in the sun. You think I'm cute. For my face is yellow, my hair is white, and my body is green.
A daisy has a yellow center ('face'), white petals ('hair'), and a green stem ('body'), and its head sways gently in sunlight.
The more holes you cover the lower it goes.
On a recorder, covering more finger holes lengthens the vibrating air column, which lowers the pitch of the note.
Without coolant, you'll have some trouble with this.
A car's radiator relies on coolant to prevent the engine from overheating.
What goes inside boots and outside shoes?
Tall boots cover the ankles, while low-cut shoes leave them exposed -- so ankles go inside boots but outside shoes.
In many hallways you would stand, if not with this in hand.
Without your key in hand, you would be stuck standing in the hallway, locked out.
I am but three holes. When you come out of me, you are still inside me. What am I?
A shirt has three openings -- the collar and two sleeves -- and pulling your head through the collar hole still leaves you wearing the shirt.
It can be clear like water, but it burns like fire.
Some alcohols, like vodka or rubbing alcohol, are clear like water but are highly flammable and burn readily.
I am round as a bowl, deep as a tub, but all the world's water couldn't fill me up.
A sieve is full of holes, so no matter how much water is poured in, it all drains right back out.
What measures out time until in time all is smashed to it?
An hourglass uses falling sand to measure time, and over enough time rocks and everything else erode down into sand.
What can touch someone once and last them a lifetime?
A single loving moment or act of love can leave a lasting emotional impact that stays with someone forever.
People are hired to get rid of me. I'm often hiding under your bed. In time I'll always return you see. Bite me and you're surely dead.
Cleaners are hired to remove dust, which collects under beds and always comes back -- and the idiom "bite the dust" means to die.
According to the music industry, you can count on a midnight train and the devil to turn up here.
"Midnight Train to Georgia" and "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" are both famous songs set in the state of Georgia.
What is something yet nothing, but if you fill it up it will disappear?
A hole is a real, describable thing, yet it is essentially an absence of matter, and it vanishes once you fill it in.
What can be any size or shape and gets bigger the more you take from it?
Digging more material out of a hole only makes the hole itself larger, no matter what shape or size it started as.
Put into a pit, locked beneath a grate, guarded through the night, yet it still goes out.
A fire is built in a pit, covered by a metal grate, and watched overnight -- yet it eventually "goes out," playing on the double meaning of extinguishing versus escaping.
What becomes white when it is dirty?
A blackboard turns whitish as chalk dust builds up on it -- the more it is used ("dirtied"), the whiter it looks.
A type of hammer that brings a room to order.
A judge uses a gavel, a small ceremonial hammer, to strike the bench and call a courtroom to order.
I am a place with substance and story, where many masquerade to there glory. What am I?
A stage is where actors "masquerade" as characters in stories for the sake of performance and recognition.
What binds two people yet touches only one?
A wedding ring is worn (touches) only one person's finger, yet it symbolically binds two people together in marriage.
This thing runs but cannot walk, sometimes sings but never talks. Lacks arms, has hands; lacks a head but has a face.
A clock 'runs,' has 'hands' (the pointers) and a 'face' (the dial), and some clocks chime or 'sing' the hours without ever speaking words.
Can describe a distress signal or flashy accessories.
A "flare" can mean an emergency distress signal (a flare gun) or describe something stylish and eye-catching, like flared, flashy clothing or accessories.
Though not a plant, has leaves. Though not a beast, has spine. Though many wouldn't need this thing, It's more valuable than wine.
A book has pages ("leaves") like a plant and a "spine" like an animal, yet is neither -- and a good book can be treasured more than any fine wine.
They're up near the sky, on something very tall. Sometimes they die, only then do they fall.
Leaves grow high in trees and typically only fall to the ground once they have died -- dried out and changed color in autumn.
Held firmly in the hands, like a sword it cuts deep. Bloodless strokes, all, then forward we leap.
A canoe paddle is gripped tightly and 'cuts' through the water with each stroke, propelling the boat forward without spilling any blood.
I can be short and sometimes hot. When displayed, I rarely impress.
A "short temper" or "hot temper" describes someone who gets angry quickly, and openly displaying such a temper rarely leaves a good impression.
You are having a bad day if 12 peers deem you to be this.
A 12-person jury (your "peers") delivering a verdict against you in court means you have been found guilty.
Two people are born at the same moment, but they don't have the same birthdays. How could this be?
Two babies born at the exact same instant could have different calendar dates recorded if they are born in different time zones.
What is neither inside the house nor outside the house but a necessity for any home?
Windows are set into the wall of a house -- not purely inside or outside -- yet every home needs them for light and ventilation.
A tree with 5 branches, no leaves and no fruits.
A human arm has a "tree" shape ending in five "branches" -- the fingers -- with no leaves or fruit.
What can be swallowed, but can swallow you?
You can "swallow your pride" (humble yourself), but unchecked pride can also "swallow" or consume a person's character.
Just head and foot yet never tires of dancing.
A spinning top has a rounded "head" and a pointed "foot" (the tip it spins on), appearing to dance tirelessly while it spins.
What is never used unless it's in a tight place?
A cork only serves its purpose by being squeezed into a tight space, like the neck of a bottle.
Steals an event or even a mood. Reveals the truth or shatters it.
A camera captures ("steals") a moment or mood, and the resulting photograph can reveal the truth of an event or, if manipulated, distort it.
Today he is there to trip you up and he will torture you tomorrow.
Alcohol can cause you to stumble ("trip you up") while drinking, and the resulting hangover the next day can feel like torture.
Not a priest, not a king but wears different kinds of clothes.
A clothesline holds all sorts of garments hung out to dry, without itself being a person of any title.
Who is it that rows quickly with four oars but never comes out under his own roof?
A turtle's four legs act like oars for swimming, yet it always carries its shell -- its own "roof" -- with it, so it never truly leaves home.
What is lengthened by being cut at both ends?
Digging out (cutting into) both ends of a ditch extends its overall length.
We chop its feet; we drink its blood.
Sugarcane stalks are cut at the base ("chop its feet"), and the sweet juice ("blood") is extracted and processed into sugar.
What has feet and legs and nothing else?
Stockings are shaped like feet and legs but have no other "body" -- they are simply leg- and foot-shaped fabric.
I grow for a surface, even if you cut me. I continue to grow even after death.
Hair keeps growing from the scalp regardless of cutting; the claim that it keeps growing after death is a popular myth, though -- the apparent growth actually comes from skin dehydrating and retracting.
I'm not man's best friend, I'm their enemy, I can mark your end, yet you do not see me, I am very small, but very tough, If you have me, then you have it rough. Faster than a twitch!
A virus is microscopic yet can be deadly ("mark your end"), and it works against humans rather than for them, like a tiny, tough foe.
What's the red stuff between an elephant's toes?
This is a dark-humor pun riddle: the joke answer is that elephants step on slow-moving pygmies, leaving red stuff between their toes, rather than any literal substance like ketchup or mud.
A plane crashed on the border of the US and Canada. Where do they bury the survivors?
This is a classic trick question: you don't bury survivors, since by definition they're still alive.
You are a bus driver. 8 people get on, 2 people get off, 2 more people get on and another 1 gets off. Finally, 3 more people get on and 2 get off again. How old is the bus driver?
The riddle's trick is in the framing: since it says 'you are the bus driver,' the answer is simply your own age, not a number calculated from the passenger counts.
What is heavy forward but not backward?
'Ton' is a heavy unit of weight, but spelled backward it becomes 'not,' which isn't heavy at all -- a letter-reversal wordplay.
What goes up and never comes down?
A person's age only ever increases with time; it never decreases.
Reaching stiffly for the sky, I bare my fingers when it's cold. In warmth I wear an emerald glove and in between I dress in gold.
A tree stands tall with bare branches ('fingers') in winter, grows green ('emerald') leaves in warm weather, and turns golden in the fall between seasons.
A mechanism to discover who is following you.
A rearview mirror lets a driver see the vehicles behind them, revealing anyone following.
It has the biggest wall and is also used when drinking tea.
China has the Great Wall -- one of the largest walls in the world -- and 'china' is also the word for fine porcelain teacups.
Diamonds and stress have this to thank for their existence.
Diamonds form deep underground under intense geological pressure, and 'pressure' is also another word for stress.
I spend most of my day eating white. When I am quick enough, I get rewarded with fruit and something's blue. In a dark room with blue walls, I run from the ghosts that roam the halls. What am I?
In the video game Pac-Man, the character eats white dots in a maze, occasionally earns a fruit bonus, and flees from ghosts through dark, blue-walled corridors.
What always comes into the house through the keyhole?
A key is inserted through a keyhole to unlock and let itself (and you) into a house.
Spies and detectives do this to phones, and musical shoes make this sound.
Investigators 'tap' phones to eavesdrop, and tap shoes make a tapping sound when dancers perform in them.
What did Adam and Eve lack that everyone else has?
In the Bible story, Adam and Eve were created directly by God rather than born to parents, unlike everyone born after them.
My tongue hangs out as I run over fields and streets all day. I get tied up every morning and untied at night.
A shoe's lace 'tongue' hangs out during the day as it's worn around, then gets tied and untied as you put it on and take it off.
It will not die when hung, and will dry when wrung.
Laundry is hung on a line to dry, and wringing wet clothes squeezes water out without killing anything, since laundry was never alive.
It's small but larger than a bee, and agile as a flea. It hums but does not buzz, and it's not covered with fuzz. It is a small collector, of juicy flower nectar.
A hummingbird is a small, agile bird that hums (rather than buzzes) as it darts around collecting flower nectar.
What kind of soda must you not drink?
Baking soda shares the word 'soda' but is a baking ingredient, not a beverage -- drinking it isn't advisable.
What can stand in place of a country but still fold away in a drawer?
A flag represents a country symbolically, yet as a piece of cloth it can be folded and stored in a drawer.
If there are three cups of sugar and you take one away, how many do you have?
This is a math trick: if you 'take one away' from the cups, you (the one taking) now have one cup in hand.
A warrior amongst the flowers, he bears a thrusting sword. He uses it whenever he must, to defend his golden hoard.
A bee lives among flowers and uses its stinger ('thrusting sword') to defend its honey ('golden hoard').
What is born on the ground but floats to the sky, to be returned back again from the clouds up high?
Water evaporates from the ground into clouds and later falls back to earth as rain, completing the water cycle.
If you rub this there is a possibility of a magical fat man coming out.
Rubbing a magic lamp is the classic way to summon a genie, often depicted as a large, jovial figure who 'comes out' of it.
I am an odd number. Take away one letter and I become even. What number am I?
'Seven' is odd, but remove its 's' and you get 'even' -- the letter-based number word for an even quantity.
Tax rates and oil prices occasionally take these nature strolls.
A 'hike' means both a walk in nature and a sudden increase, as in a 'tax hike' or 'price hike.'
What doesn't exist, but has a name?
This is a wordplay riddle: the word 'nothing' itself has a name, even though the concept it describes doesn't exist.
What is often returned, but never borrowed?
You give 'thanks' in return for something, but you don't 'borrow' thanks from anyone -- it only flows one way, back to the giver.
Always old, sometimes new. Never sad, sometimes blue. Never empty, sometimes full. Never pushes, always pulls.
The moon has ancient origins yet shows a 'new moon' phase, is never literally sad but can look blue, is never truly empty but waxes 'full,' and pulls the tides rather than pushing them.
I am the type of room you can not enter or leave. I rise from the ground below. I could be poisonous or a delicious treat. What am I?
'Mushroom' contains the word 'room,' but it's a fungus that grows up from the ground and can be either edible or poisonous.
I am an object which is used in baseball, during the day I can't be seen at all. What am I?
The word 'bat' names both a piece of baseball equipment and the nocturnal flying animal that's invisible during daylight hours.
What gets broken when you don't hold it?
If you fail to 'hold' (keep) a secret, it gets broken by being told.
I drift forever with the current and flow into your everyday life. I make living easy but I am good at killing people too. What am I?
Electric current flows continuously through daily life, powering conveniences, yet it can also be lethal if mishandled.
Something you carry while singing.
The expression 'carry a tune' means to sing a melody well, so a tune is what you 'carry' while singing.
What has four legs during the day; and six or eight during the night?
A bed has four legs, but at night when a person (2 legs) or even a pet (4 legs) climbs in, there are more legs present in total.
Olympians use this to jump high up in the air.
In pole vaulting, Olympic athletes use a long pole to launch themselves high into the air.
I do not eat food. But I do enjoy a light meal every day. What am I?
A plant doesn't eat food like animals do, but it 'feeds' on sunlight, a light meal, every day through photosynthesis.
Two is one, four is two, and six is three. Don't you see? What am I?
In each pair, the second number is exactly half the first (1 is half of 2, 2 is half of 4, 3 is half of 6) -- hence the answer 'half.'
Known to accessorize with feathers, trumpets, and harps.
Angels are traditionally depicted with feathered wings and playing trumpets or harps.
Bill's mom has four kids: Mary, John, and Alice. What is the name of her fourth child?
The riddle opens by naming 'Bill's mom,' so Bill himself is the fourth, unnamed child.
A beautiful succession of sounds.
A pleasing sequence of sounds arranged together is, broadly, music.
A red drum which sounds without being touched, and grows silent when it is touched.
The heart is poetically called a 'red drum' because it beats (sounds) entirely on its own, and stopping it by touch would silence it forever.
I'll shout til you wake or sing you to sleep. I'll talk to you but you're crazy if you talk back. What am I?
A radio can blast an alarm to wake you, play soothing songs at night, and 'talks' to you, but it can't actually hear you talk back.
What Botox will do to your expression.
Botox injections work by temporarily paralyzing facial muscles, which stops them from moving expressively.
It is the most common hour to have a gunfight in a western scene.
High noon is the classic hour for a dramatic showdown in Western movies (as in the film 'High Noon').
What is something that can go up quite easily, but is not as easy to bring back down?
Gaining weight happens easily, but losing it again takes much more effort.
I am the noise Santa's reindeer make. What am I?
The bells on Santa's reindeer harness make a jingling sound, as in the song 'Jingle Bells.'
During the 1800's these turned women into hourglasses and are becoming more popular again these days.
Corsets cinched women's waists to create an hourglass figure and have seen a modern fashion resurgence.
A famous home without color and with wings.
The White House is famously white (a color often described as an absence of color) and has an East Wing and West Wing.
Though I have neither legs nor feet, my use is for to go; although I cannot speak, I tell what others want to know.
A wristwatch has no legs or feet of its own, but it lets you 'go' by keeping time, silently telling people what they want to know.
Without this, H2O would just be 2O.
Water's chemical formula, H2O, needs the 'H' for hydrogen -- remove it and only the two oxygen atoms remain.
What has only two words, but thousands of letters?
This is a wordplay riddle: a post office handles thousands of pieces of mail (letters), even though its own name is only two words.
This could make wooden boy's noses grow.
This refers to Pinocchio, whose wooden nose grew whenever he told a lie -- a 'fib.' (The source prints this answer as 'fb,' an OCR artifact from the fi-ligature dropping its 'i'; corrected here to 'fib.')
The moon is my father. The sea is my mother. I have a million brothers. I die when I reach land.
Ocean waves are driven by the moon's gravitational pull and formed by the sea, travel in countless numbers, and dissolve ('die') when they crash onto the shore.
A squiggly line tells you when you've done it wrong.
A word-processor's spell checker underlines misspelled words with a squiggly red or colored line.