2,066 Medium Riddles With Answers - page 4 of 21
What body part is pronounced as one letter but written with three, only two different letters are used?
'Eye' is pronounced like the letter I, but is spelled with three letters using only two distinct ones, E and Y.
Describes universities like Harvard and can be poisonous.
Harvard belongs to the 'Ivy League,' and poison ivy is a well-known toxic plant -- both share the name ivy.
Different lights do make me strange, thus into different sizes I will change.
The eye's pupil dilates and constricts (changes size) depending on the brightness of the light.
What can be filled with empty hands?
A glove appears 'filled' with the shape of a hand once worn, even though the hand inside is empty of anything else.
Gumby and yoga instructors have this in common.
The bendable clay character Gumby and skilled yoga instructors are both known for being extremely flexible.
Autumn leaves and bad bowlers wreak havoc on this.
Fallen leaves clog roof gutters, and bowlers with poor aim send their ball rolling into the bowling lane's gutter -- a double meaning of 'gutter.'
What types of words are these: madam, civic, eye, level?
Each of these words reads the same forwards and backwards, which is the definition of a palindrome.
The main difference between us and zombies.
Zombies are the undead, while living humans are, simply put, alive -- the difference is life itself.
Retired people want these to be large and birds want them to hatch.
'Nest egg' means retirement savings for people, while birds want their actual eggs in a nest to hatch -- a pun connecting both meanings.
I have a metal roof and glass wall. I burn and burn but never fall. What am I?
A lantern has a metal top and glass sides that protect its flame, which burns steadily without falling over.
Kids hunt for them and adults make sure they are not all in one basket.
Kids hunt for eggs (like at Easter), and the idiom 'don't put all your eggs in one basket' warns adults against risky investing.
Each morning I appear to lie at your feet, all day I follow no matter how fast you run. Yet I nearly perish in the midday sun.
A shadow stretches long at sunrise, follows you all day, and shrinks to almost nothing when the sun is directly overhead at noon.
Both cockroaches and illegal drug laboratories or syndicates do fear this.
'Raid' is a bug-spray brand roaches fear, and it's also the word for a police raid that drug labs and syndicates dread -- a pun on both meanings.
I am the yellow hem of the sea's blue skirt.
The poetic image of a yellow border along the blue sea describes a sandy beach where land meets ocean.
Kids play it and Michelangelo sculpted with it.
Marbles are a children's game, and marble is also the stone Michelangelo carved his famous sculptures from -- same word, different meaning.
I'm a lion with a human head. Guess my Riddle or you'll be dead.
The Sphinx, from Greek mythology, has a lion's body and a human head, and famously killed those who failed to answer its riddle.
I am black as night but can be filled with light. Through me things can be seen, although it is a screen. What am I?
A TV screen looks black when off, lights up with images when on, and lets viewers watch programs through its screen.
Mobsters judge the quality of a vehicle by the size of this.
Mob movies often joke that a spacious trunk is valued by gangsters for its usefulness in disposing of bodies.
Both punishment and sweet reward, It will befall both fool and lord. It is a spiritual scoreboard, Your every deed it does record.
Karma is believed to reward good deeds and punish bad ones equally, regardless of status, while tracking every action a person takes.
What is always coming every day, but never arrives until the next?
Tomorrow is always one day away; once it arrives, it simply becomes today, so "tomorrow" itself never truly arrives.
What is it that you must give before you can keep it.
"Give your word" means to make a promise, and afterward you're expected to "keep your word" by honoring it.
If someone offers you one of these, they had a successful fishing trip or their band just broke up.
"Bass" is both a fish caught while fishing and the name for a bass guitarist, who might be "offered up" if a band splits and needs a replacement, or lets go.
Mary's father has 4 daughters. Three are named Nana, Nene, and Nini. What is the fourth daughter's name?
The riddle is about Mary's father, so the fourth daughter is Mary herself, easy to miss because of the pattern set by the other three names.
I travel the world and I am drunk constantly. Who am I?
Water travels the globe through the water cycle and rivers and oceans, and is also constantly "drunk" (consumed) by people and animals everywhere.
Each of these ends in a kettle full of precious metal and the double variety is quite awesome.
Folklore says a pot (kettle) of gold sits at the end of every rainbow, and seeing a double rainbow is considered especially spectacular.
What flies forever, rests never?
Wind is constantly in motion across the globe and never truly stops blowing everywhere at once.
You can do this with your friends. You can do this with your nose. But don't do it with your friend's nose!
You can "pick" your friends (choose them) and pick your own nose, but picking someone else's nose would be rude and gross.
A hole leading in, a hole leading out, we connect to a cavern that is slimy all throughout. What are we?
The two nostrils lead into the moist, slimy nasal cavity behind them.
I am always around, but in the morning I show. You'll know its me from my golden glow. What am I?
Sunlight is technically present daily but becomes most visible and recognizable each morning by its golden glow at sunrise.
Looks like water, but it's heat. Sits on sand, lays on concrete. A play on the eyes, but it's all lies.
A mirage is an optical illusion caused by heat, often appearing on hot sand or pavement, that tricks the eyes into seeing water that isn't there.
What's the difference between here and there?
Adding the letter T to the front of "here" spells "there," so the literal difference between the two words is the letter T.
They can float and tickle, but their sound is rarely heard unless you're a pillow or bird. What are they?
Feathers can drift through the air and tickle skin, and they're closely tied to pillows (stuffed with them) and birds (which grow them), objects that don't normally "speak."
You can draw me, fire me or fill me in.
You can "draw" a gun (pull it out), "fire" it, and "fill it in" by loading it with ammunition.
There are two ducks in front of a duck, two ducks behind a duck and a duck in the middle. How many ducks are there?
With three ducks in a row, the middle duck has one duck in front of it and one behind, while the whole line still satisfies "two ducks in front" and "two ducks behind" when counted from either end.
It can pierce the best armor and make swords crumble with a rub, yet for all its power It can't harm a wooden club.
Rust slowly eats through metal armor and swords over time, but since wood doesn't rust, a wooden club is immune to it.
I look at you, you look at me, I raise my right, you raise your left.
A mirror reflects you, but reverses sides -- so when you raise your right hand, your mirror image appears to raise its left.
I am a rock group with four members. All dead, one was assassinated.
Mount Rushmore is a "rock" group in the literal sense (stone), depicting four deceased U.S. presidents, one of whom, Lincoln, was assassinated.
Which ring is square?
A boxing "ring" is actually built as a square platform, despite being called a ring.
Useful term for when you need to start a fire or notice someone with the same shirt as you.
A "match" starts a fire, and "match" also describes when two people's outfits happen to be the same.
What is lighter than what it is made of?
Ice is frozen water, yet because it is less dense, it is literally lighter (per volume) than the liquid water it's made from -- which is why it floats.
Blind but cruel.
Justice is traditionally depicted as blindfolded (impartial), yet legal punishment can still be harsh or cruel.
You could do this to a motion, see it on a watch, or place this in a race.
You can "second" a motion in a meeting, a watch has a second hand, and you can finish in second place in a race -- the word "second" fits all three.
What is it that was given to you, belongs only to you. And yet your friends use it more than you do?
You rarely say your own name out loud, but everyone around you uses it constantly to address or refer to you.
A precious gift, yet it has no end, no beginning, and nothing in the middle.
A ring is a closed loop, so it has no beginning or end, and being a thin band, it has nothing solid in its middle.
Power enough to smash ships and crush roofs. Yet it still must fear the sun.
Ice can sink ships (like the Titanic) and its weight can crush roofs when it builds up, but it melts away when the sun's heat hits it.
3 point goal. What am I?
In American football, a successfully kicked field goal is worth exactly three points.
My mother is water and my brother the sky. I am grey when wet but white when dry.
Clouds form from evaporated water and drift through the sky, appearing grey when full of moisture (about to rain) and white when dry.
This only turns over once you have travelled very far. What is it?
An odometer's digits 'turn over' (roll to zero and restart) only after a vehicle has traveled a very long distance, such as 100,000 miles.
Lighter than what I am made of. More of me is hidden than seen. What am I?
Ice is slightly less dense than liquid water, so it floats, and about 90% of an iceberg's mass stays hidden underwater.
Once they sailed the sea, now they surf the web.
Historic pirates plundered ships at sea, while today 'internet pirates' illegally share content online, or 'surf the web.'
The Titanic is still here. What am I?
The Titanic sank in the Atlantic Ocean and its wreck still rests there today; the riddle also plays on how "Atlantic" echoes "Titanic."
I reach for the sky, but clutch to the ground. Sometimes I leave, but I am always around.
A tree's branches reach upward toward the sky while its roots cling to the ground, and it "leaves" (sheds leaves) yet stays rooted in place year-round.
Without this, eating food and Steven Spielberg's career would be very different.
This is a pun: "jaws" let you chew food, and "Jaws" is also the famous 1975 Steven Spielberg movie that launched his career.
Lifeless eyes on my smiling face and watch your child's sleeping place. In their dreams they hold me tight. Who am I?
A teddy bear has stitched-on "lifeless" button eyes and a stitched smile, sits watching over a child's crib, and gets hugged tightly at bedtime.
What leaps one time out of four?
This is a play on the word "leap": a leap YEAR happens only once every four years, so "year" itself is the thing that "leaps" one time out of four.
This is a dead giveaway.
A person's 'will' literally gives away their possessions after they die, making the pun on 'dead giveaway' work literally and figuratively.
Both boats with holes and dirty dishes have this in common.
A leaking boat will 'sink,' and dirty dishes get washed in a kitchen 'sink' — the same word, two meanings.
A defendant will go free if a reasonable amount of this exists.
This references 'reasonable doubt,' the legal standard that can lead to an acquittal.
A kind of weather that comes your way, but add a "D" and it will run away.
'Rain' is the weather that comes your way, and adding a D turns it into 'drain,' which literally runs (water draining) away.
I grown from darkness but shine with a pale light. Very round I am, and always a lady's delight. What am I?
A pearl grows in the dark inside an oyster, yet has a soft glow, is perfectly round, and is prized as jewelry -- 'a lady's delight.'
What is the ending of all that begins?
Everything that comes into existence eventually dies or ends, making death the universal conclusion.
You walk into a room with a match, a kerosene lamp and a fireplace. Which do you light first?
You must strike the match first, since its flame is what would then be used to light either the lamp or the fireplace.
Doing this with your job can be risky but doing it with smoking is always a good idea.
Quitting a job can be a risky financial decision, but quitting smoking is always considered a healthy choice.
In the sun it likes to play; In the rain it goes away; Walk or run it always follows; In the mud it always wallows.
A shadow appears in sunlight, vanishes when clouds or rain block the light, follows you as you move, and stretches across mud just like everything else.
What is light enough to float but will stay in a pack and may save your life if its on your back?
A parachute is light enough to pack away, worn on your back, and can save your life if you need it while falling.
Being able to interpret the letters on this screen proves that you have this quality.
Being able to read and understand written words on a screen is the very definition of being literate.
What has a hundred limbs, sometimes leaves, but cannot walk?
A tree's many branches ('limbs') can number in the hundreds, and it sheds leaves seasonally, yet it's rooted in place and cannot walk.
It is the offspring of a circle and a rectangle.
An oval looks like a stretched circle with the straighter sides suggested by a rectangle, so the riddle jokingly calls it their 'child' shape.
Describes a mysterious region and a stylish pair of shorts.
The Bermuda Triangle is a famously mysterious region, and Bermuda shorts are a well-known stylish clothing item.
Barren location, infertile and dry; my name means "to leave", it's not heard to see why.
'Desert' is spelled just like the verb 'desert' (to abandon or leave), making the wordplay easy to see, while also describing a dry, barren landscape.
Goliath, The Jolly Green and Andre are all examples of this.
Goliath (the biblical giant), the Jolly Green Giant (mascot), and Andre the Giant (wrestler) are all famous examples of giants.
How many bricks does it take to complete a building made of brick?
Only the final brick actually 'completes' the building; every brick before it leaves the structure still unfinished.
What is taken before you can get it?
A photo of you must be 'taken' (captured by a camera) before you can actually have (get) the picture.
Bobby likes Jimmy but not Joe, apples but not pears, jeeps but not vans, shinny but not hockey, tennis but not squash. Who will he like, Sara or Sally?
Every item Bobby likes contains a double letter (Jimmy, apples, jeeps, shinny, tennis), and 'Sally' fits that same pattern while 'Sara' doesn't.
A girl was ten on her last birthday, and will be twelve on her next birthday. How is this possible?
If today is her 11th birthday, then yesterday (her 'last' birthday) she turned 10, and next year (her 'next' birthday) she'll turn 12.
What has a head yet it never weeps, has a bed but never sleeps, can run but can not walks, and has a bank but not a cent to its name?
A river has a 'head' (source) and a 'bed' (riverbed), 'runs' downstream, and has a 'bank' (shore) but no money in it.
Though I should be unique, you've made most of us the same. I would be stronger, if my characters were stranger.
A password should be unique, but many people reuse common, weak ones -- it would be stronger with odd, unpredictable characters.
A blue house has blue bricks; a yellow house has a yellow bricks. What is a green house made of?
This is a classic riddle twist: a greenhouse (for growing plants) is actually built from glass panels, not colored bricks like the other houses in the pattern.
I am the first you ever saw, what greets you every morning and what goes out in the end.
A newborn's eyes first perceive light, sunrise light greets each morning, and a dying flame or life 'goes out' at the end -- all plays on the word 'light.'
Tear one off and scratch my head, what once was red is black instead!
A matchstick has a red-tipped head; tearing one from the matchbook and striking (scratching) it burns the red tip to black.
In your fire you hear me scream! Creaking and whining yet I am dead before you lay me in your hearth.
A log crackles and 'screams' as it burns in a fireplace, even though it was already dead wood before you placed it in the hearth.
What can be measured but has no length, width or height?
Temperature is a measurable physical quantity (in degrees) but it doesn't have spatial dimensions like length, width, or height.
Can you think of a crime that is punishable if attempted but not punishable if actually committed?
Attempted suicide has historically been treated as a punishable act in some places, but a completed suicide cannot be punished because the person is deceased.
With shiny fangs, my bloodless bite will bring together what's mostly white. What am I?
A stapler's metal staple 'bites' cleanly through a stack of white paper, binding it together without drawing blood.
Born in an instant. I tell all stories. I can be lost. But I never die. What am I?
Memories form the moment something happens, hold our life stories, can fade, yet never truly cease to exist.
I can whistle. I can howl. I can scream. And I can whisper. But I do not speak. What am I?
Wind can whistle through gaps, howl during a storm, scream in a gale, and whisper as a light breeze, all without ever actually speaking.
I lose my head in the morning and regain it back at night. What am I?
A pillow loses the indentation of your head once you get up in the morning, and regains it again each night when you lie back down.
I cause involuntary movements in your vehicle. What am I?
A tow truck physically drags a vehicle along against its own power, forcing it to move without its engine running.
I am not very commonly found! Only in some rainforests! I have an odd number of toes! I'm very lazy and hang upside down! What am I?
Sloths live in rainforests, have an unusual toe count on their limbs, move very slowly, and spend most of their time hanging upside down from branches.
I can be driven, but have no wheels. I can be sliced, but still remain whole. What am I?
In golf, a ball can be struck ('driven') off the tee, and a mis-hit ('sliced') shot still leaves the ball itself perfectly intact.
I do not speak, but there is no word I cannot make. What am I?
The alphabet's 26 letters, though silent themselves, can be rearranged to spell out every word in the language.
I am easy to waste and unstoppable. What am I?
Time slips away easily if you're not careful, and once a moment passes, it can never be gotten back or stopped.
I go around and in the house, but never touch the house. What am I?
Sunlight surrounds and streams into a house through its windows without ever physically touching the structure itself.
When it comes to me, you go on red and stop on green. What am I?
This flips the usual traffic-light rule: watermelon has a green (go) rind on the outside but red (stop) flesh once you cut in.
I eat as you turn me, my blade cutting wood. When I am full, empty me you should. What am I?
A pencil sharpener's internal blade shaves wood as you twist the pencil, and its shavings chamber needs emptying once full.
I have a long tail that I let fly. Every time I go through a gap, I leave a bit of my tail in the trap. What am I?
A sewing needle drags thread ('tail') through fabric, leaving a little behind in the weave with each stitch through a gap.
I come in many shapes and colors. I sing in the breeze but only live 7 months. What am I?
A leaf comes in countless shapes and colors, rustles ('sings') in the wind, and typically survives only through a single growing season before falling.
I am full of wisdom and knowledge. I get what you want in a blink of an eye. I am known to man as full of endless wisdom. What am I?
A computer with internet access can instantly retrieve vast amounts of information, appearing endlessly knowledgeable.
I can be red, blue, purple, and green. No one can reach me, not even the queen. What am I?
Rainbows display bands of color but are an optical phenomenon with no physical location anyone, not even royalty, can actually reach.
Found at the back of a book or in an abdomen. What am I?
An appendix is both a supplementary section at the back of a book and a small organ tucked inside the human abdomen.