2,066 Medium Riddles With Answers - page 6 of 21
Only one foot tall but I govern you. What am I?
A ruler is typically twelve inches (one foot) long, and the word "ruler" also means someone who governs — the riddle plays on that double meaning.
I run cold and hot, I look blue but I am red. What am I?
Blood can make you feel hot with anger or run cold with fear, and it looks blue through your skin even though it is actually red.
I am fun and sad. I am fast and slow. I get louder and I get softer. And I am created by great geniuses. What am I?
Music can be joyful or somber, upbeat or slow, and rises and falls in volume, all crafted by musical geniuses.
Though learning has fed me, I know not a letter; I live among the books, yet am never the better. What am I?
A literal bookworm insect lives among and feeds on books, but never actually learns to read despite being surrounded by knowledge.
Where force can't get through, I with a gentle movement do. What am I?
A locked door can resist being forced open, but the correct key opens it with just a gentle turn.
I am the only organ that named myself. What am I?
The brain is responsible for thought and language, so it is credited with having invented the very word 'brain' to describe itself.
I am round. I have only one line. Circle is not my name indeed. What am I?
An oval is a rounded shape with a single continuous outline, but unlike a circle, it's elongated rather than perfectly round.
I'm really blue, but when you see me I'm red. You don't see me too often. I'm there for you if you're hurt, but I'm good for you. What am I?
Blood inside your veins looks bluish through the skin, but once it's exposed to air (when you're cut) it turns red; it helps heal you when you're hurt.
I walk on 4 legs in the morning, 2 legs at noon, and 3 legs at night. What am I?
This is the classic Riddle of the Sphinx: a human crawls on four limbs as an infant, walks on two legs as an adult, and uses a cane as a third "leg" in old age.
I am a piece of paper that takes most people 3 or 4 years to get. What am I?
A diploma is the official paper awarded after completing several years of schooling, such as a college degree.
I give life for my own, have a beginning, but my end is unknown. What am I?
The sun sustains all life on Earth and had a definite beginning, but exactly how or when it will end is beyond ordinary human knowledge.
I am carried by mad animals. What am I?
Rabies is a disease transmitted through the bite of an infected ('mad') animal.
I am commonly abbreviated to H. What am I?
Hydrogen is the element universally abbreviated with the single letter H on the periodic table.
I am everywhere but cannot be seen, captured or held, only heard. What am I?
A voice can be heard from anywhere but has no physical form that can be seen, touched, or captured.
I do not have eyes but I once could see. I used to have thoughts but now I'm empty. What am I?
A skull no longer has functioning eyes or a brain inside it, even though it once housed both when the person was alive.
I'm an old relative who's hands can't hold anything and eyes can't see anything. What am I?
A grandfather clock is an old, tall piece of furniture whose clock 'hands' are just pointers (they can't grip anything) and whose painted clock 'face' has no real eyes.
Born in a shell I adorn your neck. What am I?
A pearl forms inside an oyster shell and is commonly strung into a necklace worn around the neck.
I do not contain flesh, feather, or scales; yet I have fingers and thumbs. What am I?
A glove is shaped with 'fingers' and a 'thumb' for a hand to slip into, yet it's made of fabric or leather, not any living creature.
I am weightless, but you can see me. Put me in a bucket, and I'll make it lighter. What am I?
A hole has no weight or mass of its own, but if you dig a hole in a bucket of sand or dirt, you'll have less material — and therefore a lighter bucket.
I make noise yet you don't see me make it. I alarm for good yet sometimes for worse. I have a companion. What am I?
Thunder is heard, not seen, can signal danger (a storm) or simply nature putting on a show, and it always follows its 'companion,' lightning.
I provide cover for games of footsie and tax-free wages. What am I?
Games of footsie happen secretly under a restaurant table, and cash tips slipped under the table often go unreported to the tax collector.
I have got three eyes and all are in a straight line. When my red eyes opens, everything freezes. What am I?
A standard traffic light has three lamp 'eyes' lined up vertically, and everyone comes to a stop the instant its red light switches on.
I crushed on Wendy Darling. What am I?
In J.M. Barrie's story, Peter Pan is the boy who has feelings for Wendy Darling and flies her to Neverland.
I am a place with substance and story, where many masquerade to their glory. What am I?
A stage is where actors 'masquerade' as other people, putting on a story for the glory of performance.
I make a living following the wealthy and beautiful. What am I?
A paparazzo makes a living photographing and chasing after celebrities and other wealthy, famous people.
There are four of us, but it seems like everyone loves spades the most. What am I?
A standard deck has four aces, one per suit, but the ace of spades is traditionally the most iconic and prized of the four.
I can be used to type and point you see. But don't forget, you can count on me. What am I?
Fingers are used to type on a keyboard, point at things, and count — you can literally 'count on your fingers.'
I am needed for most animals and hardcover books. What am I?
Vertebrate animals need a spine (backbone) for support, and hardcover books have a spine that holds the pages together.
I get wet when drying. I get dirty when wiping. What am I?
A towel becomes damp while drying someone off, and it picks up grime while being used to wipe something clean.
As your ideas grow, I shrink. What am I?
A pencil physically gets shorter (from sharpening and writing) the more ideas and words you put down on paper.
Often held but never touched. Always wet but never rusts. Often bits but seldom bit. To use it well you must have wit. What am I?
Your tongue is constantly wet, is never held by hand, gets 'bitten' by accident sometimes, and needs to be used cleverly ('with wit') to speak well.
You will always find me in the past. I can be created in the present, but the future can never taint me. What am I?
History refers to events of the past; while new history is continuously created in the present, future events cannot retroactively change what has already happened.
I fly, yet I have no wings. I cry, yet I have no eyes. Darkness follows me; lower light I never see. What am I?
A cloud drifts through the sky without wings, releases 'tears' as rain despite having no eyes, and blocks out sunlight, casting darkness below.
Many have heard me, but nobody has seen me, and I will not speak back until spoken to. What am I?
An echo repeats sound back to you but only after you make a sound first, and it has no physical form to be seen.
I only have one entrance, but you can come out with three exits. What am I?
A blouse has one main opening to put on, but the wearer's head and two arms all emerge through their own separate openings.
I build up castles. I tear down mountains. I make some men blind, I help others to see. What am I?
Sand can be built into sandcastles, wind-driven sand erodes mountains over time, sand can blind in a sandstorm, and melted sand becomes glass that helps people see.
Ten men's strength, ten men's length, ten men can't break it, yet a young boy walks off with it. What am I?
A length of rope can be too strong to break by pulling apart, yet since it's flexible, a child can easily coil it up and carry it away.
I am as strong as ten men, yet ten men cannot stand me up. What am I?
Water can be as powerful as ten strong men, yet being a liquid, it can never physically 'stand up' on its own.
I am flora, not fauna, I am foliage, not trees, I am shrubbery, not grass. What am I?
A bush is a type of plant life (flora), made up of leafy branches (foliage), and classified as shrubbery rather than a tree or grass.
I can bring tears to your eyes; resurrect the dead, make you smile, and reverse time. I form in an instant but I last a lifetime. What am I?
Memories can be formed in an instant yet last a lifetime, capable of evoking joy or sadness, or even making it feel as if someone who has passed is with you again.
Three or four, I can stab through or rule the seas. You know my cousins. What am I?
A fork has three or four tines used to "stab" food; its mythological cousin, the trident, similarly has prongs and is associated with ruling the seas (Poseidon's weapon).
Poke your fingers in my eyes and I will open wide my jaws. Linen cloth, quills, or paper, my greedy lust devours them all. What am I?
A pair of scissors opens wide when you slip your fingers into its handle-holes, and it happily cuts through cloth, feathers, and paper alike.
I am not alive but I grow. I don't have lungs but I need air. What am I?
Fire isn't a living organism, yet it 'grows' by spreading, and while it has no lungs, it needs a steady supply of oxygen to keep burning.
Two bodies with ribs, exposed. What am I?
A ladder's two side rails are its 'bodies,' and its rungs, laid bare between them, look like exposed ribs.
I have many ears, this may be true, but no matter how you shout, I'll never hear you. What am I?
Corn plants grow "ears" (the corn cobs), giving a cornfield countless "ears," yet obviously none of them can actually hear you.
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. What am I?
'Promise' can mean a pledge you keep ('hold on') or a habit you must break, and its noun form even contains a hidden 'dimple' — 'promise' has the word 'promis' but really the pun is on breaking vs. keeping a promise.
I'm light as a feather, yet the strongest man can't hold me for more than 5 minutes. What am I?
Your breath weighs essentially nothing, yet holding it in (not breathing) for more than a few minutes is something no one — however strong — can survive.
Until I am measured, I am not known. Yet how you miss me when I have flown. What am I?
This classic riddle describes time -- it isn't fully appreciated until measured, and once it has passed, people often regret not using it well.
I am a seed, three letters in the name, take away two and I sound quite the same. What am I?
'Pea' is a three-letter seed; drop the last two letters and you're left with 'P,' which sounds just like the whole word.
Two legs I have, and this will confound, only at rest do they touch the ground. What am I?
A wheelbarrow's two rear legs only touch the ground when it's set down at rest; while it's in use, it rolls on its front wheel instead.
I am something all men have but all men deny. Man created me but no man can hold me. What am I?
Fear is something every person experiences yet often refuses to admit to, and it's an intangible feeling no one can physically grasp.
I work hard most every day, not much time to dance and play. If I could reach what I desire, all like me would now retire. What am I?
Doctors work hard hoping to cure disease — if they succeeded completely, there would be no more sick people, and doctors 'like them' could retire.
Guided, I am scraping along, leaving behind my snow-white dust against that which I am scraping, for when I am scraping, I must. What am I?
Chalk is guided across a surface (like a chalkboard) and leaves behind white dust as it wears away -- it must scrape to do its job.
Travel a mile and I will change, travel a million and I will end as I started. What am I?
An odometer's reading changes after one mile, but after a million miles it commonly rolls back over to all zeros, ending as it started.
A man lives on the top floor of a hotel. When he is out with a friend or out on a rainy day, he comes back, goes to the elevator, and goes to the top floor. When he goes out alone or on a sunny day, he goes half way up and walks the rest of the way up. Why?
The man is too short to reach the elevator's top-floor button alone, so he can only ride all the way up when a friend reaches it for him or he uses his umbrella to press it on a rainy day.
When you stop and look, you can always see me. If you try to touch, you cannot feel me. I cannot move, but as you near me, I will move away from you.
The horizon is always visible in the distance, but since it's just where earth and sky appear to meet, it constantly recedes as you approach it.
I've got a beautiful, beautiful hall all walled in red velvet, with all white armchairs made of bone, and in the middle a woman dances.
The "red velvet hall" is the inside of the mouth, the "white armchairs of bone" are the teeth, and the "dancing woman" is the tongue moving as you speak.
I spend most of my day eating white. When I am quick enough, I get rewarded with fruit and somethings blue. In a dark room with blue walls, I run from the ghost that roam the halls. What am I?
In the classic arcade game, Pac-Man gobbles white dots through a dark maze, earns bonus fruit, and must flee the ghosts patrolling the halls - unless a power pellet has turned them blue.
You get embarrassed when you stand on me when everybody is watching. Women don't like to talk about the number they see on me. Everyone stands on me when nobody is around. What am I?
Nobody wants to be seen stepping on a bathroom scale, and most people avoid discussing the number it shows - yet almost everyone quietly weighs themselves when alone.
I can be winding and I can be straight. I can be smooth and I can be rough. Sometimes both. I start out black but fade to brown the more I am used. My favorite colors are yellow and white, and I love stripes and dashed lines. What am I?
A road can curve or run straight, be smooth or rough pavement that darkens with wear, and features yellow and white painted lane markings, including stripes and dashed lines.
They're big and yet so far away, We see them at the end of day. They're small and they're above. We see them when we close our eyes, Each time we are in love.
Stars are enormous yet appear tiny and distant at dusk, and 'seeing stars' also describes the sparkle behind closed eyes - whether from a bump on the head or the dizzying feeling of being in love.
I march before armies, a thousand salute me. My fall can bring victory, but no one would shoot me. The wind is my lover, one-legged am I. Name me and see me at home in the sky.
A flag leads troops into battle and is saluted by soldiers, flutters for the wind alone, stands on a single pole, and belongs at home flying high in the sky.
I am taken from a mine, and shut up in a wooden case, from which I am never released, and yet I am used by almost everybody.
Pencil lead (graphite) is mined from the earth and sealed permanently inside a wooden casing, yet nearly everyone uses it to write.
When I am visible to you, you cannot see me, but when I am invisible, you long to see me. I am plenty with someone patient, but all the more scarce with a hasty one. I am greater than all, but still in the control of those who value my existence. Who am I?
When time is passing normally you don't notice it, but once it feels like it's running out you wish you could see more of it; patient people feel they have plenty, while impatient people feel it's always scarce.
It's round but also like a chess-board. It can and is both whirled and curled, And bent and shot and parried. Some play it on a field or watch it on the couch, And anyone can play it, even Peter Crouch.
A soccer ball's black-and-white paneled pattern resembles a chessboard, and it can be whirled, curled, bent, shot, and parried by any player - even towering pros like Peter Crouch.
We are few to the wise; We are abundant to the drunken; We can calm the beast and are precious to the child; We can devour the heart, without piercing the skin.
Words can be sparse in a wise person's careful speech, plentiful in a drunk's rambling, soothing to a wild beast or child, and can 'devour the heart' emotionally without any physical wound.
You will find me with four legs, but no hair. People ride me for hours, but I don't go anywhere without needing to be tugged. Jerked or turned on, I always manage to be ready for work.
A desk stands on four bare legs, is 'ridden' for hours while you sit and work at it, and its drawers are tugged open and its lamp switched on, always ready for the next task.
Sometimes I fly as fast as the speed of light. Sometime I crawl as slow as a snail. Unknown until I am measured but you will certainly miss me when I'm gone. What am I?
Time can seem to fly by in an instant or crawl painfully slowly, is invisible until measured by a clock, and is always missed most once it has run out.
It can be repeated but rarely in the same way. It can't be changed but can be rewritten. It can be passed down, but should not be forgotten.
History repeats itself yet never quite the same way twice, can't be undone though its telling can be rewritten, and is passed down through generations - forgotten only at our peril.
Used left or right, I get to travel over cobblestone or gravel. Used up, I vie for sweet success, used down, I cause men great duress.
Hitchhikers stick out a thumb, left or right, to catch a ride over any road, and a thumbs-up signals success while a thumbs-down spells trouble.
I'm in a box, full of that which is most rare. But I'm not a flute, and I'm not some hair. Though soft be my bed, I'm as hard as a rock. While dull in the dark, I glisten once unlocked.
A precious jewel rests on a soft velvet lining inside its box, hard as stone and dull until the box is opened and it catches the light.
I do not breathe, but I run and jump. I do not eat, but I swim and stretch. I do not drink, but I sleep and stand. I do not think, but I grow and play. I do not see, but you see me everyday.
Though lifeless without breath, thought, or appetite of its own, your leg runs, jumps, swims, stretches, and grows right along with you, visible every single day.
Never was, I am always to be. No one ever saw me, nor ever will. And yet I am the confidence of all, to live and breath on this terrestrial ball. What am I?
Almost word-for-word the same riddle as another in this collection, this version's answer is 'the future' - something no one has ever truly seen, yet everyone lives their life trusting it will come.
Those wooden birds are now in sight whose voices roar, whose wings are white, whose maws are fill'd with hose and shoes, with wine, cloth, sugar, salt and news, when they have eas'd their stomachs here they cry farewell, until next year.
This old riddle describes wooden sailing ships with roaring cannons, white sails ('wings'), and cargo holds ('maws') full of goods that unload at port before sailing off again.
My voice is tender, my waist is slender and I'm often invited to play. Yet wherever I go, I must take my bow or else I have nothing to say. What am I?
A violin has a slender, curved 'waist,' a gentle tone, and needs its bow drawn across the strings or it produces no sound at all.
A beggar's brother went out to sea and drowned. But the man who drowned had no brother. Who was the beggar to the man who drowned?
Since the drowned man had no brother, the beggar who called him 'brother' must actually be female -- his sister.
I am the heart that does not beat. If cut, I bleed without blood. I can fly, but have no wings. I can float, but have no fins. I can sing, but have no mouth.
Wood has a grain sometimes called its 'heart,' oozes sap ('bleeds') when cut, and shaped into arrows, boats, or instruments, it can fly, float, or sing without wings, fins, or a mouth of its own.
I have an end but no beginning, a home but no family, a space without room. I never speak but there is no word I cannot make. What am I?
A computer keyboard has literal 'End' and 'Home' keys, a 'Space' bar that holds no room, and though silent itself, it can type out any word imaginable.
I roam through the lands hoping to rescue my love. I search high and low, and will stomp on you if you get in my way. What am I?
In the Mario video game series, the hero treks across many lands to rescue Princess Peach, defeating enemies along the way by stomping on them.
We are little brethren twain, arbiters of loss and gain; man to our counters run, some are made, and some undone; but men find it, to their cost, few are made, but numbers lost; though we play them tricks for ever, yet they always hope our favor.
A pair of dice decides fortunes at the gaming table - luck rarely favors the gambler, yet players keep hoping the dice will turn in their favor.
I am in the sky but also in the ground. When you study me, no matter how long, I will always end with an f. I may be in your yard but not in your house. What am I?
Leaves fall from the sky and end up on the ground, the word 'leaf' always ends in 'f,' and leaves are found outdoors in the yard, not typically inside the house.
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.
Imagination itself is invisible, yet when you're absorbed in it you notice nothing else around you, conjuring anything you wish before reality resumes.
Before my birth I have a name, but soon as born I lose the same; and when I'm laid within the tomb, I do my father's name assume; I change my name three days together, yet live but on in any weather.
Before it arrives it's called 'tomorrow,' the moment it happens it becomes 'today,' and once past it takes on its father's name, 'yesterday' -- living on regardless of the weather.
I come off a beautiful creature, which soars in the sky. I come off a peckish creature, which has a tail as mighty as the sun! I am sometimes dirty, and parents beg you not to pick me up. What am I?
A feather comes from birds like eagles (soaring) and roosters (whose tail feathers can be showy), and parents often discourage kids from touching a dirty one found outside.
I am as simple as a circle, worthless as a leader; but when I follow a group, their strength increases tenfold. By myself I'm practically nothing. What am I?
Zero looks like a plain circle, means nothing on its own or when leading a number, yet placed after other digits it multiplies their value tenfold with each one added.
Within passion's fruit they will be found, and more of them in the pomegranate's crown. Rowed they are within an apple's core, yet other fruits have them more. And though the nectarine has but one, still, this is all just in fun. Playing hide and seek- a children's game. Finding out each player is just the same.
Passion fruit, pomegranates, apples, and nectarines all contain seeds in varying numbers, and the poem plays on "seeds" sounding just like "seeks" in hide-and-seek.
I am merry creature in pleasant time of year, As in but certain seasons, I sing that you can hear; And yet I'm made a by-word, A very perfect mock; Compared to foolish persons, And silliest of all folk.
The cuckoo bird sings cheerfully only in certain seasons, yet its name became slang for someone foolish or a little crazy - a 'cuckoo' insult born from the bird itself.
I am in the past, never in the future. I don't exist, but have existed. I saw what you saw, and this is what I will ever see. What am I?
A memory exists only in the past, can never be renewed by the future, and forever replays exactly what was once seen, unchanged.
Mouthless but I will tell you a name that is not mine, I will show you the years I have seen but I have no eyes, memory I have but I have no mind.
A gravestone bears someone else's name, marks the years of a lifespan without having eyes to have seen them, and serves as a silent 'memory' with no mind of its own.
Oh lord! I am not worthy! I bend my limbs to the ground. I cry, yet without a sound. Let me drink of waters deep. And in silence I will weep.
The weeping willow bends its long branches toward the ground near water, its drooping form evoking a silent, sorrowful weeping.
Kings and queens may cling to power, and the jesters may have their call. I am the most common but I can rule them all. What am I?
In many card games the Ace outranks even the King and Queen, and though it's the lowest-numbered card, it can trump every other card in the deck.
I am never quite what I appear to be. Straight-forward I seem, but it's only skin deep. For mystery most often lies beneath my simple speech. Sharpen your wits, open your eyes, look beyond my exteriors, read me backwards, forwards, upside down. Think and answer the question...What am I?
A riddle looks simple on the surface but hides a deeper meaning, rewarding those who examine it from every angle - fittingly, this very riddle describes itself.
First I may be your servant's name; then your desires I may proclaim; And, when your mortal life is over, hold all your wealth within my power.
'Will' can be a given name (short for William), a verb expressing desire or intention, and the legal document that controls how your wealth is distributed after death.
You get many of me, but never enough. After the last one, your life soon will snuff. You may have one of me but one day a year, When the last one is gone, your life disappears.
You accumulate birthdays year after year, always wanting more, and once your very last birthday has come and gone, your life is over.
I am the outstretched fingers that seize and hold the wind. Wisdom flows from me in other hands. Upon me are sweet dreams dreamt, my merest touch brings laughter.
A feather's barbs catch the wind like fingers, quill pens (made from feathers) once wrote down wisdom, feather pillows cradle sleepers' dreams, and a feather's light touch famously tickles and causes laughter.
To give me to someone I don't belong to is cowardly, but to take me is noble. I can be a game, but there are no winners. What am I?
Blaming someone else for your own fault is cowardly, but voluntarily taking the blame yourself is considered noble; in a 'blame game,' there's never a true winner.
It comes only before, it comes only after. Rises only in darkness, but rises only in light. It is always the same, but is yet always different.
The moon precedes and follows the sun in the sky, is most visible rising at night yet shines with reflected daylight, and though it is the same moon each month, its phase is always changing.
The ones who see it may go blind, Contracting the fool's madness. You have to dig to find it, Crush big stones or mine it. Wash dirt clumps in a pan and wait for it to settle, A shiny, precious metal.
Gold prospecting has historically driven some miners to obsession ('gold fever'), and the shining metal is uncovered by digging, crushing ore, or panning dirt in a stream.
Lots of them make up a word, And lots of words are in them. It's easy when you think about it. A while ago we stamped and mailed them.
The word 'letters' works both ways at once - the alphabet letters that build every word, and the mailed 'letters,' themselves made of words, once stamped and sent by post.
A young lady walked through the meadow and scattered her glass pearls. The Moon saw this, yet didn't tell her. The Sun woke up and gathered the pearls.
Morning dew, likened to scattered glass pearls, forms unseen overnight under the moon's watch and is 'gathered' away again once the sun rises and evaporates it.