147 Short Riddles With Answers - page 2 of 2
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.'
Fighting technique taken from rams.
Rams fight by ramming their heads together, which is exactly what a head-butt mimics.
When I get closer my tail grows longer, but when I go away my tail leads the way.
As a comet nears the sun its icy tail lengthens, and as it moves away that same tail points ahead of its direction of travel.
A house full, a yard full, a chimney full, no one can get a spoonful.
Smoke can fill a house, yard, and chimney entirely, yet it's too insubstantial for anyone to scoop up with a spoon.
One of the few times it's encouraged to lock lips with a stranger.
Performing CPR sometimes involves rescue breaths, essentially pressing your mouth to a stranger's to save their life.
Has no feet, but travels far. Is literate, but not a scholar. Has no mouth, yet clearly speaks.
A written letter can travel long distances through the mail, is made of words, and 'speaks' its message without ever having a mouth.
What covers its face with its hands, speaks no language, yet most known what it's saying?
A clock's 'hands' point across its 'face' to show the time, and everyone understands it without it speaking a word.
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.
This is your stomach's way of letting you know you've neglected it.
A stomach grumbles or growls audibly when it's empty and hasn't been fed in a while.
Tucked out of sight. I sing best at night. No instrument around, but you'll find me on the ground.
Crickets hide in grass, chirp loudly after dark, and produce their 'song' by rubbing their wings, not by using an instrument.
What gets beaten, and whipped, but never cries?
In cooking, eggs are 'beaten' and 'whipped' to prepare them, but being inanimate they never actually cry.
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.
I'm an old relative who's hand's can't hold anything and eyes can't see anything. What am I?
A grandfather clock is named like a family elder, and its 'hands' are just pointers and its 'face' has no real eyes.
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.
This small creature kills even the largest one.
Microscopic bacteria can cause fatal infections even in the largest animals, like elephants or whales.
Bury deep, Pile on stones, My mind will always Dig up them bones
Even when painful memories are 'buried' and hidden away, the mind keeps unearthing them, just as bones might be dug up.
It's a game played by serious people that takes place on a global scale.
Politics is often described as a 'game' of strategy and power played by leaders across the whole world.
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.
A precious fluid, thicker than water.
Blood is denser than water, and the phrase 'blood is thicker than water' emphasizes family bonds as more important than casual ties.
I have two hands but cannot clap.
A clock's hour and minute 'hands' point at numbers but can't physically come together to clap.
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.
What is it something that you always have but you always leave behind?
Your fingerprints are unique to you and stay with you, yet you leave a trace of them on everything you touch.
The stack just might be sent all over. Full of what's new, yet it's nearly obsolete.
Newspapers are distributed everywhere and are full of the latest news, yet print papers have become nearly obsolete in the digital age.
What gets broken without being held?
A promise is an intangible commitment, so it can be 'broken' (not kept) without ever being physically held.
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.
What can an elephant and a shrimp both be?
'Jumbo' describes an enormous elephant, but is also the name for a large size of shrimp on a menu.
What has 3 feet but cannot walk?
A yardstick measures exactly three feet (36 inches) in length, but as a tool it obviously can't walk.
What is red and nailed to a wall?
This is a classic nonsense joke: the herring is red because it was painted red, and it's nailed to the wall simply because the joke says so -- a deliberately absurd 'red herring' pun.
What grows in winter, dies in summer, and grows roots upward?
Icicles form and 'grow' downward from a fixed point during cold winters and melt away in summer, appearing to grow root-first from above.
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.
Break it and it is better, immediately set and harder to break again.
Breaking a record (like a sports record) is a good thing, and the new record is immediately 'set,' becoming harder to break again.
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.
What is put on a table, cut, but never eaten?
A deck of playing cards is placed on the table and 'cut' before dealing, but obviously isn't food.
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.
What can you fold but not crease?
In poker, you 'fold' your hand (give up the round), which doesn't involve creasing any actual material.
You can only have it once you have given it.
You typically earn respect from others only after you've shown respect to them first.
Iron roof, glass walls, burns and burns and never falls.
A lantern has a metal frame and glass panes protecting a flame that burns steadily without being blown out or falling.
What goes in the water black and comes out red?
Live lobsters are typically dark bluish-black, but turn bright red once cooked in boiling water.
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.
What do you have when you're sitting down that you don't have when you're standing up?
A 'lap' only exists as the flat surface formed by your thighs when you sit; it disappears when you stand.
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.
What has a big mouth, yet never speaks?
A jar has a wide opening called its 'mouth,' but being an inanimate object, it never actually talks.
Forwards I am heavy, but backwards I am not.
'TON' is a heavy unit of weight, but spelled backwards it becomes 'NOT' -- as in 'backwards I am not' heavy.