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Riddles with answers.

Here are 100 riddles with answers, sorted from easy to tricky, plus word riddles, what am I riddles and a few funny ones. Open any answer with Show answer, or use the picker to run them one at a time for a group.

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What has keys but can’t open a single lock, and makes music when you press them?

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All 100 riddles with answers

Riddles tagged Run as a live quiz have one short answer, so they work as a 4-option quiz question. Talk it through riddles are better out loud.

Easy

What has keys but can’t open a single lock, and makes music when you press them?
Show answer
A piano
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What has a face and two hands, but no arms or legs, and tells you something useful all day?
Show answer
A clock
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What gets wetter the more it dries?
Show answer
A towel
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What has to be broken before you can use it?
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An egg
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What goes up every year and never comes down?
Show answer
Your age
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What has a neck but no head, and wears a cap?
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A bottle
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What has lots of teeth, never bites, and helps you tidy your hair?
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A comb
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You can catch me but you can’t throw me, and I make you sneeze. What am I?
Show answer
A cold
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What runs but never walks, and has a bed but never sleeps?
Show answer
A river
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What has a single eye, can’t see a thing, and pulls a thread behind it?
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A needle
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What has four legs, holds your dinner and never walks anywhere?
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A table
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The more of them you take, the more you leave behind. What are they?
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Footsteps
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What goes up when the rain comes down?
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An umbrella
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What has a thumb and four fingers but isn’t alive?
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A glove
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What belongs to you, but other people use it more than you do?
Show answer
Your name
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What can fill a room, takes up no space, and disappears when you flip a switch?
Show answer
Light
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What has a head and a tail but no body?
Show answer
A coin
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What is full of holes but still holds water?
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A sponge
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What can travel all around the world while staying in one corner?
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A stamp
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What has bark but no bite?
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A tree
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What goes up and down but never moves?
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Stairs
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What has one head, one foot and four legs?
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A bed
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What has two wheels, a bell and pedals, and goes nowhere without you?
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A bicycle
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What has wings, isn’t a bird, and carries hundreds of people at once?
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A plane
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What is easy to get into but hard to get out of?
Show answer
Trouble
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Medium

I have cities but no houses, forests but no trees, rivers but no fish, and I fold up to fit in a pocket. What am I?
Show answer
A map
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What gets bigger the more you take away from it?
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A hole
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I weigh almost nothing, but even the strongest person can’t hold me for long. What am I?
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Your breath
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I’m tall when I’m young, short when I’m old, and I glow while I shrink. What am I?
Show answer
A candle
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What is so fragile that just saying its name breaks it?
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Silence
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I have branches but no leaves, no trunk and no fruit, and people keep their money in me. What am I?
Show answer
A bank
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What is black when you buy it, red when you use it, and gray when you throw it away?
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Charcoal
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What has 13 hearts but no other organs?
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A deck of cards
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What invention lets you look right through a wall?
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A window
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If you have me, you want to share me. If you share me, you don’t have me any more. What am I?
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A secret
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What can be cracked, made, told and played?
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A joke
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What is always coming but never arrives?
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Tomorrow
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What has a thousand ears but can’t hear a thing?
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A cornfield
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I shave every day, but my beard stays the same. Who am I?
Show answer
A barber
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What goes through towns and fields but never moves?
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A road
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Give me wood and I grow. Give me water and I go out. What am I?
Show answer
Fire
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What has a space, keys and an enter, but you can’t go inside?
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A keyboard
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What has an eye at its center, yet sees nothing as it spins across the sea?
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A hurricane
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I follow you all day but disappear in the dark. What am I?
Show answer
Your shadow
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What kind of coat is always wet when you put it on?
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A coat of paint
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It arrives every evening, and the more of it there is, the less you can see. What is it?
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Darkness
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What flies without wings and cries without eyes?
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A cloud
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What has a pupil but never goes to school?
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An eye
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What is easy to lift but hard to throw far?
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A feather
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I’m made of water, but if you put me in water, I disappear. What am I?
Show answer
Ice
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Word riddles

What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment, and never in a thousand years?
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The letter M
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What starts with T, ends with T, and has tea inside?
Show answer
A teapot
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Which word is always spelled incorrectly?
Show answer
Incorrectly
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Forward I’m heavy, backward I’m not. What am I?
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A ton Read “ton” backward and you get “not”.
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What has four eyes but can’t see?
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Mississippi The word has four i’s.
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What is at the end of a rainbow?
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The letter W
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Where does today come before yesterday?
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In the dictionary
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What starts with E, ends with E, and usually has just one letter in it?
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An envelope
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I’m an odd number. Take away one letter and I become even. What number am I?
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Seven
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What word gets shorter when you add two letters to it?
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Short
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What word has 26 letters but only three syllables?
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Alphabet
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I’m a word of three letters. Add two more and there will be fewer of me. What am I?
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Few
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What time of day is spelled the same forward and backward?
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Noon
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What can you find in seasons, seconds, centuries and minutes, but not in decades, years or days?
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The letter N
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What English word has three double letters in a row?
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Bookkeeper
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What begins with P, ends with E, and holds thousands of letters?
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A post office
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What word sounds the same even after you take away four of its five letters?
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Queue
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Which letter of the alphabet is an insect?
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B It sounds like “bee”.
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Which letter of the alphabet is a drink?
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T It sounds like “tea”.
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Which word has a mile between its first and last letters?
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Smiles
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What am I?

I have no legs but I travel the world, carried on your back and packed with your things. What am I?
Show answer
A backpack
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I have rings but no fingers, I get a year older every year, and you can count my age if you cut me down. What am I?
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A tree
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I’m white when I’m dirty and black when I’m clean. What am I?
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A blackboard
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I come out at night without being called, and I’m lost in the day without being stolen. What am I?
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The stars
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I’m tall and thin, made of wood and graphite, and I wear a pink hat on my head. What am I?
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A pencil
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I have no feet, but I climb walls and cover houses, and gardeners trim me back. What am I?
Show answer
Ivy
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I have bristles and a long handle, and I spend my life being pushed around. What am I?
Show answer
A broom
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I start as a hard little seed, then I pop and turn white and fluffy. What am I?
Show answer
Popcorn
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I carry my home wherever I go, and I leave a shiny trail behind me. What am I?
Show answer
A snail
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I look like a horse, but I wear black and white stripes. What am I?
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A zebra
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I’m the closest star to you, but you only see me in the daytime. What am I?
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The sun
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I have a long neck and spots, and I eat leaves from the tops of trees. What am I?
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A giraffe
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I have towers, a moat and a drawbridge. What am I?
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A castle
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I hang on a wall, I have a page for every month, and you turn me over as time goes by. What am I?
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A calendar
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You can write on me, fold me into a plane, and I come from trees. What am I?
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Paper
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I fly without wings, I’m full of hot air, and I carry people in a basket. What am I?
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A hot-air balloon
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I stand on a rock by the sea, full of light, and I keep ships safe at night. What am I?
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A lighthouse
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I have a horn on my head and I look like a horse, but you’ll only meet me in stories. What am I?
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A unicorn
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I’m cold and white, I fall without a sound, and I melt in your hand. What am I?
Show answer
Snow
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I have eight legs and I spin a web to catch my lunch. What am I?
Show answer
A spider
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Funny

What building has the most stories?
Show answer
A library
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What do you call a bear with no teeth?
Show answer
A gummy bear
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Which room has no doors, no walls and no windows?
Show answer
A mushroom
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What travels faster, heat or cold?
Show answer
Heat Anyone can catch a cold.
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What two things can you never eat for breakfast?
Show answer
Lunch and dinner
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Why did the student eat their homework?
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The teacher said it was a piece of cake
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What kind of key opens a banana?
Show answer
A monkey
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What do you call a fish with no eyes?
Show answer
A fsh Take the i out of fish.
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Why is six afraid of seven?
Show answer
Because seven ate nine Seven, eight, nine: say it out loud.
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What did the sea say to the beach?
Show answer
Nothing, it just waved
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More riddles

How to run a riddle round with a group

Read the riddle out twice, slowly, then give everyone thirty seconds before anyone may answer. Start with two Easy riddles so everyone gets one right, then move on to Medium and Word riddles.

In a room. Split into teams of three or four. Each team writes its answer on paper, then all teams show at once. One point per right answer, and play five riddles a round.
On a video call. Share the riddle on screen and ask everyone to type the answer in the chat but not press Enter. Count down from three, and everyone sends together, so nobody copies.
In class. Use one riddle as a warm-up or a brain break. Ask students who solve it to explain how they got there, which is often more useful than the answer itself.

What makes a good riddle

A good riddle has one clear answer that feels obvious once you hear it. If two answers fit, people argue about the riddle instead of enjoying it, so every riddle here has been checked for that.

The clues should be true in an unexpected way. A towel really does get wetter as it dries, and a river really does have a bed. The surprise is in the second meaning of the words.

For harder ones, try our hard riddles for adults. For logic and number puzzles, see our brain teasers.

Run riddles as a live quiz

In RiLiFi, a riddle becomes a quiz question with four answers: the right one and three that sound right. People join from their phones with a PIN or QR code, answer before the timer runs out, and faster right answers earn a speed bonus.

The leaderboard after each question keeps a room playing, and nobody has to shout over anyone else. In the full-screen picker above, the four quiz options appear after you show the answer, so you can copy them into a quiz.

FAQ

Questions about riddles

What is a riddle?

A question or a short description written so the answer is hidden in a second meaning of the words. “What has keys but can’t open a single lock?” sounds like a puzzle about doors, and the answer is a piano.

What are some good riddles with answers?

“What gets wetter the more it dries?” (A towel.) “What has a head and a tail but no body?” (A coin.) “What can travel around the world while staying in one corner?” (A stamp.) This page has 100 more, from easy to tricky.

Are these riddles suitable for kids and teens?

They are written for ages 13 and up and are fine for class and work. Many Easy riddles also work with younger children, but RiLiFi itself is for people aged 13 and over.

How does the random riddle picker work?

Press Give me a riddle. Press again to show the answer, and once more for the next riddle. The picker shuffles the riddles with the random source built into your browser and shows each one once before any repeat. Full screen shows them big on a projector.

How many riddles should I use in a round?

Five is a good round: it takes about five minutes with discussion. For a longer game, play three rounds and get harder each time.

Can I run riddles as a live quiz?

Yes. In RiLiFi, make a quiz with the riddle as the question and four answers. Players join from their phones with a PIN or QR code, and a leaderboard shows who is ahead. The free plan covers 100 players per session.