🧠 Hard Riddles Challenge
Tricky, hard and famously hardest riddles. Type your answer and see how far you get.
How to play
- Pick a set. Tricky Riddles comes first, and stars open Hard Riddles and The Hardest Riddles.
- Choose Type it for the real challenge, or Pick the answer for four choices.
- Read every word carefully. Hard riddles love to hide the answer in plain sight.
- Stuck? A hint costs half the points. You can also give up and see the answer.
- Each round has 10 riddles and deals ones you haven't seen first.
- Win up to 3 stars for each set and mode.
Hard riddles that make you think twice
Hard Riddles Challenge is a free riddle game with over 150 hard riddles, from sneaky tricks to some of the hardest riddles people have ever passed around. Most of them sound impossible until you see the answer, and then they seem obvious. Type your answer to test yourself for real, or pick from four if you just want some fun. Every answer comes with a short explanation, and all the riddles are listed further down the page. There is no download, and it works on computers, tablets and phones.
Riddles for teens, grown-ups and clever kids
Search for riddles for adults and you will find plenty of hard ones. Here, "for adults" only ever means difficult: everything is clean and suitable for a family game night. Teens and older kids can enjoy these too, and they make a great way to stump your parents at dinner, liven up a road trip or warm up a classroom.
Three levels of difficulty
Tricky Riddles are short and playful, and they punish overthinking. Hard Riddles include long poems, famous puzzles and riddles whose wording is designed to mislead you. The Hardest Riddles save the best for last, with stories that seem to make no sense until you spot the one thing you assumed. Earn stars to open each new set.
How to get better at hard riddles
Riddles work by getting you to assume something, so ask yourself what you are assuming. Take every word literally, because "how many months have 28 days?" doesn't ask how many have exactly 28. Think about different meanings of a word: a river has a mouth and a bed, and a bank has branches. Look at the letters too, since some riddles are about spelling and not about the thing they seem to describe. Above all, read it twice. You will be surprised how often the answer is in the question.
Tricky riddles with answers
The more you take from me, the bigger I get. What am I?
Answer: A hole. Digging takes earth away and the hole grows.
I have cities but no houses, rivers but no water, forests but no trees. What am I?
Answer: A map. A map shows all of these without holding any of them.
What can travel around the world while staying in one corner?
Answer: A stamp. A stamp sits in the corner of an envelope.
What has a neck but no head?
Answer: A bottle. A bottle has a neck and no head at all.
What can you hold in your right hand but never in your left hand?
Answer: Your left hand. One hand can hold the other, but it can't hold itself.
I am always in front of you, but you can never see me. What am I?
Answer: The future. However far you walk, the future stays ahead.
What gets sharper the more you use it?
Answer: Your brain. Use it often and your thinking gets quicker.
What invention lets you look right through a wall?
Answer: A window. Glass in a wall lets you see straight through it.
What word is spelled wrong in every dictionary?
Answer: Wrong. The word "wrong" is always spelled w-r-o-n-g.
What goes through towns and over hills but never moves?
Answer: A road. The road stays still while the traffic moves.
What has many teeth but cannot bite?
Answer: A comb. A comb has rows of teeth and no bite at all.
You see me once in June, twice in November and not at all in May. What am I?
Answer: The letter E. June has one E, November has two and May has none.
What occurs once in a minute, twice in a moment and never in a thousand years?
Answer: The letter M. Count the Ms in each phrase.
What can you break without touching it?
Answer: A promise. Words can break a promise.
What can fill a room but takes up no space?
Answer: Light. Turn on a lamp and light fills the room, yet the room is no fuller.
If you have me, you want to share me. If you share me, you no longer have me. What am I?
Answer: A secret. Once it is shared, it is not a secret.
What runs all around a yard without moving?
Answer: A fence. It runs right round the edge and stays put.
What has an eye but cannot see?
Answer: A needle. The hole in a needle is called its eye.
What kind of room has no doors or windows?
Answer: A mushroom. It is a play on the word room.
Forward I am heavy, but backward I am not. What am I?
Answer: Ton. Spell TON backward and you get NOT.
What is always coming but never arrives?
Answer: Tomorrow. When it gets here, it is called today.
What has a head and a tail but no body?
Answer: A coin. A coin has a heads side and a tails side.
What is so fragile that saying its name breaks it?
Answer: Silence. Say the word and the silence is gone.
Which is heavier: a kilogram of feathers or a kilogram of bricks?
Answer: Neither. A kilogram is a kilogram, whatever it is made of.
How many months have 28 days?
Answer: All of them. Every month has at least 28 days.
A rooster lays an egg on top of a barn roof. Which way does it roll?
Answer: It doesn't. Roosters don't lay eggs.
What is black when clean and white when dirty?
Answer: A chalkboard. Chalk marks show up white on the dark board.
What begins with T, ends with T and has T in it?
Answer: A teapot. It starts and ends with the letter T, and it holds tea.
What can run but never walks, has a mouth but never talks?
Answer: A river. A river runs, and it has a mouth where it meets the sea.
What belongs to you, but other people use it more than you do?
Answer: Your name. People say your name far more often than you do.
What has a thumb and four fingers but is not alive?
Answer: A glove. It is shaped like a hand, with nothing inside it.
What gets wet while it is drying?
Answer: A towel. It soaks up the water as it dries you.
Two fathers and two sons go fishing and each catches one fish. They bring home only three fish. How?
Answer: A grandfather, father and son. Three people can be two fathers and two sons.
What is full of holes yet still holds water?
Answer: A sponge. The holes are what soak the water up.
What can go up a chimney down, but can't go down a chimney up?
Answer: An umbrella. Closed it fits, and open it doesn't.
What has words but never speaks?
Answer: A book. The words are there to be read.
The more of them you take, the more you leave behind. What are they?
Answer: Footsteps. Each step leaves another footprint behind you.
What has one head, one foot and four legs?
Answer: A bed. A bed has a head end, a foot end and four legs.
Which word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?
Answer: Short. Add E and R and you get "shorter".
What is at the end of a rainbow?
Answer: The letter W. The last letter of the word rainbow is W.
What starts with an E, ends with an E and usually has only one letter in it?
Answer: An envelope. One letter goes inside the envelope.
If two is company and three is a crowd, what are four and five?
Answer: Nine. Four plus five is nine.
What comes down but never goes up?
Answer: Rain. Rain falls, and it never falls upward.
Mary's father has five daughters: Nana, Nene, Nini, Nono. What is the fifth daughter's name?
Answer: Mary. It says so in the first two words.
Before Mount Everest was discovered, what was the highest mountain in the world?
Answer: Mount Everest. It was still the highest, even before anyone had measured it.
I have a spine but no bones, and leaves but no branches. What am I?
Answer: A book. A book has a spine and its pages are called leaves.
I get shorter every time you use me, but I make your words last. What am I?
Answer: A pencil. It wears down as you write.
I go up when the rain comes down. What am I?
Answer: An umbrella. Up it goes when the rain starts.
What has a ring but no finger?
Answer: A telephone. Phones ring without wearing anything.
What has legs but cannot walk?
Answer: A table. Tables stand on four legs and stay put.
What has a bark but no bite?
Answer: A tree. Trees are covered in bark.
What can you serve but never eat?
Answer: A tennis ball. In tennis, you serve the ball.
What disappears the moment you stand up?
Answer: Your lap. Your lap only exists when you sit.
What is easy to get into but hard to get out of?
Answer: Trouble. Most people know this one from experience.
What kind of coat can only go on when wet?
Answer: A coat of paint. Paint is a coat that goes on wet.
What has many needles but cannot sew?
Answer: A pine tree. Pine trees are covered in needles.
Where does today come before yesterday?
Answer: In a dictionary. Words are in alphabetical order there.
What ends everything?
Answer: The letter G. The last letter of everything is G.
Hard riddles with answers
I speak without a mouth and hear without ears. I have no body, but the wind brings me to life. What am I?
Answer: An echo. An echo seems to speak and answer, with nobody there.
I am not alive, but I grow. I have no lungs, but I need air. I have no mouth, but water kills me. What am I?
Answer: Fire. Fire spreads, needs oxygen and goes out with water.
I have keys but no locks. I have space but no room. You can enter but you can't go inside. What am I?
Answer: A keyboard. It has keys, a space bar and an Enter key.
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. What am I?
Answer: Pencil lead. The graphite in a pencil comes from a mine and sits in a wooden case.
I fly without wings. I cry without eyes. Wherever I go, darkness follows me. What am I?
Answer: A cloud. Clouds drift, rain falls from them, and they bring shade.
What can be cracked, made, told and played?
Answer: A joke. You crack a joke, make one, tell one and play one.
I have branches but no fruit, trunk or leaves. What am I?
Answer: A bank. A bank has branches all over town.
The more there is of me, the less you see. What am I?
Answer: Darkness. As it deepens, you see less and less.
I am weightless, but you can see me. Put me in a bucket and I make it lighter. What am I?
Answer: A hole. A hole in a bucket lets things out, so the bucket weighs less.
I shave every day, but my beard stays the same. Who am I?
Answer: A barber. A barber shaves other people's beards.
If you drop me I'm sure to crack, but give me a smile and I'll always smile back. What am I?
Answer: A mirror. A mirror cracks when dropped, and it shows your smile.
What flies forever but never rests?
Answer: Time. People say that time flies, and it never stops.
I can be long or short, grown or bought, painted or left bare. My tip can be round or square. What am I?
Answer: Fingernails. Nails can be grown, stuck on, painted and shaped.
What is always in bed but never sleeps, and always runs but never walks?
Answer: A river. A river has a bed, and it runs all day.
You walk into a room with a match, a candle, an oil lamp and a stove. What do you light first?
Answer: The match. Nothing else lights until the match does.
A man pushes his car to a hotel and tells the owner he's bankrupt. Why?
Answer: He is playing Monopoly. The car is his playing piece in the board game.
What word contains all 26 letters?
Answer: Alphabet. The alphabet contains all 26.
What goes up and down but never moves?
Answer: Stairs. Stairs go up and down, and they stay in place.
I can't be bought, but I can be stolen with a glance. I am worthless to one, but priceless to two. What am I?
Answer: Love. One glance can do it, and it takes two to share it.
What is the beginning of eternity, the end of time and space, the beginning of every end and the end of every place?
Answer: The letter E. Look at the first letter of eternity and the last letter of time.
A man looks at a portrait and says, "Brothers and sisters I have none, but that man's father is my father's son." Who is in the portrait?
Answer: His son. "My father's son" is the speaker himself, so that man's father is the speaker.
What is it that given one, you'll have either two or none?
Answer: A choice. Give someone a choice and they have two options, or no choice at all.
Three people check into a room for 30 dollars, paying 10 each. The clerk finds the room is 25, and sends 5 back. The bellhop keeps 2 and returns 1 to each. Each paid 9, total 27, plus 2 is 29. Where is the missing dollar?
Answer: There isn't one. The 27 already includes the bellhop's 2, so adding them is wrong. 25 room + 2 bellhop + 3 returned = 30.
What has six faces but never wears makeup, and twenty-one eyes but cannot see?
Answer: A die. A die has six faces and 21 dots in total.
I can only live where there is light, but I die if the light shines on me. What am I?
Answer: A shadow. A shadow needs light, and direct light wipes it out.
Take off my skin and I won't cry, but you will. What am I?
Answer: An onion. Peel an onion and your eyes water.
I am so simple that I can only point, yet I guide people all over the world. What am I?
Answer: A compass. A compass needle just points, and travelers find their way by it.
What is seen in the middle of March and April that can't be seen at the beginning or end of either month?
Answer: The letter R. R sits in the middle of both words.
A girl fell off a 20-foot ladder but wasn't hurt. How?
Answer: She fell off the bottom rung. The ladder may be tall, but she was on the lowest step.
I am light as a feather, yet the strongest person can't hold me for long. What am I?
Answer: Your breath. Try it: nobody can hold their breath for long.
What can you keep after giving it to someone?
Answer: Your word. You give your word and then you keep it.
What can you make that nobody can see?
Answer: A noise. Noise is heard and never seen.
I have a heart that never beats. What am I?
Answer: An artichoke. The soft centre of an artichoke is its heart.
What English word sounds the same even if you remove four of its five letters?
Answer: Queue. Take away U, E, U, E and the Q still sounds like "queue".
What four-letter word reads the same forward, backward and upside down?
Answer: NOON. Written in capitals, it works all three ways.
What five-letter word leaves "one" when you take away the first two letters?
Answer: Stone. Remove S and T from stone and you are left with one.
What starts with P, ends with E and has thousands of letters?
Answer: A post office. A post office is full of letters.
How many times can you subtract 5 from 25?
Answer: Once. After the first time, you are subtracting from 20.
You have three apples and you take away two. How many do you have?
Answer: Two. You took two, so you have two.
You overtake the person in second place in a race. What place are you in now?
Answer: Second. You took their place, so you are second.
You overtake the last person in a race. What place are you in now?
Answer: You can't. Nobody is behind the last person.
Divide 30 by a half and add 10. What do you get?
Answer: 70. Dividing by a half doubles it: 60, plus 10.
I am a word of three letters. Add two more and there will be fewer. What am I?
Answer: Few. Add E and R, and few becomes fewer.
What is as big as an elephant but weighs nothing at all?
Answer: An elephant's shadow. A shadow is exactly as big as the thing, and has no weight.
Which vehicle is spelled the same forward and backward?
Answer: Racecar. R-A-C-E-C-A-R. A kayak works too.
You put me in boiling water hard, and I come out soft. What am I?
Answer: A noodle. Dry pasta softens as it cooks.
What do you fill with empty hands?
Answer: Gloves. Gloves are filled by hands with nothing in them.
What breaks on the water but never on the land?
Answer: A wave. Waves break on the shore.
What has four eyes but can't see?
Answer: Mississippi. It has four letter Is.
What gets answered all day, but never asks a question?
Answer: A doorbell. You answer a doorbell or a phone.
Most of me is hidden, and I am lighter than what I am made of. What am I?
Answer: An iceberg. Ice floats, and most of an iceberg is under the water.
I have no life, but I can die. What am I?
Answer: A battery. Batteries go dead when they run out.
What can you swallow that can also swallow you?
Answer: Water. You drink it, and you can also go under it.
The hardest riddles in the world, with answers
What is it that no man ever yet did see, which never was, but always is to be?
Answer: Tomorrow. It is never here yet.
Whoever makes it, tells it not. Whoever takes it, knows it not. Whoever knows it wants it not. What is it?
Answer: Counterfeit money. A forger keeps quiet, the person who takes it doesn't know, and nobody who knows wants it.
I am the beginning of sorrow and the end of sickness. You cannot express happiness without me, yet I am in the midst of crosses. I am always in risk, yet never in danger. What am I?
Answer: The letter S. Sorrow starts with S, sickness ends with it, and it is inside happiness, crosses and risk.
Two people are born at the same moment, but they don't have the same birthday. How?
Answer: Different time zones. One side of the date line can be a day ahead of the other.
You have a 3-litre jug and a 5-litre jug. How many times must you fill the 5-litre jug to measure exactly 4 litres, using the 3-litre jug?
Answer: Two. Fill 5, pour into 3, leaving 2. Empty 3, pour the 2 in. Fill 5 again and top up the 3 with 1. That leaves 4.
Which is correct: "the yolk of the egg is white" or "the yolk of the egg are white"?
Answer: Neither. Egg yolks are yellow.
A farmer has 17 sheep. All but 9 run away. How many are left?
Answer: 9. "All but nine" means nine stayed.
A clerk at a butcher's shop is five feet ten inches tall and wears size 13 shoes. What does he weigh?
Answer: Meat. His job is weighing meat.
How can a man go eight days without sleep?
Answer: He sleeps at night. He just doesn't sleep in the daytime.
If a red house is made of red bricks and a blue house of blue bricks, what is a greenhouse made of?
Answer: Glass. Greenhouses are built of glass.
What can you catch but never throw, and what can you throw but never catch?
Answer: A cold and a party. You catch a cold and you throw a party.
What English word has three consecutive double letters?
Answer: Bookkeeper. b-oo-kk-ee-per.
Which word in the dictionary is spelled incorrectly?
Answer: Incorrectly. The word "incorrectly" is always spelled that way.
You can see me in water, but I never get wet. What am I?
Answer: A reflection. Reflections show on the surface and stay dry.
There is a house with four sides, and every side faces south. A bear walks past. What colour is it?
Answer: White. Every side faces south only at the North Pole, so it's a polar bear.
Which word is the longest in English, if you measure from its first letter to its last?
Answer: Smiles. There is a mile between the first and last letters.
A man rode into town on Friday, stayed three days and rode out on Friday. How?
Answer: His horse is named Friday. Friday is the horse.
Which side of a cat has the most fur?
Answer: The outside. The fur is all on the outside.
What has 13 hearts but no other organs?
Answer: A deck of cards. A deck has 13 cards in the hearts suit.
I'm tall when I'm young and short when I'm old. What am I?
Answer: A candle. A candle burns down as it gets older.
A boy and a doctor go fishing. The boy is the doctor's son, but the doctor is not the boy's father. Who is the doctor?
Answer: His mother. Doctors can be women.
Tom's mother has three children: Snap, Crackle and what?
Answer: Tom. The first two words say it.
How many animals of each kind did Moses take on the ark?
Answer: None. It was Noah's ark, not Moses'.
A bat and a ball cost 1.10 dollars together. The bat costs one dollar more than the ball. How much is the ball?
Answer: 5 cents. 1.05 for the bat plus 0.05 for the ball is 1.10.
If 5 machines make 5 toys in 5 minutes, how long do 100 machines take to make 100 toys?
Answer: 5 minutes. Each machine takes 5 minutes per toy, however many machines there are.
A patch of lily pads doubles in size every day and covers a pond in 48 days. How long did it take to cover half the pond?
Answer: 47 days. It doubles from half to full on the last day.
What letter comes next: O, T, T, F, F, S, S?
Answer: E. They are the first letters of one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
What letter comes next: J, F, M, A, M, J, J, A, S, O, N?
Answer: D. They are the first letters of the months of the year.
A clock takes 5 seconds to strike six. How long does it take to strike twelve?
Answer: 11 seconds. Six strikes have 5 gaps of a second each, and twelve strikes have 11.
A hen and a half lay an egg and a half in a day and a half. How many eggs does one hen lay in three days?
Answer: 2. One hen lays one egg in a day and a half.
A brick weighs one kilogram plus half a brick. How much does a whole brick weigh?
Answer: 2 kilograms. Half a brick must weigh one kilogram.
A drawer in the dark holds 10 black socks and 10 white socks. How many must you take to be sure of a matching pair?
Answer: 3. With only two colours, three socks must include a pair.
A snail climbs a 10-metre wall, going up 3 metres each day and sliding back 2 metres each night. On which day does it reach the top?
Answer: Day 8. After 7 days it is at 7 metres, and on day 8 it climbs the last 3.
What comes next: 1, 11, 21, 1211, 111221?
Answer: 312211. Each line reads out the one before: "one 1", "two 1s", "one 2, one 1" and so on.
What is special about this order of digits: 8, 5, 4, 9, 1, 7, 6, 3, 2?
Answer: They are in alphabetical order. Eight, five, four, nine, one, seven, six, three, two.
Using only three 3s and any math sign, how can you make 30?
Answer: 33 - 3. Two of the 3s make 33. Take away the last 3.
How many times does the digit 1 appear when you write the numbers from 1 to 100?
Answer: 21. Ten in the ones place, ten in the tens place, and one more in 100.
A father is four times as old as his son. In 20 years he will be twice as old. How old is the son now?
Answer: 10. 10 and 40 now; 30 and 60 in 20 years.
If yesterday was the day after Monday, what is tomorrow?
Answer: Thursday. Yesterday was Tuesday, so today is Wednesday.
The day before yesterday Ana was 8, and next year she will be 11. How can that be?
Answer: It's January 1 and her birthday is December 31. She was 8 on December 30, turned 9 on December 31, turns 10 this year and 11 next year.
Two mothers and two daughters buy hats, but only three hats are bought. How?
Answer: A grandmother, mother and daughter. The middle person is both a mother and a daughter.
More riddles and brain games
For something lighter, try Funny Riddles or Riddle Rush, our riddles for kids. Math fans can try Riddle Realm, and word lovers can try Word Riddles. Every quiz and puzzle is on the Brain Games page.
Free and safe
Hard Riddles Challenge is free to play, with no download, no sign-up and nothing to buy. There is no chat, and your progress is saved only on your own device. See the Parents & Safety page for more.
Frequently asked questions
What is the hardest riddle in the world?
There is no official answer, but long riddles such as the portrait riddle ("Brothers and sisters I have none...") and the missing dollar puzzle are famous for stumping people. Both are in this game.
Are these riddles for adults clean?
Yes. They are hard, not rude. Every riddle is suitable for families, so they work well for teens and for game nights with kids.
Where are the answers?
Every riddle is listed on this page, and tapping one shows its answer with a short explanation. The game also explains the answer after each riddle.
Does my spelling have to be perfect?
No. In Type it mode, small typos still count, and words like "a" and "the" at the start don't matter.
Can I print these riddles?
Yes. The print buttons above the lists make a sheet with or without the answers, free for home or classroom use.
Is Hard Riddles Challenge free?
Yes. It is free to play in the browser with no download, no account and nothing to buy.