100 Tricky Riddles for Adults: Challenge Your Brain with These Mind-Bending Puzzles

We hope these riddles sparked some curiosity and fun! Riddles aren’t just a pastime—they help sharpen your memory, critical thinking, and creativity. Share these with your friends and challenge them to solve as many as possible. Got a favorite riddle we didn’t mention? Let us know in the comments!

Happy Riddle-Solving!

These timeless riddles have puzzled people for ages. Can you crack them?

1. What has keys but can’t open locks?
2. The more you take, the more you leave behind. What am I?
3. What can travel around the world while staying in one corner?
4. What has a heart that doesn’t beat?
5. What is so fragile that saying its name breaks it?
6. What has to be broken before you can use it?
7. I’m tall when I’m young and short when I’m old. What am I?
8. I have hands, but I can’t clap. What am I?
9. What has one eye but can’t see?
10. The more you take away from me, the bigger I become. What am I?

Logic and Lateral Thinking Riddles

These riddles test your logic and your ability to think differently.

11. A man pushes his car to a hotel and tells the owner he’s bankrupt. Why?
12. What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?
13. A woman has five daughters. Each daughter has a brother. How many children does she have?
14. A plane crashes on the border between the US and Canada. Where do they bury the survivors?
15. If you have me, you want to share me. If you share me, you no longer have me. What am I?
16. A man stands on one side of a river, his dog on the other. The man calls the dog, who crosses the river without getting wet or using a bridge. How?
17. Two fathers and two sons go fishing. They catch three fish. Each gets one. How?
18. A doctor and a bus driver are both in love with the same woman. The bus driver goes on a week-long trip. Who gets the girl?
19. I speak without a mouth and hear without ears. I have no body, but I come alive with wind. What am I?
20. The person who makes it sells it. The person who buys it never uses it. The person who uses it never knows they’re using it. What is it?

Wordplay and Language Riddles

Word lovers, these puzzles will put your linguistic skills to the test.

21. What has words but never speaks?
22. What begins with T, ends with T, and has T in it?
23. I am a five-letter word and become shorter when you add two letters to me. What am I?
24. What starts with an E, ends with an E, but only contains one letter?
25. What runs all around a backyard yet never moves?
26. What four-letter word can be written forward, backward, and upside down, and still be read from left to right?
27. What has many needles but doesn’t sew?
28. What has a thumb and four fingers but is not alive?
29. What can you hold without touching it at all?
30. What can you catch but not throw?

Math and Number Riddles

Get your calculators ready—just kidding! Try these numerical puzzles.

31. I am an odd number. Take away one letter, and I become even. What am I?
32. What has a head, a tail, is brown, and has no legs?
33. You see me once in June, twice in November, and not at all in May. What am I?
34. If two’s company and three’s a crowd, what are four and five?
35. There are three apples on a table and you take away two. How many do you have?
36. A farmer has 17 sheep; all but nine run away. How many are left?
37. If eleven plus two equals one, what does nine plus five equal?
38. How can you add eight 8’s to get 1,000?
39. There are six eggs in a basket. Six people each take one egg. How is one egg left?
40. A man gave one son 10 cents and another son was given 15 cents. What time is it?

Tricky Situational Riddles

These riddles describe unusual scenarios that require some creative thinking.

41. A man is looking at a picture of someone. His friend asks, “Who is it you’re looking at?” The man replies, “Brothers and sisters, I have none. But that man’s father is my father’s son.” Who is in the picture?
42. A woman shoots her husband. Then she holds him underwater for five minutes. Finally, she hangs him. But five minutes later, they enjoy a nice dinner together. How is this possible?
43. The more you take away, the more I become. What am I?
44. You enter a dark room with a match and find a candle, an oil lamp, and a fireplace. Which do you light first?
45. How can a man go 10 days without sleep?
46. A man was born in 1955 and died in 1995 at the age of 40. How is this possible?
47. You see a boat filled with people, yet there isn’t a single person on board. How?
48. What can you hold in your left hand but not in your right hand?
49. I have cities, but no houses. I have mountains, but no trees. I have water, but no fish. What am I?
50. What is full of holes but still holds water?

Fun and Lighthearted Riddles

These riddles are quirky, fun, and guaranteed to bring a smile.

51. What has ears but cannot hear?
52. What kind of room has no windows or doors?
53. What can fill a room but takes up no space?
54. What has one head, one foot, and four legs?
55. The more you have of me, the less you see. What am I?
56. Forward I am heavy, but backward I am not. What am I?
57. What has 13 hearts but no other organs?
58. What begins with an “F,” ends with an “E,” and often has lots of gas?
59. I am not alive, but I can grow. I don’t have lungs, but I need air. What am I?
60. What can you break, even if you never pick it up or touch it?

Riddles with a Twist

Get ready to be surprised by these trick riddles!

61. What has six legs but walks on only four?
62. What can run but never walks, has a bed but never sleeps, has a mouth but never talks?
63. What goes up but never comes down?
64. What comes down but never goes up?
65. If you drop me, I’m sure to crack, but give me a smile, and I’ll always smile back. What am I?
66. What can you keep after giving it to someone?
67. What can’t be used until it’s broken?
68. I am not alive, but I can die. What am I?
69. What has no body but a heart and a soul?
70. What is always in front of you but can’t be seen?

Advanced Riddles for Experts:

Ready for the ultimate challenge? Try these 30 advanced riddles!

71. What has roots as deep as trees, but never grows?
72. I am taken from a mine and shut inside a wooden case, but I’m used by many. What am I?
73. The person who makes me doesn’t need me, the person who buys me doesn’t want me, and the person who uses me doesn’t know they’re using me. What am I?
74. What can fill a room but never takes up space?
75. The more you take, the more I grow. What am I?
76. What is always hungry but never thirsty?
77. What disappears when you say its name?
78. I am invisible but you can see me when I’m in water. What am I?
79. What has a mouth, but cannot eat?
80. What has no legs but can still run?
81. What can you hold without ever touching it?
82. What can be cracked, made, told, and played?
83. What has no beginning, middle, or end?
84. I can fly without wings and cry without eyes. What am I?
85. What can’t be seen but will break if spoken?
86. What has only two words, but thousands of letters?
87. What has an endless supply of letters but starts empty?
88. What is full of holes but still holds water?
89. What can run but never walks?
90. What has many keys but cannot open a single door?
91. What becomes wetter the more it dries?
92. What can travel the world while staying in one spot?
93. What has a head, a tail, but no body?
94. What has hands but cannot clap?
95. What starts with P, ends with E, and has thousands of letters?
96. What has legs but can’t walk?
97. What has one letter but starts with three?
98. What has a face but no eyes?
99. What can pass before the sun without making a shadow?
100. What is so light that even the strongest person can’t hold it for long?

Answers List:

1. A piano
2. Footsteps
3. A stamp
4. An artichoke
5. Silence
6. An egg
7. A candle
8. A clock
9. A needle
10. A hole
11. He’s playing Monopoly
12. The letter M
13. Six: five daughters and one brother
14. You don’t bury survivors
15. A secret
16. The river is frozen
17. They are grandfather, father, and son
18. The doctor: the bus driver went on a trip
19. An echo
20. A coffin
21. A book
22. A teapot
23. Short
24. An envelope
25. A fence
26. NOON
27. A Christmas tree
28. A glove
29. A conversation
30. A cold
31. Seven
32. A penny
33. The letter ‘e’
34. Nine
35. Two: you took them
36. Nine
37. Two: it’s based on a clock
38. 888 + 88 + 8 + 8 + 8 = 1,000
39. The last person took the basket with the egg in it
40. Quarter to two
41. His son
42. She took a picture of him, developed it, and hung it to dry
43. A hole
44. The match
45. He sleeps at night
46. He was born in room 1955 and died in room 1995
47. They’re all married
48. Your right elbow
49. A map
50. A sponge
51. A cornfield
52. A mushroom
53. Light
54. A bed
55. Darkness
56. Ton
57. A deck of cards
58. A fire
59. A fire
60. A promise
61. A person riding a horse
62. A river
63. Your age
64. Rain
65. A mirror
66. Your word
67. An egg
68. A battery
69. Music
70. The future
71. A mountain
72. Pencil lead
73. A coffin
74. Light
75. A hole
76. Fire
77. Silence
78. Air bubble
79. A river
80. Water
81. A thought
82. A joke
83. A circle
84. A cloud
85. Silence
86. Post office
87. A mailbox
88. A sponge
89. A river
90. A piano
91. A towel
92. A stamp
93. A coin
94. A clock
95. Post office
96. A table
97. Envelope
98. A clock
99. Wind
100. Breath