Riddles, especially hard riddles, can set the brain working, forcing it to problem-solve and think critically. These skills aren’t just confined to figuring out riddles either; with regular practice and honing, they become important life tools for children and adults alike.
Riddles are a great way to improve vocabulary especially in young adults and people looking to learn a language. The words aren’t really taken at face value so you’re forced to read between the lines. Hard riddles can also contain words that aren’t normally used. They compel you to look them up and expand your vocabulary. Hard riddles, in particular, also fuel reading comprehension. Most adults can read but not everyone can understand or use tough words and phrases. Riddles can turn things around by introducing people to the same.
If you’re looking to give your brain a good workout, indulge in a little hard riddles with answers every day. You will have fun and it can be one of your best time pass activities. Try out the stimulating riddles given here or create your own. Make them as tricky as possible and watch your friends try to crack them.
List of Hard Riddles with Answers
If you eat me, my sender will eat you. What am I?
Answer: A fish hook.
How do you fit 10 horses into 9 stalls.
Answer: [t][e][n][h][o][r][s][e][s]
I look flat, but I am deep,
Hidden realms I shelter.
Lives I take, but food I offer.
At times I am beautiful.
I can be calm, angry and turbulent.
I have no heart, but offer pleasure as well as death.
No man can own me, yet I encompass what all men must have.
Answer: Ocean
What always ends everything?
Answer: The letter “G”
What has only two words, but thousands of letters?
Answer: A Post Office.
What is as big as an elephant, but weighs nothing at all?
Answer: The shadow of an elephant.
How many letters are in the alphabet?
Answer: There are eleven letters in “the alphabet.”
How is Ron 10 years old in 1870, but only 5 years old in 1875?
Answer: Ron was born in 1880 B.C.
There was a man walking in the desert. It was an especially hot day that day. In the distance, the man suddenly saw a restaurant. He rejoiced and ran to the restaurant and immediately asked the waiter for a glass of water. Instead, the waiter pulled out a gun and pointed it at the man’s head. The man replied with, “thank you”. Why did the man say “thank you”?
Answer: It was a water gun.
I am a five-letter word. I sounds the same when you remove my first letter. I sound the same when you remove my 3rd letter. I sound the same when you remove my last letter, and I sound the same when you remove all three. Which word am I?
Answer: Empty, mpty, emty, emp-t, m t.
A man runs away from home. He turns left, and keeps running. After some time he turns left again and keeps running. He later turns left once more and runs back home. Who was the man in the mask?
Answer: The catcher. In baseball game.
There are 6 sisters. Each sister has 1 brother. How many brothers are in the sisters family?
Answer: 1 brother. If there was 6 brothers, each sister would have 6 brothers.
A container without hinges, lock or a key, yet a golden treasure lies inside me. What am I?
Answer: An egg.
Only one color, but not one size,
stuck at the bottom, yet easily flies;
present in sun, but not in rain;
doing no harm, and feeling no pain.
Answer: A shadow.
First, think of the color of clouds. Next think of the color of snow. Last, think of the color of the moon. Now, what do cows drink?
Answer: Water. If the teaser worked, you guessed milk.
What can’t be burned in a fire nor drowned in water?
Answer: Ice. It melts instead of burning in a fire and it floats in water.
What is half of 8?
Hint: It’s not 4
Answer: 3 (if you slice vertically) or 0 (if you slice horizontally).
I can fly but I have no wings. I can cry but I have no eyes. Wherever I go darkness follows me. What am I?
Answer: Cloud.
How is 7 different from the rest of the numbers from 1-10?
Answer: 7 (seven) is the only one with two syllables.
If you are running a race, and you pass the person in second, what place are you in?
Answer: Second place.
Two men are in a desert. They both have packs on. One of the guys is dead. The guy who is alive has his pack open, the guy who is dead has his pack closed. What is in the pack?
Answer: A parachute.
What is it a child can make that no one can ever see?
Answer: Noise.
What can fill an entire room without taking up any space?
Answer: Light.
I no longer have eyes, but once I did see. Once I had thoughts, but now I’m white and empty. What am I?
Answer: A skull.
What can you hold in your right hand but never in your left hand?
Answer: Your left hand.
Poor people have it. Rich people need it. If you eat it, you’ll sick or maybe die. What is it?
Answer: Nothing.
What is it that no one wants, but no one wants to lose?
Answer: A lawsuit.
How many months have 28 days?
Answer: All 12 months!
What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?
Answer: “M”
How do you make the number one disappear by adding to it?
Answer: Add the letter ‘G’ and it becomes Gone.
The answer I give is yes, but what I mean is no. What was the question?
Answer: Do you mind?
I can be written, I can be spoken, I can be exposed, I can be broken. What am I?
Answer: News.
Add two letters to me and I become shorter? What am I?
Answer: I’m the word short, so if you add -er, then I literally become shorter.
From house to house I go, sometimes narrow, sometimes wide. And whether there’s rain or snow I always stay outside. What am I?
Answer: A Path.
What’s black when you get it, red when you use it, and white when you’re all through with it?
Answer: Charcoal.
Thanks for taking out your time for the post and I hope you have fun with the hardest riddles ever!