Riddles(78)

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78 Riddles for Adults

That Will Test Your
Smarts
Hedy Phillips
Updated: Aug. 03, 2023
You'll have to really stretch

your brain to figure out
some of these easy, funny,
and hard riddles for grown-
ups!
If you’re looking for some riddles

for adults to keep in your back
pocket as a way to strike up a
conversation or pull out as a party
trick, you’re in luck. We have plenty
of trick questions and riddles that
are easy, hard, viral, and fun for you
right here. The trick will be
memorizing a bunch of these so
you have them handy (or you can
bookmark this page for when you
need it) when you want to put your
friends and family to the test.
First things first: Read through this

list to see if you can figure them
out. Once you’ve got them all
down, it’s time to start sharing.
Some of these are definitely
stumpers! Scroll through to read
them all and see how smart you
really are.
Get Reader’s Digest‘s Read Up

newsletter for more riddles,
games, humor, cleaning, travel,
and fun facts all week long.
RD.COM, GETTY IMAGES
Funny riddles for adults

1. What time is it when an
elephant sits on a fence?
Answer: Time to fix the fence.
2. What gets wet while drying?
Answer: A towel.
3. What is the difference

between a jeweler and a jailer?
Answer: A jeweler sells watches

and a jailer watches cells.
4. What can go up a chimney

down, but can’t go down a
chimney up?
Answer: An umbrella.
5. What can you hold in your

right hand, but never in your left
hand?
Answer: Your left hand.
6. What can you catch, but not

throw?
Answer: A cold.
7. What kind of band never plays

music?
Answer: A rubber band.
8. What has many teeth, but

cannot bite?
Answer: A comb.
9. What has lots of eyes, but can’t

see?
Answer: A potato.
10. What has one eye, but can’t

see?
Answer: A needle.
11. What can travel all around the

world without leaving its corner?
Answer: A stamp.
RELATED: 42 Tricky “What Am I?”

Riddles
12. What two things can you

never eat for breakfast?
A: Lunch and dinner.
13. What kind of room has no

doors or windows?
Answer: A mushroom.
14. What do Alexander the Great

and Winnie the Pooh have in
common?
Answer: Their middle names.
15. Before Mt. Everest was

discovered, what was the highest
mountain in the world?
Answer: Mt. Everest, it just wasn’t

discovered yet.
16. What is the end of

everything?
Answer: The letter “G.”
17. What part of the chicken has

the most feathers?
Answer: The outside.
18. What has a bottom at the top?
Answer: Your legs.
19. How far can you walk into the

woods?
Answer: Halfway — after that,

you’re walking out.
20. What is red and smells like

blue paint?
Answer: Red paint.
21. When is a door no longer a

door?
Answer: When it’s ajar.
RELATED: 60 of the Best Riddles

for Kids
Hard riddles for adults

22. Two in a corner, one in a
room, zero in a house, but one in
a shelter. What am I?
Answer: The letter “R.”
23. A plane crashed between the

border of France and Belgium.
Where were the survivors
buried?
Answer: They weren’t. Survivors

don’t need to be buried.
24. Poor people have it. Rich

people need it. If you eat it you
die. What is it?
Answer: Nothing.
25. What runs, but never walks.

Murmurs, but never talks. Has a
bed, but never sleeps. And has a
mouth, but never eats?
Answer: A river.
26. I have cities, but no houses. I

have mountains, but no trees. I
have water, but no fish. What am
I?
Answer: A map.
27. Spelled forwards I’m what you

do every day, spelled backward
I’m something you hate. What
am I?
Answer: Live.
28. The person who makes it has

no need of it; the person who
buys it has no use for it. The
person who uses it can neither
see nor feel it. What is it?
Answer: A coffin.
29. You walk into a room that

contains a match, a kerosene
lamp, a candle, and a fireplace.
What would you light first?
Answer: The match.
RELATED: 50 Love Riddles for

Romantics
30. No matter how little or how

much you use me, you change
me every month. What am I?
Answer: A calendar.
31. I have branches, but no fruit,

trunk, or leaves. What am I?
Answer: Bank.
32. What belongs to you, but

everyone else uses it.
Answer: Your name.
33. If your uncle’s sister is not

your aunt, what relation is she to
you?
Answer: Your mother.
34. What starts with a T, ends

with a T, and has T in it?
Answer: A teapot.
35. The 22nd and 24th presidents

of the United States of America
had the same parents but were
not brothers. How can this be
possible?
Answer: They were the same man

—Grover Cleveland.
36. If two’s company, and three’s

a crowd, what are four and five?
Answer: Nine.
37. Sara has four daughters, and

each of her daughters has a
brother. How many children does
Sara have?
Answer: Five—each daughter has

the same brother.
38. Which is heavier: a ton of

bricks or a ton of feathers?
Answer: They weigh the same.
39. Take one out and scratch my

head, I am now black but once
was red. What am I?
Answer: A match.
40. Two fathers and two sons are

in a car, yet there are only three
people in the car. How?
Answer: They are grandfather,

father, and son.
RELATED: Christmas Riddles
41. Until I am measured, I am not

known. Yet how you miss me,
When I have flown. What am I?
Answer: Time.
42. How much dirt is in a hole

that’s two feet by three feet?
Answer: None, it’s a hole.
43: What begins with an “e” and

only contains one letter?
Answer: An envelope.
44. What do you throw out when

you want to use it but take in
when you don’t want to use it?
Answer: An anchor.
45. You see me once in June,

twice in November, and not at all
in May. What am I?
Answer: The letter “E.”
46. What word in the dictionary

is spelled incorrectly?
Answer: Incorrectly.
47. A man goes out in heavy rain

with nothing to protect him from
it. His hair doesn’t get wet. How
does he do that?
Answer: He’s bald.
48. What word is pronounced the

same if you take away four of its
five letters?
Answer: Queue.
49. What is so fragile that saying

its name breaks it?
Answer: Silence.
50. What can fill a room but takes

up no space?
Answer: Light.
51. Forwards I am heavy,

backward I am not. What am I?
Answer: Ton.
RELATED: 48 Short Riddles That

Will Stump You
RD.COM
Easy riddles for adults

52. What five-letter word
becomes shorter when you add
two letters to it?
Answer: Short.
53. What has to be broken before

you can use it?
Answer: An egg.
54. What has a neck but has no

head?
Answer: Guitar.
55. What occurs once in a

minute, twice in a moment, and
never in 1,000 years?
Answer: The letter “M.”
56. What kind of coat is always

wet when you put it on?
Answer: A coat of paint.
57. How many bananas can you

eat if your stomach is empty?
Answer: Just one—after that, your

stomach’s not empty anymore.
RELATED: 37 of the Best Riddles

for Teens (with Answers)
58. Which letter of the alphabet

has the most water?
Answer: C.
59. What has ten letters and

starts with gas?
Answer: Automobile.
60. What goes up but never

comes down?
Answer: Your age.
61. What tastes better than it

smells?
Answer: Your tongue.
62. Jared’s father has three sons:

Snap, Crackle and…?
Answer: Jared.
If you thought that one was tricky,

try solving this riddle about
someone’s mother having four
sons.
63. What can you break, even if

you never pick it up or touch it?
Answer: A promise.
64. Which month has 28 days?
Answer: All of them.
65. What has legs, but does not

walk?
Answer: A chair.
66. The more of this there is, the

less you see. What is it?
Answer: Darkness.
67. What has many keys but can’t

open a single lock?
Answer: A piano.
68. What runs around the whole

yard without moving?
Answer: Fence.
69. Where does today come

before yesterday?
Answer: In the dictionary.
70. What goes up and down but

doesn’t move?
Answer: A staircase.
71. What is harder to catch the

faster you run?

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Stuff We Love »

RD.COM → Knowledge → Brain Games

78 Riddles for Adults

You'll have to really stretch

If you’re looking for some riddles

First things first: Read through this

Get Reader’s Digest‘s Read Up

RD.COM, GETTY IMAGES

Funny riddles for adults

Answer: Time to fix the fence.

2. What gets wet while drying?

3. What is the difference

Answer: A jeweler sells watches

4. What can go up a chimney

5. What can you hold in your

Answer: Your left hand.

6. What can you catch, but not

7. What kind of band never plays

Answer: A rubber band.

8. What has many teeth, but

9. What has lots of eyes, but can’t

10. What has one eye, but can’t

11. What can travel all around the

RELATED: 42 Tricky “What Am I?”

RD.COM, GETTY IMAGES

12. What two things can you

A: Lunch and dinner.

13. What kind of room has no

14. What do Alexander the Great

Answer: Their middle names.

15. Before Mt. Everest was

Answer: Mt. Everest, it just wasn’t

16. What is the end of

Answer: The letter “G.”

17. What part of the chicken has

Answer: The outside.

18. What has a bottom at the top?

Answer: Your legs.

19. How far can you walk into the

Answer: Halfway — after that,

20. What is red and smells like

Answer: Red paint.

21. When is a door no longer a

Answer: When it’s ajar.

RELATED: 60 of the Best Riddles

RD.COM, GETTY IMAGES

Hard riddles for adults

Answer: The letter “R.”

23. A plane crashed between the

Answer: They weren’t. Survivors

24. Poor people have it. Rich

25. What runs, but never walks.

26. I have cities, but no houses. I

27. Spelled forwards I’m what you

28. The person who makes it has

29. You walk into a room that

Answer: The match.

RELATED: 50 Love Riddles for

RD.COM, GETTY IMAGES

30. No matter how little or how