150 Clever Riddles to Keep Your Mind Sharp
Clever riddles are one of the best engaging and fun activities to play with your family, friends, or partner. Clever riddles are said to activate the cognitive part of the brain which is not used more often in our daily routine.
Studies show that those who solve riddles tend to have improved short-term memory, fast brain cell connectivity, and quick response to problems.
Solving clever riddles is the best game to play with your family at weekends, as it is a healthy activity and can be played by people of any age.
If you have kids at your home, keep them busy with riddles. You can pick out some clever riddles with answers from below and have a fun and bonding time with your little ones.
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Best Clever Riddles
Challenging your siblings is the best activity for anyone. Asking them for some clever brain teasers will help you pass your time instead of scrolling down social media accounts. Use these best clever riddles and make most of your family time.
1. There was this competition where the contestants had to hold ‘something’. At the end of the event, the winner was a person who was physically disabled (he had no hands and no any feet)! What was that ‘something’?
Answer: Breath.
2. The man who invented it doesn’t want it. The man who bought it doesn’t need it. The man who needs it doesn’t know it. What is it?
Answer: A coffin.
3. What kind of coat is always wet when you put it on?
Answer: A coat of paint.
4. Can you write cow in 13 letters?
Answer: See o double you.
5. What came first, the chicken or the egg?
Answer: Dinosaurs laid eggs much before evolution of chicken.
6. What belongs to you but other people use it more than you?
Answer: Your name.
7. How can you make six into an odd number?
Answer: Remove the letter S and you have IX which is 9 in roman numerals.
8. I reach for the sky, but clutch to the ground; sometimes I leave, but I am always around. What am I?
Answer: A tree.
9. I have branches yet I have no leaves, no trunk and no fruit. What am I?
Answer: A bank.
10. I never was but always will be. No one ever saw me but everyone knows I exist. I give people the motivation to better themselves every day. What am I?
Answer: Tomorrow.
11. How many bananas can you eat if your stomach is empty?
Answer: Just one after that it’s not empty anymore.
12. I am lighter than air but a hundred people cannot lift me. Careful, I am fragile. What am I?
Answer: A bubble.
13. How can you drop a raw egg from a height onto a concrete floor without cracking it?
Answer: Concrete floors are very hard to crack.
Very Clever Riddles
You can ask these very clever riddles before starting a new topic with your students. These riddles will be the warm-up exercise for your student before an important lecture.
1. Paul’s height is six feet, he’s an assistant at a butcher’s shop, and wears size 9 shoes. What does he weigh?
Answer: Meat.
2. What part of the Turkey has the most feathers?
Answer: The outside.
3. You measure my life in hours and I serve you by expiring. I’m quick when I’m thin and slow when I’m fat. The wind is my enemy.
Answer: A Candle.
4. What can travel around the world while staying in a corner?
Answer: A stamp.
5. I’m light as a feather, but not even the strongest girl can hold me for more than 5 minutes. What am I?
Answer: Breath.
6. What has a head and a tail, but no body?
Answer: A coin.
7. What breaks and never falls, and what falls and never breaks?
Answer: Day breaks and night falls.
8. What has keys but no locks. Space but no room. You can enter, but can’t go outside.
Answer: A keyboard.
9. How can a girl go 25 days without sleep?
Answer: She sleeps at night.
10. I’m tall when I’m young, I’m short when I’m old, and every Halloween I stand up inside Jack O Lanterns. What am I?
Answer: A Candle.
11. What word in the English language does the following: the first two letters signify a male, the first three letters signify a female, the first four letters signify a great, while the entire word signifies a great woman. What is the word?
Answer: Heroine.
12. What loses its head in the morning and regains it at night?
Answer: A pillow.
13. I speak without a mouth and hear without ears. I have nobody, but come alive with wind. What am I?
Answer: An Echo.
14. What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?
Answer: The letter ‘M’.
Clever Riddles with Answers
Under this section, you can get to know some clever riddles with answers. You can ask these riddles from your over-smart friend or colleague to help make your boring time entertaining.
1. I have cities, but no houses. I have mountains, but no trees. I have water, but no fish. What am I?
Answer: A Map.
2. Which word in the dictionary is spelt incorrectly?
Answer: Incorrectly.
3. What is seen in the middle of March and April that can’t be seen at the beginning or end of either month?
Answer: Answer: The Letter “R”.
4. He has married many women but has never been married. Who is he?
Answer: A priest.
5. You see a boat filled with people. It has not sunk, but when you look again you don’t see a single person on the boat. Why?
Answer: All the people were married.
6. What has one eye but cannot see?
Answer: A needle.
7. A woman shoots her husband, then holds him underwater for five minutes. Next, she hangs him. Right after, they enjoy a lovely dinner. Explain.
Answer: She took a picture of him and developed it in her dark room.
8. Which letter of the alphabet has the most water?
Answer: The C.
9. I come from a mine and get surrounded by wood always. Everyone uses me. What am I?
Answer: Pencil lead.
10. It’s been around for millions of years, but it’s no more than a month old. What is it?
Answer: The moon.
11. What makes you, young?
Answer: Adding the letters “ng”.
12. A cowboy rides into town on Friday, stays for three days, then leaves on Friday. How did he do it?
Answer: He leaves on his horse, ‘Friday’.
13. I’m often running yet I have no legs. You need me but I don’t need you. What am I?
Answer: Water.
14. I can be liquid or solid, sometimes I bubble up and you can find me in every home. What am I?
Answer: A soap.
15. What is 3/7 chicken, 2/3 cat and 2/4 goat?
Answer: Chicago.
Short Clever Riddles
Asking clever short riddles before elaborating on a new project to your team members can be helpful to keep their minds sharp and steady. Engaging your team members in short riddles will enhance their brain activity.
1. I am seven letter word. I am very heavy. Take away two letters from me and you will get 8. Take away one letter and you will get 80. Who am I?
Answer: Weighty.
2. With pointed fangs I sit and wait. With piercing force I crunch out fate, grabbing victims, proclaiming might, physically joining with a single bite. What am I?
Answer: A stapler.
3. In 1990, a person is 15 years old. In 1995, that same person is 10 years old. How can this be?
Answer: It is because it’s 1995-1990 B.C.!
4. What connects two people but touches only one?
Answer: A wedding ring.
5. I am neither a guest or a trespasser be, to this place I belong, it belongs also to me.
Answer: Home.
6. What word becomes smaller when you add 2 letters to it?
Answer: Smaller.
7. 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. What is it?
Answer: A shadow.
8. How can you physically stand behind your father while he is standing behind you?
Answer: You both must be standing back to back.
9. Slayer of regrets, old and new, sought by many, found by few. What am I?
Answer: Redemption.
10. Without it, I’m dead. If I’m not, then then I’m behind. What am I?
Answer: Ahead.
11. What is greater than God, more evil than the devil, the poor have it, the rich need it, and if you eat it, you’ll die?
Answer: Nothing.
12. Why was the chef embarrassed?
Answer: Because he saw the salad dressing.
13. Spelled forwards I’m what you do every day, spelled backwards I’m something you hate. What am I?
Answer: Live.
14. In British Columbia, you cannot take a picture of a man with a wooden leg. Why?
Answer: You can’t take a picture with a wooden leg, you need a camera.
Good Clever Riddles
Good clever riddles can be helpful while playing treasure hunt with your kids and their friends at a birthday party. This is the best game to make their birthday party fun and different than usual.
1. What begins but has no end and is the ending of all that begins?
Answer: Death.
2. A taxi driver is going the wrong way down a one-way street. He passes four police officers, yet none of them stop him. Why?
Answer: The taxi driver was on foot.
3. What five letter word stays the same when you take away the first, third, and last letter?
Answer: Empty.
4. I have four wings, but cannot fly, I never laugh and never cry; On the same spot I’m always found, toiling away with little sound. What am I?
Answer: A Windmill.
5. I start off dry but come out wet. I go in light and come out heavy. What am I?
Answer: A teabag.
6. People make me, save me, change me, raise me. What am I?
Answer: Money.
7. I Start with M, end with X and have never ending amount of letters. What am I?
Answer: MAIL BOX
8. What breaks yet never falls, and what falls yet never breaks?
Answer: Day, and night.
9. A hen and a half lays an egg and a half in a day and a half.
How many eggs does one hen lay in one day?
Answer: If 1.5 hens lay 1.5 eggs in 1.5 days, it must be that one hen would lay one egg in the same time period: 1.5 days. Now, if one hen lays one egg in 1.5 days, it means that one hen would lay only ⅔ of an egg in one day. So the answer is ⅔ of an egg.
10. What goes through cities and fields, but never moves?
Answer: A road.
11. NASA was considering sending canaries into space to study them under zero gravity. The project was scrapped when someone realized that in spite of having sufficient water supplies, they could die of dehydration within a few hours. Why?
Answer: Birds, unlike humans, need gravity to swallow. Humans can swallow even while hanging upside down.
12. A man looks at a painting in a museum and says, “Brothers and sisters I have none, but that man’s father is my father’s son.” Who is in the painting?
Answer: The man’s son.
13. A certain crime is punishable if attempted but not punishable if committed.
What is it?
Answer: Suicide.
14. What does man love more than life, hate more than death or mortal strife; that which contented men desire; the poor have, the rich require; the miser spends, the spendthrift saves, and all men carry to their graves?
Answer: Nothing.
Clever Riddles about Math
Some people find math dry and boring, especially kids. Make maths fun with these clever math riddles and make this subject fun for them. Try out these riddles and have fun.
1. If there are four apples and you take away three, how many do you have?
Answer: You took three apples, so you have three!
2. There are 100 pairs of dogs in a zoo; a pair of babies are born for each dog. Unfortunately, 23 of the dogs have not survived. How many dogs are left in total?
Answer: 977 dogs / Explanation: 100 x 2 = 200; 200 + 800 = 1,000; 1,000 – 23 = 977
3. What can you put between a seven and an eight so that the result is greater than a seven but less than an eight? /Answer:
Answer: A decimal because 7.8 is greater than seven but less than eight.
4. The total cost of a pair of shoes and a hoodie is $150. The hoodie cost $100 more than the pair of shoes. How much does each item cost?
Answer: The hoodie costs $125, and the shoes cost $25.
5. A 300 ft. train is traveling 300 ft. per minute must travel through a 300 ft. long tunnel. How long will it take the train to travel through the tunnel? /
Answer: Two minutes. It takes the front of the train one minute, and the rest of the train will take two minutes to clear the tunnel.
6. A half is a third of it. What is it?
Answer: 1 ½.
7. What’s the maximum number of times you can subtract five from 25?
Answer: Only once. This is because when you subtract five the first time, 25 becomes 20, then 15, and so on.
8. You have two U.S. coins with a total value of 30 cents. One of them is not a nickel. What are the two coins? / Answer:
Answer: One is a quarter, and one is a nickel.
9. When Miguel was 6 years old, his little sister, Leila, was half his age. If Miguel is 40 years old today, how old is Leila?
Answer: She is 37 years old.
10. A cellphone and a phone case cost $110 in total. The cell phone costs $100 more than the phone case. How much was the cellphone?
Answer: $105 (not $110)
11. I am a three-digit number. My tens digit is six more than my ones digit. My hundreds digit is eight less than my tens digit. What number am I? / Answer:
Answer: 193.
12. Which weighs more, 16 ounces of soda or a pound of solid gold?
Answer: Neither. They both weigh the same!
13. I am a three-digit number. My second digit is four times bigger than the third digit. My first digit is three less than my second digit. Who am I?
Answer: 141.
14. If a hen and a half lay an egg and a half in a day and a half, how many eggs will half a dozen hens lay in half a dozen days?
Answer: Two dozen.
15. I add five to nine and get two. The answer is correct, but how?
Answer: When it is 9 a.m., add five hours to it, and you will get to 2 p.m.
Clever Riddles for Adults
You can ask these clever riddles for adults with answers to your parents on their visit to your house. Keep some awards at every right answer to the riddles let’s see who wins the challenge.
1. Three eyes have I, all in a row; when the red one opens, all freeze like the snow.
Answer: Traffic light.
2. It’s always ahead of you but cannot be seen. What is it?
Answer: Future.
3. What gets wetter and wetter the more it dries?
Answer: A towel.
4. It always goes up but never comes down. It is usually a celebratory affair every time it goes up. What is it?
Answer: Your age.
5. How many months have 28 days?
Answer: All of them.
6. You give it to someone but can still keep it at the same time. What is it?
Answer: Your words.
7. What word becomes shorter when you add letters to it?
Answer: “Short”.
8. You can break it by not even touching it. What is it?
Answer: A promise.
9. What word begins with a T, ends with a T, and has a T in it?
Answer: A teapot.
10. Once you get it, you feel like sharing it; once you share it, you no longer have it. What is it?
Answer: A secret.
11. What word begins with an E, ends with an E, but has only one letter?
Answer: An envelope.
12. It has teeth but can never bite. What is it?
Answer: A comb.
13. If a rooster sits on a roof facing north, which way will the egg roll?
Answer: Roosters don’t lay eggs.
14. It has hands but no arms. What is it?
Answer: A clock.
15. A cowboy arrived in town on Friday, stayed one night, then left on Friday. How is this possible?
Answer: The horse’s name is Friday.
Clever Riddles for Teens
Nowadays teenagers are mostly busy with their cellphones all the time. Ask these clever riddles for teens and engage them with these challenges. Teenagers love challenges.
1. The more there is, the less you see. What is it?
Answer: Answer: Darkness.
2. It goes up, it goes down, but it still can not move anywhere. What is it?
Answer: Staircase.
3. What building has the most stories in the world?
Answer: The library.
4. I can be written, spoken, broken, and exposed too. What am I?
Answer: News.
5. You see it once in June, three times in September and never in May. What is it?
Answer: The letter E.
6. It has blades but cannot be used as a cutting tool. What is it?
Answer: Fan.
7. What can fill a room but doesn’t take up space?
Answer: Light.
8. It has a tongue but cannot talk. It has a sole and loves to walk. What is it? Answer:
Answer: A shoe.
9. Where does Thursday come after Friday?
Answer: The dictionary.
10. I am a four-lettered word; read it backward or forward, I remain the same. I usually bring more light and warmth. I am not a clock, but can help you with the time. What am I? Answer:
Answer: Noon.
11. Kira’s mother has three children. Their names are Huey, Dewey, and … ?
Answer: Kira.
12. It has to be broken before using it. It has covered in a white box and contains a golden treasure in it. What is it?
Answer: An egg.
13. What word is spelled wrong in the dictionary?
Answer: “Wrong”.
14. It has four wheels and flies. What is it?
Answer: A garbage truck.
15. What can go up a chimney down, but can’t go down a chimney up?
Answer: An umbrella.
Clever Riddles for Kids
Kids during summer and winter vacations are always causing trouble at home. You can engage them with some clever riddles for kids given below and make yourself relaxed for some time.
1. What can you hold in your right hand, but not in your left hand?
Answer: Your left hand.
2. How many months of the year have 28 days?
Answer: All of them! Every month has *at least* 28 days.
3. Mrs. Brown has 5 daughters. Each of these daughters has a brother. How many children does Mrs. Brown have?
Answer: They have 6 children. Each daughter has the same brother. There are 5 daughters and 1 son.
4. Kate’s mother has three children: Snap, Crackle and ___?
Answer: Kate.
5. It’s raining at midnight, but the forecast for tomorrow and the next day is clear. Will there be sunny weather in 48 hours?
Answer: No, it won’t be sunny because it will be dark out. In 48 hours, it will be midnight again.
6. There’s only one word in the dictionary that’s spelled wrong. What is it?
Answer: The word “wrong.” It’s the only word that’s spelled W-R-O-N-G.
7. There are 3 apples in the basket and you take away 2. How many apples do you have now?
Answer: You have 2 apples. You took away 2 apples and left 1 in the basket.
8. You’re running a race and at the very end, you pass the person in 2nd place. What place did you finish the race in?
Answer: You finished in 2nd place.
9. What can you put between 7 and 8, to make the result greater than 7, but less than 8?
Answer: A decimal point. Your result would be 7.8, which is between 7 and 8.
10. What 2 things can you never eat for breakfast?
Answer: Lunch and dinner.
11. 81 x 9 = 801. What do you need to do to make this equation true?
Answer: Turn it upside down. 108 = 6 x 18.
12. What’s the capital of France?
Answer: The letter “F.” It’s the only capital letter in France.
13. What 3 numbers give the same result when multiplied and added together?
Answer: 1 + 2 + 3 = 6 and 1 x 2 x 3 = 6).
14. When Grant was 8, his brother was half his age. Now, Grant is 14. How old is his brother?
Answer: Answer: His brother is 10. Half of 8 is 4, so Grant’s brother is 4 years younger. This means when Grant is 14, his brother is still 4 years younger, so he’s 10.
15. You’ll find me in Mercury, Earth, Mars and Jupiter, but not in Venus or Neptune. What am I?
Answer: The letter “R.”
Clever Riddles and Jokes
Asking riddles with some level of humor in it can make anybody laugh, be it your boss or your crush. Impress them with these clever riddles and jokes and be a source of positivity for them.
1. What animal walks on all fours in the morning, two in the afternoon and three in the evening?
Answer: A person during the course of their life; they crawl as a child, walk as an adult, and use a cane as an elder.
2. It is an odd number; reduce one letter, and it becomes even. What is the number?
Answer: Seven.
3. I am weightless, but you can see me. Put me in a bucket, and I’ll make it lighter. What am I?
Answer: A hole.
4. You will find it in Saturn, Uranus, Venus, and Mars but not on Earth. What is it? Answer:
Answer: The letter ‘s.’
5. What falls, but does not break, and what breaks but does not fall?
Answer: Night falls and day breaks.
6. It looks like you, but not you; you can share it and even frame it. What is it? Answer:
Answer: Your photograph.
7. You throw away the outside and cook the inside. Then you eat the outside and throw away the inside. What did you eat?
Answer: An ear of corn.
8. You buy it for eating but never really eat it. What is it?
Answer: A plate.
9. What can run but never walks, has a mouth but never talks, has a head but never weeps, has a bed but never sleeps?
Answer: A river.
10. It is round and green, you serve it but can not eat it and surely don’t want to keep it, you just pass it to the other person. What is it?
Answer: Tennis ball.
11. I never was, am always to be; everyone’s looking, but no one sees me. What am I?
Answer: Tomorrow.
12. It can go up and down but can not move. It helps people in deciding their attire. It also helps in keeping a check on people’s health. What is it?
Answer: Temperature.
13. Pronounced as one letter, and written with three. Two letters there are, and two only in me. I’m double, I’m single, I’m black, blue, and gray; I’m read from both ends, and the same either way. What am I?
Answer: An eye.
14. It starts with a P and ends with an X, and has hundreds of letters. What is it? Answer:
Answer: A post box.
15. Two mothers and two daughters bought three cars. They all drove home in their own car. How is that possible?
Answer: There were only three women total; a mother, her daughter — who is also a mother — and her daughter’s daughter.
Final Thoughts on Clever Riddles
No doubt solving clever riddles is always fun. They are the best way to spend quality and intellectual time with friends or family. Some clever riddles have simple answers but the way they are made and asked makes them difficult to answer.
What really happens when we solve riddles is the little rush of dopamine which gives us bliss on self-accomplishment.
There is another part of our brain that gets refreshed which is the ‘logical reasoning’. This approach helps us to have a better logical understanding of things in our daily routine.
So before going on a long trip with family or a sleepover at your friend’s house make a list of clever riddles with answers to make your interaction crazy and funny.
Clever riddles and answers are going to be the best part of your trip or party. This will create a healthy bond with your friends and make your mind sharp.
