Hard riddles with answers
These hard riddles will make you stop, think and then think again before you tap the answer. We have collected 50 hard riddles with answers, from clever wordplay and difficult logic riddles to tough maths puzzles, and almost all of them are written fresh for this page.
Every answer comes with a short explanation, so you can check your thinking and understand the trick even when a riddle beats you. Start with the hard riddles at the top, then work your way down to the very hard riddles and the maths section, where only the most patient solvers get every one right.
Hard riddles with answers
Riddle 1
Ships drop me when they want to stay put and lift me when they want to leave. What am I?
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An anchorAn anchor digs into the sea bed to hold a ship still, and is pulled up before sailing.
Riddle 2
Put G in front of me and I am gone. Put D in front and I am finished. Put B in front and I am in your skeleton. What word am I?
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ONEG + ONE is gone, D + ONE is done and B + ONE is bone.
Riddle 3
My first is in milk but not in silk. My second is in cap but not in cup. My third is in nest but not in west. My fourth is in gate but not in late. My fifth is in dog but not in dig. Summer calls me the king of fruits. What am I?
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MangoThe letters that change are M, A, N, G and O, which spell mango.
Riddle 4
Black and white keys, and a heart full of tiny hammers. Press me and I sing, though I have no voice. What am I?
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A pianoEach key moves a small felt hammer that strikes a string inside the piano.
Riddle 5
Born in a grey cloud, I die on a hot road. In between I may race down a window like a tear. What am I?
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A raindropA raindrop forms in a cloud, slides down glass and dries up on warm ground.
Riddle 6
You can keep me only after you have given me to someone else. What am I?
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A promiseYou give your word to a person, and only then can you keep it.
Riddle 7
I have a head but no brain, and I get hit on it all day at work. What am I?
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A nailA nail has a flat head that a hammer strikes again and again.
Riddle 8
My meaning is the opposite of wide. Drop my first letter and an archer shoots me. What word am I?
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NarrowTake the N off narrow and you get arrow.
Riddle 9
You take me at weddings and on holidays, yet I keep the moment forever and never grow older. What am I?
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A photographPeople take photographs, and the picture stays the same however many years pass.
Riddle 10
The more of me there is, the less you hear. Libraries and exam halls beg for me. What am I?
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SilenceSilence is the absence of sound, so more silence means less to hear.
Tough word riddles
Riddle 11
Juicy and sweet, I hang on a tree. Cut off my head and I become the thing you hear with. What am I?
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A pearRemove the P from pear and you are left with ear.
Riddle 12
Something you walk in all day. Remove my first letter and a farmer digs with me. What am I?
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A shoeShoe without the S becomes hoe, a digging tool.
Riddle 13
A precious yellow metal, that is me. Take away my first letter and I become the opposite of new. What am I?
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GoldGold without the G is old.
Riddle 14
I sit at the end of time and space, and I begin every ending. What am I?
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The letter ETime and space both end in E, and the word ending starts with E.
Riddle 15
Which English word has three double letters in a row?
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BookkeeperBook-keeper has oo, kk and ee one after another.
Riddle 16
Take away my first two letters and only a single number is left. People skip me across ponds and build walls with me. What am I?
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StoneStone without S and T leaves one, and stones are skipped on water and used in walls.
Riddle 17
Add two letters to me and I grow longer on paper, yet I end up meaning shorter. Which word am I?
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ShortAdd E and R to short and you get shorter.
Riddle 18
Read me backwards and I am still the same. Carpenters lay me on a shelf to check it is flat. What word am I?
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LevelLevel is a palindrome, and a spirit level shows whether a surface is flat.
Riddle 19
Coldest of the four seasons, that is me. Change one letter and I become the person who comes first in a race. What am I?
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WinterChange the T in winter to N and it becomes winner.
Riddle 20
A number you can count on your fingers, spell me backwards and fishermen throw me into the sea. What number am I?
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TenTen spelled backwards is net.
Difficult logic riddles
Riddle 21
Today Ananya is twice as old as her brother. Six years ago she was three times as old as him. How old is Ananya now?
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24If her brother is b, then 2b - 6 = 3(b - 6), so b = 12 and Ananya is 24.
Riddle 22
In 11 years Leela will be twice as old as she was 11 years ago. How old is she now?
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33If she is x, then x + 11 = 2(x - 11), which gives x = 33. Check: 44 is twice 22.
Riddle 23
Reverse my two digits and I grow by 27. My digits add up to 11. Which number am I?
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47Reversing adds 9 times the difference of the digits, so the digits differ by 3. Digits 4 and 7 add to 11, and 74 - 47 = 27.
Riddle 24
Brothers and sisters I have none, but that man's father is my father's son. Who is in the picture?
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The speaker's sonMy father's son, with no brothers, is me. So that man's father is me, and the man is my son.
Riddle 25
Tina, Uma or Vani broke the vase. Tina says, "Uma did it." Uma says, "I did not." Vani says, "I did not." Only one of them tells the truth. Who broke it?
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VaniIf Tina or Uma did it, two statements would be true. Only if Vani did it is Uma alone telling the truth.
Riddle 26
The day before yesterday Neel was 17. Next year he will turn 20. How is that possible?
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Today is 1 January, birthday 31 DecemberOn 30 December he was 17, turned 18 on 31 December, turns 19 this December and 20 next year.
Riddle 27
A tailor has a 10 metre roll of cloth and cuts off one metre each day. How many days does it take to cut the whole roll into one metre pieces?
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9 daysAfter 9 cuts the last piece left is already one metre long, so no tenth cut is needed.
Riddle 28
A shopkeeper sells a pen for 60 rupees and makes a profit of 20 percent. What did the pen cost him?
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50 rupeesSelling price is 120 percent of cost, so cost = 60 / 1.2 = 50 rupees.
Riddle 29
Sunday is three days from today. What day was it the day before yesterday?
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TuesdayThree days before Sunday is Thursday, so today is Thursday and two days earlier was Tuesday.
Riddle 30
Write every whole number from 1 to 100. How many times do you write the digit 9?
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20Nine appears 10 times in the ones place (9, 19 ... 99) and 10 times in the tens place (90 to 99).
Very hard riddles: the top 10 toughest
Riddle 31
A tap fills a tank in 5 hours, but a leak at the bottom would empty the full tank in 20 hours. Starting empty, how long does the tank take to fill?
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6 hours 40 minutesEach hour the tap adds 1/5 and the leak removes 1/20, a gain of 3/20. So it takes 20/3 hours, which is 6 hours 40 minutes.
Riddle 32
A patch of lilies doubles in size every day and covers a lake on day 48. On which day did it cover half the lake?
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Day 47It doubles each day, so one day before it was full it was half.
Riddle 33
What is the smallest number that leaves remainder 1 when divided by 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6, but divides exactly by 7?
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301The number must be 1 more than a multiple of 60 (61, 121, 181, 241, 301). The first one divisible by 7 is 301 = 7 x 43.
Riddle 34
How many times do the hour and minute hands of a clock point the same way in one full day?
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22 timesThey meet every 720/11 minutes, which is 11 times in 12 hours, so 22 times in 24 hours.
Riddle 35
Multiply every whole number from 1 to 75 together. How many zeros are at the end of the answer?
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18Each zero needs a 5 paired with a 2. There are 15 multiples of 5 up to 75, and 25, 50 and 75 give one extra 5 each, so 18 zeros.
Riddle 36
Five friends meet and each one shakes hands with every other friend exactly once. How many handshakes happen?
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10Each of the 5 shakes 4 hands, which is 20, but every handshake is counted twice, so 20 / 2 = 10.
Riddle 37
Which is larger: half of a quarter, or a quarter of a half?
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They are equalBoth equal one eighth, because 1/2 x 1/4 and 1/4 x 1/2 give the same product.
Riddle 38
Two ropes each take exactly 60 minutes to burn, but they burn unevenly. How can you measure exactly 45 minutes?
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Burn one rope from both ends firstLight rope A at both ends and rope B at one end. A burns out in 30 minutes, then light B's other end and it finishes 15 minutes later.
Riddle 39
How many squares of any size are there on a chessboard?
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204Count 1x1 to 8x8 squares: 64 + 49 + 36 + 25 + 16 + 9 + 4 + 1 = 204.
Riddle 40
Three switches outside a closed room control one bulb inside. You may enter the room only once. How do you find the right switch?
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Use the warmth of the bulbTurn switch 1 on for ten minutes, then off, and turn switch 2 on. Lit bulb means switch 2, warm and dark means 1, cold and dark means 3.
Hard maths riddles with answers
Riddle 41
My three digits add up to 12. My hundreds digit is twice my ones digit, and my tens digit is the sum of the other two. What number am I?
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462If the ones digit is x, the digits are 2x, 3x and x, which add to 6x = 12. So x = 2 and the number is 462.
Riddle 42
Mira is older than Dev but younger than Sara. Dev is older than Tom, and Sara is younger than Kabir. Who is the second oldest?
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SaraPutting them in order gives Kabir, Sara, Mira, Dev, Tom, so Sara is second.
Riddle 43
In the sum AB + BA = 88, each letter is a different digit and A is 2 more than B. What is AB?
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53AB + BA = 11(A + B) = 88, so A + B = 8. With A = B + 2, A is 5 and B is 3, and 53 + 35 = 88.
Riddle 44
Next in line: 1, 2, 5, 14, 41, ?
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122Each number is three times the one before, minus 1, so 41 x 3 - 1 = 122.
Riddle 45
Find the next number: 5, 7, 14, 16, 32, ?
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34The rule takes turns: add 2, then double. After doubling 16 to 32, you add 2 to get 34.
Riddle 46
In a class, 18 students like tea, 15 like coffee, 7 like both and 4 like neither. How many students are in the class?
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30Tea or coffee lovers are 18 + 15 - 7 = 26, plus the 4 who like neither makes 30.
Riddle 47
A 200 metre train crosses a 300 metre bridge at 36 km per hour. How long does it take to cross completely?
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50 secondsIt must travel 500 metres. 36 km per hour is 10 metres per second, so 500 / 10 = 50 seconds.
Riddle 48
A clock loses 5 minutes every hour. It is set correctly at 12 noon. What time does it show at 6 pm?
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5:30 pmIn 6 hours it loses 6 x 5 = 30 minutes, so it shows 5:30 when the real time is 6:00.
Riddle 49
Walk 3 km north, then 4 km east. How far are you from where you started, in a straight line?
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5 kmThe two paths form a right angle, so the distance is the square root of 9 + 16, which is 5.
Riddle 50
Both clock hands point at 12 at noon. At what time do they next point the same way?
Show answer
About 1:05 and 27 secondsThe minute hand gains 5.5 degrees a minute, so they meet after 360 / 5.5 = 720/11 minutes, about 65 minutes 27 seconds.
Hard riddles: images to share
Save any card and share it. The answer is printed upside down at the bottom of each card.
How to use these riddles
Hard riddles work best when you give them time. At a party or family gathering, read one riddle out loud, set a two minute timer and let teams discuss before anyone reveals the answer. Teachers can use the logic and maths riddles as a warm up for older students, asking them to explain their working on paper rather than only shouting the answer.
To crack a very hard riddle, first separate the clues and test each one on its own. Look for words with two meanings, like eye, head or level. For number riddles, write the facts as simple equations and try small values. If you are stuck, read the question again slowly, because hard riddles often hide the key detail in a word you skimmed past.
Tips
- Write down every clue as a separate line so you can test your guess against each one.
- For word riddles, try removing, adding or reversing letters, since many tough riddles hide one word inside another.
- Check your answer with the explanation even when you get it right, because the working often teaches a trick you can reuse.
More riddles and puzzles
Questions people ask
What is the hardest riddle with an answer?
Many people find the lily pad riddle and the three switches riddle the hardest, because the obvious answer is wrong. Both are in the very hard section on this page with full explanations.
What is a good hard riddle to ask friends?
Try the G, D, B riddle: put G in front and it is gone, D in front and it is done, B in front and it is in your skeleton. The answer is ONE, and most people need a minute or two.
How do you solve difficult riddles faster?
Break the riddle into separate clues, look for double meanings and test each guess against every clue. With maths riddles, turn the words into a simple equation before you start guessing.
Are these hard riddles suitable for kids?
Older children aged 11 and up can enjoy most of them, especially the word riddles. The logic and maths sections are better for teenagers and adults, or for kids solving with a grown up.
Where can I find 10 hard riddles with answers for a quiz?
The section called Very hard riddles: the top 10 toughest is ready to use as a quiz round. Each riddle has a short answer and an explanation you can read out after the round.
Every riddle on this page is written and checked by the Paheli World team. How we make our riddles.