Tricky riddles with answers
These tricky riddles look simple at first, but each one hides a twist in the wording, the numbers or the logic. Here are 50 tricky riddles with answers, including short tricky riddles you can ask in a few seconds, word riddles, maths tricks and a brain test round of tricky puzzles.
Every answer has a one line explanation of the twist, so you will see exactly where the catch was. Most riddles here are new, and a few classics are retold in fresh words. Read one aloud, wait for the confident wrong answer, then reveal the real one.
Short tricky riddles with answers
Riddle 1
What sits right in the middle of March?
Show answer
The letter RM-A-R-C-H has five letters, and R is the third one, right in the middle.
Riddle 2
Written in capital letters, I still read the same when turned upside down. You do me in a pool. What word am I?
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SWIMSTurn SWIMS around by half a circle: each S stays an S and the W and M swap places, so it reads SWIMS again.
Riddle 3
You will find me twice in Kolkata, once in Kerala and never in Delhi. What am I?
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The letter KKolkata has two Ks, Kerala has one and Delhi has none.
Riddle 4
Some months have 30 days and some have 31. How many months have 28 days?
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All twelveEvery month has at least 28 days, not just February.
Riddle 5
What can you put into a full bucket of sand to make it lighter?
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A holeA hole is empty space, so adding one takes weight away.
Riddle 6
In which book does today always come before yesterday?
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A dictionaryWords are in alphabetical order, and T comes before Y.
Riddle 7
Which single word contains all 26 letters?
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AlphabetThe word alphabet means all 26 letters, though it is spelled with only 8.
Riddle 8
A thumb and four fingers, yet I have never been alive. What am I?
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A gloveA glove has the shape of a hand but no life inside.
Riddle 9
Always on its way, yet it never arrives, because when it comes it has a new name. What is it?
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TomorrowWhen tomorrow arrives it is called today.
Riddle 10
A small cube with 21 dots in all, I am shaken before every turn in a board game. What am I?
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A diceThe faces show 1 to 6 dots, and 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 = 21.
Tricky riddles with a twist
Riddle 11
You walk into a room where a dog, a cat and a parrot are lying on a bed. How many legs are on the floor?
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Six: the bed's four and your twoThe animals are on the bed, so only the bed legs and your own legs touch the floor.
Riddle 12
A bus has 30 seats and 30 passengers. At the next stop 5 get off and 7 get on. How many seats are there now?
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Still 30People come and go, but the number of seats in the bus does not change.
Riddle 13
Kiran is a girl with one brother and one sister. How many sisters does her brother have?
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TwoKiran's brother has Kiran and her sister, so two sisters.
Riddle 14
Asha's birthday is on 31 December, yet she always celebrates it in summer. How?
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She lives in the southern hemisphereIn places like Australia, December falls in summer.
Riddle 15
Ten crows sit on a wire. A firecracker bursts nearby and one crow falls off in fright. How many crows are left on the wire?
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NoneThe loud bang scares the other nine crows, so they all fly away.
Riddle 16
Two babies are born at the very same moment, yet their birthdays fall on different dates. How?
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They were born in different time zonesWhen it is just past midnight in one country, it can still be the previous evening in another.
Riddle 17
Dadaji is 72 years old but has had only 18 real birthdays. How?
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He was born on 29 FebruaryThat date comes only in leap years, once every four years, and 72 / 4 = 18.
Riddle 18
Mr Mehta lives in a one storey house where everything is blue: blue walls, blue doors, blue lamps. What colour are the stairs?
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There are no stairsA one storey house has only one floor, so it needs no stairs.
Riddle 19
Meera dropped a coin into an empty bottle and corked it. How can she get the coin out without pulling the cork or breaking the bottle?
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Push the cork into the bottleWith the cork pushed inside, the neck is open again and the coin slides out.
Riddle 20
How far can a dog run into a forest?
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HalfwayAfter the halfway point the dog is running out of the forest, not into it.
Tricky maths riddles
Riddle 21
Multiply together all ten digits on a phone keypad. What do you get?
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ZeroThe keypad has a 0, and anything multiplied by 0 is 0.
Riddle 22
A shopkeeper had 10 pens. He sold all but 7, then bought 3 more. How many pens does he have now?
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10All but 7 means 7 are left, and 7 + 3 = 10.
Riddle 23
There are 10 fingers on 2 hands. How many fingers are there on 10 hands?
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50Each hand has 5 fingers, so 10 hands have 10 x 5 = 50, not 100.
Riddle 24
A brick weighs 1 kilo plus half a brick. How much does a whole brick weigh?
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2 kilosIf the brick is x, then x = 1 + x/2, so half the brick is 1 kilo and the whole brick is 2.
Riddle 25
A cook takes 3 minutes to boil one egg. How long does she take to boil 6 eggs together in the same pot?
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3 minutesAll six eggs boil at the same time, so it still takes 3 minutes.
Riddle 26
A teacher wrote 11 + 2 = 1 on the board and the whole class agreed. How?
Show answer
They were reading a clockTwo hours after 11 o'clock it is 1 o'clock.
Riddle 27
Which is longer: a quarter of an hour or 900 seconds?
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They are the sameA quarter of an hour is 15 minutes, and 15 x 60 = 900 seconds.
Riddle 28
Divide 30 by half and add 10. What is the answer?
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70Dividing by half means asking how many halves fit, so 30 / 0.5 = 60, and 60 + 10 = 70.
Riddle 29
Add 1000 and 40. Add 1000 more, then 30, then 1000, then 20, then 1000, then 10. What is the total? Work it out in your head.
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4100Four thousands make 4000 and 40 + 30 + 20 + 10 = 100, so the total is 4100. Many people blurt out 5000.
Riddle 30
A fair coin lands heads 9 times in a row. What is the chance it lands heads on the tenth toss?
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1 in 2A coin has no memory, so every toss is still an even chance of heads or tails.
Tricky word riddles
Riddle 31
Children ride me to school each day. Spell me backwards and I travel under the sea. What am I?
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A busBus spelled backwards is sub, short for submarine.
Riddle 32
You cook dal in me. Spell me backwards and I become the highest point. What am I?
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A potPot spelled backwards is top.
Riddle 33
Students feel me before exams. Read me backwards and I become sweet treats after dinner. What word am I?
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StressedStressed spelled backwards is desserts.
Riddle 34
Which eight letter word starts with E, ends with E and usually holds just one letter?
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EnvelopeE-N-V-E-L-O-P-E has eight letters, and the letter inside it is the kind you post.
Riddle 35
I am a sharp tooth near the front of your mouth, and a number hides in the last four letters of my name. What am I?
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A canine toothCA-NINE ends with the word nine.
Riddle 36
How many times does the word 'and' appear in 'sand, hand, land and band'?
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FiveIt hides inside sand, hand, land and band, and also stands alone once.
Riddle 37
I am a small boat you push with a paddle, and my name reads the same backwards. What am I?
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A kayakK-A-Y-A-K spelled backwards is still K-A-Y-A-K.
Riddle 38
Which letter comes next: M, T, W, T, F, S, ?
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SThese are the first letters of the days of the week, ending with Sunday.
Riddle 39
Which letter comes next: J, F, M, A, M, J, J, ?
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AThese are the first letters of the months, and after July comes August.
Riddle 40
My meaning is 'not old'. Add a K in front of me and I mean 'understood'. What word am I?
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NewK + NEW spells knew, the past tense of know.
Brain test: tricky puzzles
Riddle 41
Riya rolls two dice and the dots facing up total 12. How many dots are facing the table?
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TwoOpposite faces of a dice add up to 7, so under each 6 there is a 1.
Riddle 42
What is the largest number of Sundays one year can have?
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53A year has 52 weeks plus 1 or 2 extra days, and one of those extra days can be a Sunday.
Riddle 43
A woman has 5 sons, and each son has one sister. How many children does she have?
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SixAll five sons share the same one sister, so 5 + 1 = 6.
Riddle 44
If yesterday was the day after Tuesday, what day will tomorrow be?
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FridayThe day after Tuesday is Wednesday, so today is Thursday and tomorrow is Friday.
Riddle 45
A lift goes up 4 floors, down 6 floors, then up 3 floors and stops on floor 7. Which floor did it start on?
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Floor 6Work backwards: 7 - 3 + 6 - 4 = 6.
Riddle 46
What comes next: 1, 11, 21, 1211, 111221, ?
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312211Each term describes the one before it: 111221 is three 1s, two 2s, one 1, written as 312211.
Riddle 47
What comes next: 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, ?
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17These are prime numbers, divisible only by 1 and themselves, and 17 is the next one.
Riddle 48
Which two digit number ending in 2 is exactly 4 times the sum of its digits?
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121 + 2 = 3 and 4 x 3 = 12. The other numbers that work (24, 36, 48) do not end in 2.
Riddle 49
Sita is 4th from the front and 4th from the back of a queue. How many people are in the queue?
Show answer
7There are 3 people ahead of her and 3 behind, plus Sita herself: 3 + 3 + 1 = 7.
Riddle 50
If 1 January of a non leap year is a Monday, what day is 31 December of that year?
Show answer
Monday365 days is 52 weeks and 1 day, so the last day of the year falls on the same weekday as the first.
Tricky 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
Tricky riddles are perfect for quick fun. Send one to a family WhatsApp group in the morning and share the answer at night, or use a short tricky riddle to wake up a sleepy class after lunch. At parties, split people into two teams and give a point for every right answer and a bonus point for explaining the twist.
The secret to solving a tricky riddle is to read every word literally. Ask what the question really says, not what you expect it to say. Watch for small words like all but, together and empty, and check whether a number puzzle is about time, letters or positions instead of plain arithmetic. If an answer seems too easy, look again, because it usually is.
Tips
- Read the riddle twice and underline small words like all but, only or same, since the twist often hides there.
- Before you answer a maths riddle, ask whether it is about clocks, letters or positions rather than normal adding.
- When you share a riddle, give people a minute to answer before you reveal the explanation, so the twist lands.
More riddles and puzzles
Questions people ask
What is a good short tricky riddle?
Try asking what sits right in the middle of March. Most people think of dates or weather before they realise the answer is the letter R.
What makes a riddle tricky?
A tricky riddle leads you towards an obvious answer and then turns on a small detail, like the exact meaning of a word or a fact you assumed. Once you see the twist, the real answer feels fair and simple.
How do I get better at tricky riddles and brain test puzzles?
Read every word literally and question your first guess. Solving a few tricky riddles every day trains you to notice the small words where the twist hides.
Are these tricky riddles in English good for students?
Yes. They suit students from about class 5 upwards and adults too, and the explanations make them useful for discussions on logic and careful reading.
Can I share these tricky riddles with answers on WhatsApp?
Yes, the short riddles are made for sharing. Send the question first and post the answer later so everyone has time to guess.
Every riddle on this page is written and checked by the Paheli World team. How we make our riddles.