Tricky Riddles With Answers

This collection of brain-teasingly tricky riddles for adults and older kids will have you scratching your head in puzzlement. Don’t worry though, because the answers are below too!

So riddle yourself silly and see how many of these difficult riddles you can get right, then challenge your friends and family to do better. After all healthy competition is a good thing and riddles are great for a bit of fun family competition time; just make sure you have fun and don’t overdo the competitiveness! And remember: these are challenging and tricky riddles so don’t be disappointed if you can’t get them all!

Featured image for a collection of really tricky riddles to tease your brain.

Really Tricky Riddles For Adults And Teens

Test your logical thinking with these challenging riddles for adults and teens. For each one, click “Show answer” to reveal the solution. Good luck!

1. What has to be broken before it can be used?

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An egg.

2. Jimmy’s mother had three children. The first was called April, the second was called May. What was the name of the third?

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Jimmy.

3. What has a head and a tail but no body?

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A coin.

4. What begins with T, ends with T, and has T in it?

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A teapot.

5. You can hold it without using your hands or your arms. What is it?

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Your breath.

6. It’s so fragile even just saying its name can break it. What is it?

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Silence.

7. What building has the most stories?

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The library.

8. What tastes better than it smells?

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Your tongue.

9. What gets broken if it’s not kept?

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A promise.

10. It’s been around for millions of years, but is never more than a month old. What is it?

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The moon.

11. Feed me and I will live, but give me a drink and I will die. What am I?

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A fire.

12. You throw away the outside, eat the inside, then throw away the inside. What is it?

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Corn on the cob.

13. What can you keep after giving it to someone?

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Your word.

14. What has four fingers and one thumb, but isn’t alive?

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A glove.

15. What smells bad when living but smells good when dead?

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Bacon.

16. What can never be put in a saucepan?

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Its lid.

17. I live in my little house all alone. There are no windows or doors, and if I want to go out I have to break through the wall. What am I?

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A chick in its egg.

18. What cannot talk but will always reply when spoken to?

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An echo.

19. Three doctors said that Bill was their brother. Bill said he had no brothers. Who was lying?

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No-one. The doctors were Bill’s sisters.

20. Take away my first letter, then take away my second letter. Then take away the rest of my letters, yet I remain the same. What am I?

Show answer

A postman.

21. The more that there is of this, the less you see. What is it?

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Darkness.

22. I am a box that holds keys without locks, yet my keys can unlock your deepest senses. What am I?

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A piano.

23. Two fathers and two sons are in a car, yet there are only three people in the car. How is this possible?

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They are grandfather, father and son.

24. What has one eye but cannot see?

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A needle.

25. I have seas with no waters, coasts with no sand, towns without people and mountains with no land. What am I?

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A map.

26. It belongs to you, but other people use it more than you do. What is it?

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Your name.

27. While at her own mother’s funeral, a woman meets a guy she doesn’t know. She thinks this guy is amazing. In fact he is her dream man and she’s pretty sure he could be the love of her life. However, she never asked for his name or number and afterwards could not find anyone who knew who he was. A few days later, the girl kills her own sister. Why did she do it?

Show answer

She figured since the man was at her mother’s funeral that he was a friend of the family and she hopes that he will show up again at her sister’s funeral.

28. I am one quarter but if you add five I become one third. What am I?

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15 minutes. (One quarter of an hour but add 5 minutes and you get twenty minutes which is one third of an hour)

29. What freezes when it is heated up?

Show answer

A computer.

30. I am everyone, yet no-one. I can be anywhere or nowhere. When the lights go out I disappear and when I face myself we multiply. What am I?

Show answer

A reflection.

More Fun Riddles

If you enjoyed these challenging tricky riddles for adults and older kids, why not try our other great riddles and answers, as well as the rest of our puzzles and brain teasers too (with solutions, of course), including these: