Life is full of mysteries and questions that often have no clear answers. Riddles about life provoke deep thoughts and reflections about the meaning of our existence. Here are 99 of the best riddles about life with answers to ponder:
Existential Riddles
These riddles about life question our purpose and reason for being:
1. I am everyone, yet I am no one. I exist in all places, yet I exist nowhere. What am I?
Answer:
Consciousness
2. I am given to all, and surrendered by all in the end. None can refuse me forever. What am I?
Answer:
Death
3. I am rarely touched but often held. If you have wit, you’ll use me well. What am I?
Answer:
The tongue
4. The more you take away, the more I become. What am I?
Answer:
A hole
5. I am free for the taking through all of your life, though given but once at birth. I am less than nothing in weight, but will fell the strongest of you if held. What am I?
Answer:
A breath
Riddles about Time
Time puzzles our perceptions and seems to control our destiny:
6. I never was, am always to be, No one ever saw me, nor ever will, And yet I am the confidence of all who live and breathe. What am I?
Answer:
Tomorrow
7. I give you a group of three. One is sitting down, and will never get up. The second eats as much as is given to him, yet is always hungry. The third goes away and never returns. What are they?
Answer:
Stove, fire, smoke
8. I never ask questions, but am always answered. What am I?
Answer:
A clock
9. I have cities but no houses, forests but no trees, and water but no fish. What am I?
Answer:
A map
10. What gets broken without being held?
Answer:
A promise
Riddles about Relationships
Relationships and human connections add meaning to life:
11. What belongs to you but is used more by others?
Answer:
Your name
12. The more you take, the more you leave behind. What are they?
Answer:
Footsteps
13. What goes up but never comes down?
Answer:
Your age
14. What can travel around the world while staying in a corner?
Answer:
A stamp
15. What is always coming but never arrives?
Answer:
Tomorrow
Funny Riddles about Life
These riddles add a dose of humor to the mysteries of life:
16. A doctor and a bus driver are both in love with the same woman, an attractive girl named Sarah. The bus driver had to go on a long bus trip that would last a week. Before he left, he gave Sarah seven apples. Why?
Answer:
Because an apple a day keeps the doctor away!
17. What did the scientist say when he found 2 hydrogen atoms?
Answer:
H2!
18. What do you call an alligator in a vest?
Answer:
An investigator!
19. What do you get when you cross a snowman with a vampire?
Answer:
Frostbite!
20. Why can’t a bicycle stand up on its own?
Answer:
Because it’s two tired!
Riddles that Make You Think
These thought-provoking riddles require logic and lateral thinking:
21. A man was found dead in a field of snow. The only tracks next to him were one pair of footprints that led up to his body. What happened?
Answer:
He was dropped from an airplane.
22. What word starts with “e”, ends with “e”, but only contains one letter?
Answer:
Envelope
23. If you drop me I’m sure to crack, but give me a smile and I’ll always smile back. What am I?
Answer:
A mirror
24. Feed me and I live, give me drink and I die. What am I?
Answer:
Fire
25. People make me, save me, change me, raise me. What am I?
Answer:
Money
Riddles about Truth
These riddles reveal how elusive yet essential truth is:
26. I never tell lies, but often deceive. What am I?
Answer:
Silence
27. The more there is, the less you see. What could it be?
Answer:
Darkness
28. What is seen in the middle of March and April, that can’t be seen at the beginning or end of either month?
Answer:
The letter “R”
29. Voiceless it cries, wingless flutters, toothless bites, mouthless mutters. What is it?
Answer:
Wind
30. What goes up and down without moving?
Answer:
Stairs
Short Riddles
These succinct riddles pack a punch:
31. What belongs to you but others use it more than you do?
Answer:
Your name
32. What gets wet while drying?
Answer:
A towel
33. What can you break, even if you never pick it up or touch it?
Answer:
A promise
34. What goes up but never comes down?
Answer:
Your age
35. What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?
Answer:
The letter M
Funny One Line Riddles
These super short riddles provide a quick brain teaser:
36. What has hands but can’t clap?
Answer:
A clock
37. When is a door not a door?
Answer:
When it’s ajar
38. What month of the year has 28 days?
Answer:
All of them!
39. What is full of holes but still holds water?
Answer:
A sponge
40. What goes up and down but doesn’t move?
Answer:
Stairs
Riddles for Kids
These family friendly riddles will stump children and make them laugh:
41. What has four wheels and flies?
Answer:
A garbage truck
42. What building has the most stories?
Answer:
The library!
43. What has a thumb and four fingers but is not alive?
Answer:
A glove
44. What has a neck but no head?
Answer:
A bottle
45. What can you catch but not throw?
Answer:
A cold
Classic Riddles
These timeless riddles have been around for ages:
46. What has hands but cannot clap?
Answer:
A clock
47. What is always coming, but never arrives?
Answer:
Tomorrow
48. 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
49. What belongs to you, but is used more by others?
Answer:
Your name
50. Voiceless it cries, wingless flutters, toothless bites, mouthless mutters. What is it?
Answer:
The wind
Hard Riddles for Adults
Stretch your mind with these brain bending riddles:
51. What occurs once in every minute, twice in every moment, yet never in a thousand years?
Answer:
The letter M
52. A man dresses in black and works at night. In the morning he’s dead, yet the next night he’s alive. Who is he?
Answer:
A stage actor
53. Feed me and I live, give me drink and I die. What am I?
Answer:
Fire
54. The more of this there is, the less you see. What is it?
Answer:
Darkness
55. People make me, save me, change me, raise me. What am I?
Answer:
Money
Funny Riddles for Adults
These riddles add some silliness for the grown ups:
56. What rock group has four guys who can’t sing or play instruments?
Answer:
Mount Rushmore!
57. Did you hear about the claustrophobic astronaut?
Answer:
He just needed a little space!
58. Why don’t eggs tell jokes?
Answer:
They’d crack each other up!
59. What do you call a dog magician?
Answer:
A labracadabrador!
60. Why can’t you hear a pterodactyl use the bathroom?
Answer:
Because the pee is silent!
Riddles about Nature
Ponder the mysteries of the natural world:
61. I have cities, but no houses. I have mountains, but no trees. I have water, but no fish. What am I?
Answer:
A map.
62. What month of the year has 28 days?
Answer:
All of them!
63. What falls, but never breaks? What breaks, but never falls?
Answer:
Night falls and day breaks.
64. You see me once in June, twice in November and not at all in May. What am I?
Answer:
The letter “e.”
65. One word I know, six letters it contains, remove one letter and 12 remains. What is it?
Answer:
Dozens
Tricky Riddles
Give your brain a workout with these mind bending riddles:
66. What can travel around the world while staying in a corner?
Answer:
A stamp.
67. What word begins and ends with an ‘E’ but only has one letter?
Answer:
Envelope.
68. Railroad crossing, watch out for cars. Can you spell that without any ‘R’s?
Answer:
T-H-A-T
69. Mary has 4 daughters, and each of her daughters has 1 brother. How many children does Mary have?
Answer:
5 – each daughter has the same 1 brother.
70. The more there is, the less you see. What is it?
Answer:
Darkness.
Funny Trick Questions
These riddles trick you with wordplay and double meanings:
71. What tastes better than it smells?
Answer:
A tongue.
72. What gets whiter the dirtier it gets?
Answer:
A chalkboard.
73. Where does Wednesday come before Tuesday?
Answer:
In the dictionary!
74. What has four wheels and flies?
Answer:
A garbage truck!
75. What starts with a T, ends with a T and has T in it?
Answer:
A teapot.
Math Riddles
Numbers and logic collide in these math riddles:
76. Two fathers and two sons sat down to eat eggs for breakfast. They ate exactly three eggs, each person had an egg. How?
Answer:
There was a grandfather, father and son.
77. What is 3/7 chicken, 2/3 cat and 2/4 goat?
Answer:
Chicago.
78. What occurs once in a minute, twice in a moment but never in one thousand years?
Answer:
The letter M.
79. A girl has as many brothers as sisters, but each brother has only half as many brothers as sisters. How many brothers and sisters are there in the family?
Answer:
Two sisters and one brother.
80. Add two to eleven and get one as the correct answer. How?
Answer:
XI + II = XIII
Short Hard Riddles
Don’t let the length fool you – these short riddles are surprisingly tough:
81. What word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?
Answer:
Short.
82. A man dressed in all black is walking down a country lane. Suddenly, a large black car without any lights on comes round the corner and screeches to a halt. How did the driver see the man?
Answer:
It was daylight.
83. What can you break without touching it?
Answer:
A promise.
84. I have branches, but no fruit, trunk or leaves. What am I?
Answer:
A bank.
85. What is black when you buy it, red when you use it and gray when you throw it away?
Answer:
Charcoal.
Random Riddles
These riddles cover a motley mix of topics – can you solve them?
86. What has a head, a tail, is brown, and has no legs?
Answer:
A penny.
87. Forward I am heavy, but backward I am not. What am I?
Answer:
Ton.
88. I am taken from a mine, and shut up in a wooden case, from which I am never released, and yet I am used by almost everybody. What am I?
Answer:
Lead pencil.
89. What is seen in the middle of March and April that can’t be seen at the beginning or end of either month?
Answer:
The letter R.
90. The more of this there is, the less you see. What is it?
Answer:
Darkness.
Hard to Solve Riddles
These riddles will really put your brain to the test:
91. What gets wet while drying?
Answer:
A towel.
92. What word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?
Answer:
Short.
93. Railroad crossing, watch out for cars. Can you spell that without any Rs?
Answer:
T-H-A-T.
94. What 5-letter word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?
Answer:
Short.
95. What belongs to you but other people use it more than you?
Answer:
Your name.
Clever Riddles
Stretch your wit with these ingenious riddles:
96. What building has the most stories?
Answer:
A library.
97. What has a head, a tail, is brown, and has no legs?
Answer:
A penny.
98. What has cities, but no houses; forests, but no trees; and water, but no fish?
Answer:
A map.
99. What word begins and ends with an E but only has one letter?
Answer:
Envelope.
