English can be a tricky language to master with its complex grammar rules, multitudes of exceptions, and words that are spelled similarly but have different meanings. Riddles offer an entertaining way to test your English language skills and expand your vocabulary. In this article, we have compiled 71 riddles about the English language along with their answers. The riddles range from easy to more challenging, covering topics like homonyms, idioms, grammar, and more. Solving these riddles requires careful thinking and a good grasp of the nuances of English. Let’s jump right in and see how many you can get right!
Homonym Riddles
Homonyms are words that sound the same but have different meanings and often different spellings. These riddles play with those double meanings.
Riddle 1
What five-letter word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?
Answer: Short. Adding two letters makes it “shorter”.
Riddle 2
The more there is, the less you see. What is it?
Answer: Darkness.
Riddle 3
What can travel around the world while staying in a corner?
Answer: A stamp.
Riddle 4
What belongs to you but is used more by others?
Answer: Your name.
Riddle 5
I have cities but no houses, forests but no trees, and water but no fish. What am I?
Answer: A map.
Riddle 6
What is broken every time it’s spoken?
Answer: Silence.
Riddle 7
What can you catch but not throw?
Answer: A cold.
Riddle 8
I’m tall when I’m young and short when I’m old. What am I?
Answer: A candle.
Riddle 9
What starts with “e” and ends with “e” but only has one letter?
Answer: An envelope.
Riddle 10
The more you take away, the larger I become. What am I?
Answer: A hole.
Idiom Riddles
Idioms are common phrases that don’t always mean what the individual words literally say. You have to understand the figurative meaning behind the words. These riddles play with the double meanings of idioms.
Riddle 11
I’m light as a feather but hard to hold for more than a minute. What am I?
Answer: Your breath.
Riddle 12
People buy me to eat but never eat me. What am I?
Answer: A plate.
Riddle 13
What gets wetter the more it dries?
Answer: A towel.
Riddle 14
I have a head and a tail but no body. What am I?
Answer: A coin.
Riddle 15
You throw away the outside, cook the inside, then eat the outside and throw away the inside. What is it?
Answer: Corn on the cob.
Riddle 16
What building has the most stories?
Answer: The library.
Riddle 17
I’m full of keys but can’t open a single lock. What am I?
Answer: A piano.
Riddle 18
What has hands but can’t clap?
Answer: A clock.
Riddle 19
What has a head, a tail, but no body?
Answer: A coin.
Riddle 20
What goes up but never comes down?
Answer: Your age.
Grammar Riddles
How well do you know English grammar rules? These riddles test your knowledge of parts of speech, sentence structure, punctuation, and more.
Riddle 21
What starts with T, ends with T, and has T in it?
Answer: A teapot.
Riddle 22
What two keys can’t open any door?
Answer: Monkey and donkey.
Riddle 23
What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?
Answer: The letter M.
Riddle 24
If you have me, you want to share me. If you share me, you haven’t got me. What am I?
Answer: A secret.
Riddle 25
What belongs to you but other people use it more than you?
Answer: Your name.
Riddle 26
People buy me to eat but never eat me. What am I?
Answer: A plate.
Riddle 27
The more of this there is, the less you see. What is it?
Answer: Darkness.
Riddle 28
What is so fragile that saying its name breaks it?
Answer: Silence.
Riddle 29
What building has the most stories?
Answer: The library.
Riddle 30
What is full of holes but still holds water?
Answer: A sponge.
Vocabulary Riddles
How expansive is your vocabulary? These riddles rely on the precise meanings of words.
Riddle 31
What is the beginning of eternity, the end of time and space, the beginning of the end and the end of every place?
Answer: The letter E.
Riddle 32
What is something you will never see again?
Answer: Yesterday.
Riddle 33
The maker doesn’t need it, the buyer doesn’t use it, and the user doesn’t see it. What is it?
Answer: A coffin.
Riddle 34
What goes up and down but does not move?
Answer: Stairs.
Riddle 35
What can travel all around the world without leaving its corner?
Answer: A postage stamp.
Riddle 36
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.
Riddle 37
The more there is, the less you see. What is it?
Answer: Darkness.
Riddle 38
What can run but not walk?
Answer: Water.
Riddle 39
What turns everything around but does not move?
Answer: A mirror.
Riddle 40
What is broken every time it’s spoken?
Answer: Silence.
Rhyming Riddles
Rhyming riddles have a playful, poetic quality to them. The rhyme can serve as a clue or just make the riddle more fun to solve.
Riddle 41
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.
Riddle 42
I run over fields and woods all day. Under the bed at night I sit not alone. My tongue hangs out, up and to the rear, awaiting to be filled in the morning. What am I?
Answer: A shoe.
Riddle 43
Tear one off and scratch my head; what was once red is black instead. What am I?
Answer: A match.
Riddle 44
What has roots that nobody sees, is taller than trees; up, up it goes and yet never grows?
Answer: A mountain.
Riddle 45
Thirty white horses on a red hill. First they champ, then they stamp, then they stand still. What are they?
Answer: Teeth.
Riddle 46
I’m sometimes white and always wrong. What am I?
Answer: A mistake.
Riddle 47
Glittering points that downward thrust, sparkling spears that never rust. What am I?
Answer: Icicles.
Riddle 48
As light as a feather, yet no man can hold me long. What am I?
Answer: Breath.
Riddle 49
First you eat me, then you get eaten. What am I?
Answer: Corn.
Riddle 50
The more you take, the more you leave behind. What are they?
Answer: Footsteps.
Tricky Riddles
These tricky riddles will really put your English skills to the test. Think carefully about the exact meaning of each word to solve the riddle.
Riddle 51
What is easy to get into but hard to get out of?
Answer: Trouble.
Riddle 52
I have branches but no fruit, trunk but no roots. What am I?
Answer: A bank.
Riddle 53
What begins with T, ends with T, and has T in it?
Answer: A teapot.
Riddle 54
The more you take away, the larger I become. What am I?
Answer: A hole.
Riddle 55
What 4-letter word can be written forward, backward or upside down and still be read from left to right?
Answer: NOON.
Riddle 56
I have keys but no locks, and space but no rooms. What am I?
Answer: A keyboard.
Riddle 57
What has a head, a tail, but no body?
Answer: A coin.
Riddle 58
What starts with an “e” and ends with an “e” but only contains one letter?
Answer: An envelope.
Riddle 59
The more of this there is, the less you see. What is it?
Answer: Darkness.
Riddle 60
Mary’s father has 5 daughters – Nana, Nene, Nini, Nono. What is the fifth daughters name?
Answer: Mary.
Riddle 61
I’m tall when I’m young and short when I’m old. What am I?
Answer: A candle.
Riddle 62
What is always coming but never arrives?
Answer: Tomorrow.
Riddle 63
The more there is, the less you see. What is it?
Answer: Darkness.
Riddle 64
What gets wetter as it dries?
Answer: A towel.
Riddle 65
What can you break, even if you never pick it up or touch it?
Answer: A promise.
Word Play Riddles
These riddles play with the sounds and spellings of words in clever ways. Puns, rhymes and letter games make these riddles entertaining.
Riddle 66
What 5-letter word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?
Answer: Short.
Riddle 67
A word I know, six letters it contains, remove one letter and 12 remains. What is it?
Answer: Dozens.
Riddle 68
What’s 3/7 chicken, 2/3 cat and 2/4 goat?
Answer: Chicago.
Riddle 69
What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?
Answer: The letter M.
Riddle 70
Two in a corner, one in a room, zero in a house, but one in a shelter. What am I?
Answer: The letter R.
Riddle 71
What word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?
Answer: Short.
Conclusion
How did you do with these riddles? English can be perplexing, but solving riddles is an entertaining way to work your linguistic muscles. Did you get stumped or were the answers glaringly obvious? Either way, riddles are an engaging brain teaser for all ages. They encourage you to think logically, use context clues, and understand the finer shades of meaning in the English language. The next time you want to exercise your intellect while having some fun, try more riddles!
