Hearing is one of our key senses that allows us to experience the world around us. Riddles about hearing provide an entertaining way to challenge our auditory perception and interpretation. In this article, we have collected 71 riddles that play with the sense of hearing. The riddles involve phrases that sound similar, rhyming words, homophones, and more. Read on for some head-scratching hearing riddles with answers!
Riddles about Sounds and Listening
These riddles play with the sounds we hear and how we interpret them.
Riddle 1
I don’t have eyes, but once I did see. Once I had a tongue, but now I’m mute. What am I?
Answer: A bell
Riddle 2
People make me, save me, change me, raise me. What am I?
Answer: Money (sounds like “money”)
Riddle 3
What 5-letter word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?
Answer: Short (shorter)
Riddle 4
Mary’s father has 5 daughters – Nana, Nene, Nini, Nono. What is the fifth daughters name?
Answer: Mary
Riddle 5
What word looks the same backward and upside down?
Answer: SWIMS
Riddle 6
What word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?
Answer: Short
Riddle 7
What occurs once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?
Answer: The letter M
Riddle 8
What 5-letter word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?
Answer: Short
Riddle 9
People buy me to eat, but never eat me. What am I?
Answer: Plates
Riddle 10
What belongs to you but is used more by others?
Answer: Your name
Rhyming Riddles
These riddles rhyme or involve rhyming words.
Riddle 11
What gets wetter the more it dries?
Answer: A towel
Riddle 12
What has many keys but can’t open a single lock?
Answer: A piano
Riddle 13
I’m tall when I’m young and short when I’m old. What am I?
Answer: A candle
Riddle 14
What goes up and down without moving?
Answer: Stairs
Riddle 15
What gets broken without being held?
Answer: A promise
Riddle 16
I have lakes with no water, mountains with no stone, and cities with no buildings. What am I?
Answer: A map
Riddle 17
What can you break without touching it?
Answer: A promise
Riddle 18
What has a head and a tail but no body?
Answer: A coin
Riddle 19
What has words but never speaks?
Answer: A book
Riddle 20
What has a neck but no head?
Answer: A bottle
Homophone Riddles
These riddles use words that sound the same but have different meanings.
Riddle 21
What is it that you will break even when you name it?
Answer: Silence
Riddle 22
What goes up but never comes down?
Answer: Your age
Riddle 23
The more you take away, the more I become. What am I?
Answer: A hole
Riddle 24
What can run but not walk?
Answer: Water
Riddle 25
What is broken every time it’s spoken?
Answer: Silence
Riddle 26
What is so fragile that saying its name breaks it?
Answer: Silence
Riddle 27
I am not alive but I grow; I don’t have lungs but I need air; I don’t have a mouth but water kills me. What am I?
Answer: Fire
Riddle 28
What has hands but can’t clap?
Answer: A clock
Riddle 29
What has a head, a tail, but no body?
Answer: A coin
Riddle 30
What has four legs but can’t walk?
Answer: A table
Double Meaning Riddles
These riddles involve words or phrases with double meanings.
Riddle 31
The more you take, the more you leave behind. What are they?
Answer: Footsteps
Riddle 32
What gets broken without being held?
Answer: A promise
Riddle 33
What goes through towns and over hills but never moves?
Answer: A road
Riddle 34
What has a head and a tail but no body?
Answer: A coin
Riddle 35
What can fill a room but takes up no space?
Answer: Light
Riddle 36
What gets wetter as it dries?
Answer: A towel
Riddle 37
Mary’s father has 5 daughters – Nana, Nene, Nini, Nono. What is the fifth daughters name?
Answer: Mary
Riddle 38
What can you catch but not throw?
Answer: A cold
Riddle 39
What goes up but never comes down?
Answer: Your age
Riddle 40
What gets wetter the more it dries?
Answer: A towel
Phrase Riddles
These riddles involve common phrases that have double meanings.
Riddle 41
What’s black and white and red all over?
Answer: A newspaper
Riddle 42
What’s always coming but never arrives?
Answer: Tomorrow
Riddle 43
You throw away the outside and cook the inside. Then you eat the outside and throw away the inside. What is it?
Answer: Corn on the cob
Riddle 44
What belongs to you but others use it more than you do?
Answer: Your name
Riddle 45
What goes through towns and over hills but never moves?
Answer: A road
Riddle 46
People buy me to eat, but never eat me. What am I?
Answer: Plates
Riddle 47
What building has the most stories?
Answer: The library
Riddle 48
What has words but never speaks?
Answer: A book
Riddle 49
What has a head and a tail but no body?
Answer: A coin
Riddle 50
What goes all around the yard without moving?
Answer: A fence
Funny Riddles
Here are some funny and silly riddles that play with sounds.
Riddle 51
What do you call a pig that knows karate?
Answer: A pork chop!
Riddle 52
What do you call a dog magician?
Answer: A labracadabrador!
Riddle 53
Where do polar bears vote?
Answer: The North Poll!
Riddle 54
Why is England the wettest country?
Answer: Because the queen has reigned there for years!
Riddle 55
Why can’t your nose be 12 inches long?
Answer: Because then it would be a foot!
Riddle 56
What do you call a fake noodle?
Answer: An impasta!
Riddle 57
Want to hear a joke about construction?
Answer: I’m still working on it!
Riddle 58
Why couldn’t the bicycle stand up by itself?
Answer: It was two tired!
Riddle 59
What do you call a country where everyone drives a red car?
Answer: A red carnation!
Riddle 60
Why don’t eggs tell jokes?
Answer: They’d crack each other up!
Tricky Sound Riddles
These riddles play with how things sound out loud.
Riddle 61
What word would you use to describe a man who does not have all his fingers on one hand?
Answer: Normal
Riddle 62
What starts with “e”, ends with “e”, and only contains one letter?
Answer: An envelope
Riddle 63
I have a head like a cat. I have feet like a cat, but I am not a cat. What am I?
Answer: A kitten
Riddle 64
What occurs once in a minute, twice in a moment but never in a thousand years?
Answer: The letter M
Riddle 65
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 66
What goes up when the rain comes down?
Answer: An umbrella
Riddle 67
What building has the most stories?
Answer: The library
Riddle 68
What has a thumb and fingers but is not alive?
Answer: A glove
Riddle 69
What has a head, a tail, is brown, and has no legs?
Answer: A penny
Riddle 70
What is so fragile that saying its name breaks it?
Answer: Silence
Conclusion
Riddle 71
We’re five little items of an everyday sort; you’ll find us all in a tennis court
Answer: Vowels A E I O U
Did you get stumped by any of these riddles? The English language is full of words that sound alike, rhyme, or have double meanings. These riddles highlight just how tricky hearing and listening can be! Let us know which riddle was the most challenging. Riddles are not only fun to solve, but also strengthen critical thinking skills. Next time you want to give your ears a workout, try sharing these hearing riddles with friends and family!
