Industry covers a wide range of human economic activity from manufacturing to services. Riddles about industry can help teach lessons and reveal insights into how the sector operates. Here are 69 riddles about different aspects of industry with their answers.
Riddles about Manufacturing
Manufacturing involves making products from raw materials. Here are some riddles about the processes and outputs of manufacturing.
1. What gets cut but still stays whole?
A cake. When a cake is sliced, it remains a full cake.
2. What has a neck but no head?
A bottle.
3. What jumps higher than a building?
Shadows. A shadow can be cast higher than the building it comes from as sunlight moves across the sky.
4. What goes up but never comes down?
Age. Your age always increases as time passes.
5. What has hands but can’t clap?
A clock.
6. What has a face but no eyes, hands but no arms, tells you the time but can’t speak?
A clock.
7. What has 13 hearts but no organs?
A deck of cards. Each card in a standard deck has a heart symbol.
8. What gets wetter the more it dries?
A towel.
9. What has a neck but no head and two arms but no hands?
A shirt.
10. What has a thumb and fingers but is not alive?
A glove.
11. What has a head, a tail, but never any legs?
A coin.
12. What has 88 keys but can’t open a single door?
A piano.
13. What has a ring but no finger?
A telephone.
14. What has hands but can’t clap?
A clock.
Riddles about Raw Materials
Here are some brainteasers about the raw materials used to manufacture goods.
15. Lighter than what I am made of, more of me is hidden than is seen.
An iceberg floating in water.
16. I’m tall when I’m young and short when I’m old. What am I?
A candle.
17. I can be cracked, made, told, and played. What am I?
A joke.
18. What belongs to you but is used more by others?
Your name.
19. Poor people have it. Rich people need it. If you eat it you die. What is it?
Nothing.
20. David’s father has three sons: Snap, Crackle, and what’s the name of the third son?
David.
21. What can you break, even if you never pick it up or touch it?
A promise.
22. I have cities but no houses, forests but no trees, water but no fish. What am I?
A map.
23. What is seen in the middle of March and April that can’t be seen at the beginning or end of either month?
The letter “r.”
24. What comes down but never goes up?
Rain.
25. What goes all around a backyard yet never moves?
A fence.
26. What has many keys but can’t open a single lock?
A piano.
27. What has a head and a tail but no body?
A coin.
28. What has four fingers and a thumb but is not alive?
A glove.
29. What has a neck but no head?
A bottle.
Riddles about Machines and Tools
Machinery and tools transform raw materials into finished goods. Here are some brainteasers about industrial equipment.
30. What has teeth but can’t bite?
A comb or gear.
31. What has a big mouth but never speaks?
A jar.
32. What screams and roars but doesn’t bite?
Machinery.
33. What tastes better than it smells?
A tongue/your tongue.
34. What kind of room has no doors or windows?
A mushroom.
35. What goes up and down without moving?
Stairs or an elevator/lift.
36. What has hands but can’t clap?
A clock.
37. What has a face but no eyes, hands but no arms, tells you the time but can’t speak?
A clock.
38. What gets wetter the more it dries?
A towel.
39. What has four wheels and flies?
A garbage truck.
40. What is full of holes but can still hold water?
A sponge.
Riddles about Factory Workers
People are vital to manufacturing. Here are some riddles about the workers who turn raw materials into products.
41. 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?
Nothing.
42. What is always behind you but can’t be seen?
The past.
43. The more you take away, the larger it becomes. What is it?
A hole.
44. What can travel around the whole way around the world while staying in a corner?
A stamp.
45. What goes up and never comes down?
Your age.
46. What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?
The letter M.
47. What belongs to you but is used more by others?
Your name.
48. What is broken every time it’s spoken?
Silence.
49. What is so fragile that saying its name breaks it?
Silence.
50. Feed me and I live, give me drink and I die. What am I?
Fire.
Riddles about Location
Geography and facilities are key considerations when establishing manufacturing operations. Here are some riddles about industrial locations.
51. What has cities but no houses, forests but no trees, and water but no fish?
A map.
52. What has keys but no locks and space but no room?
A keyboard.
53. Where does today come before yesterday?
In the dictionary.
54. What has many keys but can’t open a single lock?
A piano.
55. What has a thumb and fingers but is not alive?
A glove.
56. What has a head, a tail, but never any legs?
A coin.
57. What has four fingers and a thumb but is not living?
A glove.
58. What has one eye but can’t see?
A needle.
59. What has an eye but cannot see?
A needle.
60. What has a neck but no head?
A bottle.
Riddles about Transportation
Moving materials, inventory, and products is a key logistical issue for manufacturers. Here are some brainteasers about transport.
61. What has four wheels and flies?
A garbage truck.
62. What wears clothes but has no body?
A hanger.
63. What goes up and down but doesn’t move?
Stairs or an escalator.
64. What has four wheels and flies?
A garbage truck.
65. What has a face but no eyes, hands but no arms, tells you the time but can’t speak?
A clock.
66. What has a bed but never sleeps and runs but never walks?
A river.
67. What tastes better than it smells?
A tongue.
68. What belongs to you but others use it more than you do?
Your name.
69. What gets wetter as it dries?
A towel.
Conclusion
Riddles can teach useful lessons about industry in an engaging way. Manufacturing, raw materials, machines, workers, locations, logistics, and other facets of the sector can be explored through brainteasers. Solving riddles requires logical thinking and deeper understanding just as operating successfully in industry does. These 69 riddles cover a range of industrial topics while providing fun through wordplay and puzzled clues leading to often surprising answers.
