The moon has fascinated humankind since the beginning of time. Its changing phases and mysterious nature have inspired stories, myths, poetry, and riddles throughout the ages. Riddles encourage us to think creatively and see the moon through new eyes. Here are 85 riddles about the moon with answers to challenge your mind.
Moon Riddles for Kids
These easy riddles are perfect for getting young minds thinking about the moon.
Riddle 1
Sometimes it’s big and bright, sometimes it’s just a sliver of light. What is it?
Answer: The moon
Riddle 2
I come out at night when the sun goes away. I’m white and round and sometimes crescent shaped. What am I?
Answer: The moon
Riddle 3
You can see me at night, but I’m not the stars. I am round, sometimes half, and you see my face. What am I?
Answer: The moon
Riddle 4
I light up the sky next to stars above, I change my shape right before your eyes. What am I?
Answer: The moon
Riddle 5
In the sky I’m bright and white, you see me gleam most every night. As days go by I change my phase, my crescent shape you often gaze. What am I?
Answer: The moon
Science Moon Riddles
These riddles focus on the moon’s scientific properties and phenomena.
Riddle 1
I exert a gravitational pull, but have no life of my own. I’m bone dry, yet markings called “seas” are known. What am I?
Answer: The moon
Riddle 2
I’m not a planet, but I orbit around Earth. I light up the night sky, though I don’t shine on my own. As days pass, my phases change for all to see. What celestial body am I?
Answer: The moon
Riddle 3
Though you might feel my gravitational tug, huge oceans I do not hug. I light up the night with my bright, reflected light. What am I?
Answer: The moon
Riddle 4
I’m Earth’s only natural satellite, locked in a dance, circling at an average rate. Though airless, cratered, and dry, amazing sights fill my sky. What am I?
Answer: The moon
Riddle 5
As the Earth makes one full turn, I orbit and phase, though not round and round. My pull causes ocean tides, as I light up nights with my shine. What am I?
Answer: The moon
Mythology Moon Riddles
Myths from around the world feature the moon. See if you can guess these moon riddles inspired by mythology.
Riddle 1
Some say in a chariot I ride, silver horns on my head with pride. In crescent shape you see me glow when sunset colors fill the sky below. Who am I?
Answer: The moon goddess Artemis or Diana
Riddle 2
The Inuit goddess who rules the tides, marine animals, and the weather. It’s said that I live in the sky and control the moon. Who am I?
Answer: Sedna
Riddle 3
I’m the Maya moon goddess who weaves cloth by candlelight, as she wanes and waxes bright. Who am I?
Answer: Ixchel
Riddle 4
The daughter of Māui in a Hawaiian myth, I was killed but now light up the night. Who am I?
Answer: Hina
Riddle 5
In legends of Japan I’m from the sky, dipping to Earth in a bamboo disguise. Konohanasakuya-hime is my name, radiant goddess of the moon is my claim to fame. Who am I?
Answer: Konohanasakuya-hime
Poetic Moon Riddles
These lyrical riddles poetically describe the moon and its magic.
Riddle 1
Floating on high, glowing pearl in the sky, pulling the tides with invisible strings. Bright silvery light piercing velvet night. What am I?
Answer: The moon
Riddle 2
Goddess of night, ruler of tides, your silver face lights up starry skies. Wax and wane, shine and fade, mysteries of space your phases made. What are you?
Answer: The moon
Riddle 3
Night’s shining jewel, on black velvet you rest. Your craters and mountains in moonbeams are dressed. Around Earth you orbit, her loyal bright mate, reflecting the sun through day and night’s gate. What are you?
Answer: The moon
Riddle 4
Floating lantern in midnight sky, watching half your face go by. Pulling oceans to and fro, your lunar secrets few will know. What are you?
Answer: The moon
Riddle 5
Majestic orb aglow in the dark, seas and highlands mark your stark. Gray cratered face we love to see, shining down mysteriously. What are you?
Answer: The moon
General Moon Riddles
These are some all-purpose moon riddles that describe it in poetic, scientific, and fun ways.
Riddle 1
What waxes and wanes but isn’t just for your ears?
Answer: The moon
Riddle 2
It controls the tides but isn’t an aquatic animal. What is it?
Answer: The moon
Riddle 3
It lights up the night but isn’t an artificial light. What is it?
Answer: The moon
Riddle 4
It has phases like the tides but isn’t an ocean. What is it?
Answer: The moon
Riddle 5
It isn’t a star but shines bright in the sky. What is it?
Answer: The moon
Riddle 6
Not a planet, it still has an orbit. What is it?
Answer: The moon
Riddle 7
It rules the night but isn’t a vampire. What is it?
Answer: The moon
Riddle 8
Floating in the sky with craters and hills, it exerts a gravitational pull but never lives. What is it?
Answer: The moon
Riddle 9
Not a sun, though bright it beams. Wax and wane in a cycle it seems. What is it?
Answer: The moon
Riddle 10
It circles the Earth and goes through phases, watching down on us mysterious with moonlit gazes. What is it?
Answer: The moon
Funny Moon Riddles
Laugh your way to moon knowledge with these silly and humorous riddles.
Riddle 1
Why did the moon get a haircut?
Answer: It needed to get trimmed!
Riddle 2
What do you call a moon that isn’t yours?
Answer: A nacho moon!
Riddle 3
How does the moon cut his hair?
Answer: Eclipse it!
Riddle 4
Why did the cow jump over the moon?
Answer: Because the farmer had cold hands!
Riddle 5
What did the astronaut say when he stepped on the moon?
Answer: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for moon kind!”
Riddle 6
Why don’t moon rocks make good pets?
Answer: They’re too rocky!
Riddle 7
What kind of cheese is made on the moon?
Answer: Moon cheese!
Riddle 8
What do you call a moon that can’t keep a secret?
Answer: A blabber moon!
Riddle 9
Why did the moon get arrested?
Answer: It was caught with illegal craters!
Riddle 10
Why don’t the moon and sun ever go on vacation together?
Answer: They need some space!
Moon Phases Riddles
The moon’s phases have inspired riddles galore. See if you know the moon phase described in each riddle.
Riddle 1
Just a thin sliver, a silver blade, shining brightly amid the starry night parade.
Answer: Waxing crescent moon
Riddle 2
Half of my face glows bright, the other is draped in night. As days go by I’ll continue to grow, until full illumination you’ll know.
Answer: First quarter moon
Riddle 3
Perfectly round like a luminous ball, my full silver face shines on one and all.
Answer: Full moon
Riddle 4
More than half but not yet full, my visage wanes as days pull. Until just a sliver remains, and the phase cycle starts again.
Answer: Waning gibbous moon
Riddle 5
Half in light and half in shadow, the line between glow and darkness grows.
Answer: Last quarter moon
Riddle 6
Just a curved sliver so thin, a new phase cycle to begin. Darkness covers all between, waning crescent is the scene.
Answer: Waning crescent moon
Riddle 7
Almost new, a fresh rebirth, as the phase cycle starts again on Earth.
Answer: New moon
Moon Event Riddles
Eclipses, supermoons, and other moon events also provide riddle inspiration.
Riddle 1
An eclipse will darken my bright face, as into Earth’s shadow I trace. This astronomical event’s name seems quite odd – it’s the moon version of God.
Answer: Lunar eclipse
Riddle 2
When sun, moon and Earth align, a wondrous event you’ll find. The moon in Earth’s shadow will go, and reddish from sunsets its face will glow.
Answer: Lunar eclipse
Riddle 3
Not a werewolf deterrent, this moon gleams bright and big. It orbits closest to Earth on its elliptic rig.
Answer: Supermoon
Riddle 4
The moon, sun and Earth are all in line, with the moon opposite the sun’s shine. A shadow obscures the moon from view, in Earth’s umbra the moon passes through.
Answer: Lunar eclipse
Riddle 5
Twice yearly I bring a stunning sight, as the moon turns reddish in Earth’s shadow night. A perfect alignment you need of three, to see a lunar eclipse and awe like me.
Answer: Lunar eclipse
Riddle 6
An eclipse obscures me from your sight, as into Earth’s shadow I trace my plight. But just part is shaded when this event occurs, not totally like my lunar pair obscures.
Answer: Partial solar eclipse
Riddle 7
You better rush out to see this special event, when the moon is biggest, brightest and closest it’s been. This perigee syzygy is really quite nice, hobby astronomers call it by a different name though, what is it?
Answer: Supermoon
Moon Observation Riddles
See if you can identify these moon sights from riddling descriptions.
Riddle 1
When the moon passes through Earth’s shadow, I’m the reddish color it gains. What am I?
Answer: A blood moon
Riddle 2
Some call me a matchmaker’s delight, when moon pair up for a glowing night. What am I?
Answer: A blue moon (two full moons in one month)
Riddle 3
I’m a second full moon in a single calendar month, a naming tradition that began ages back. What am I?
Answer: A blue moon
Riddle 4
When sunlight reflects just right off the moon, I give a colorful flash soon after noon. If moon viewers catch my bright hue, they know an eclipse will soon block the view.
Answer: A moon dog
Riddle 5
Some know me as an omen of good or of ill, others say I’m an eclipse precursor still. If sunlight reflects through ice crystals just right, I’ll bring prismatic flashes of rainbow light.
Answer: A moon dog
Riddle 6
When sunlight hits just-right through high clouds near the moon, bright rings and spots around it are seen soon. Catch my colorful rings before the sun sinks low, and a lunar eclipse approaches, this you can know.
Answer: Lunar corona
Riddle 7
I’m an optical illusion some nights with the moon, a giant version there of me you see soon. Caused by ice crystals in the upper atmosphere, refracting moonlight creates my appearance.
Answer: Moon pillar
Astronomy Moon Riddles
How’s your astronomy knowledge? Test it out with these moon and space riddles.
Riddle 1
We each orbit a planet, locked in its sway. Though we’re both moons, different names people say. I orbit Mars and he orbits Earth. Who are we?
Answer: Phobos and the moon
Riddle 2
I’m the dusty gray moon of the planet Mars, irregularly shaped and full of scars. Olympus Mons I proudly host, solar system’s largest volcano can boast. What am I?
Answer: Mars’s moon Deimos
Riddle 3
Pitted with craters and bone dry terrain, around Mars I orbit in an uneven plane. Larger than my orbital brother, we’re named for figures in Greek mythos – who are we?
Answer: Phobos and Deimos – moons of Mars
Riddle 4
I’m a Jupiter moon, the first of four. My name means seer, prophet or soothsayer. Who am I?
Answer: Io – Jupiter’s innermost moon
Riddle 5
Orbiting Jupiter, many moons are known. I’m the largest, in size the fifth largest shown. Up close I look like an eye, so mythic Zeus’s consort is who I’m named by. Who am I?
Answer: Jupiter’s moon Callisto
Riddle 6
I’m the reddish moon of Mars that’s potato-like shaped. Smaller than Earth but bigger than my brother, centuries of asteroid hits my surface has scraped. What moon am I?
Answer: Phobos
Riddle 7
I’m one of many moons in the Jupiter mix, though I stand out with white ice and low density. Zeus is my namesake and lightning my sign, in cosmic fables I’m quite the design! What Jupiter moon am I?
Answer: Ganymede
Moon Pop Culture Riddles
These riddles describe moon references from movies, songs, and books – do you know them all?
Riddle 1
In the children’s classic by Margaret Wise Brown, bunnies use me as a place to sleep sound.
Answer: Goodnight Moon
Riddle 2
In the nursery rhyme, a bovine makes an acrobatic jump over me, such a silly antic.
Answer: Hey Diddle Diddle (the cow jumped over the moon)
Riddle 3
Neil Armstrong walked on me in ’69, letting out words with “one small step” in the line.
Answer: The moon
Riddle 4
Pink Floyd, Creedence, and The Police have sung songs about me, I’m a prime subject for their melodies.
Answer: The moon
Riddle 5
In this sci-fi classic, artificial intelligence HAL 9000 turns against the crew near Jupiter and its moons.
Answer: 2001: A Space Odyssey
Riddle 6
A kingdom on the moon features in this French satirical novel, where fanciful beasts reside in each crater and valley.
Answer: The Man in the Moone/The Man in the Moon by Francis Godwin
Riddle 7
In the Star Wars tale, the forest moon of Endor is home to Ewoks and the shield generator target. What movie is this from the sci-fi sage?
Answer: Return of the Jedi
Moon and Tides Riddles
The moon and ocean tides are an interlinked pair. See if you can rise to the challenge of these related riddles.
Riddle 1
The moon’s gravity pulls me high, then drops me low, predictable cycles in an ebb and flow.
Answer: The tides
Riddle 2
I exert a gravitational force, influencing ocean waves in their course. My phases and position control the tides – without me they just wouldn’t abide!
Answer: The moon
Riddle 3
The alignment of sun, moon and Earth brings the most dramatic sight – ocean tides are at their peak height.
Answer: Perigee spring tides
Riddle 4
Converging tidal bulges these tides display, when Earth, moon and sun align straightaway.
Answer: Spring tides
Riddle 5
Twice monthly the moon and sun form a right angle to Earth, diminishing the tides is this lunar position’s worth.
Answer: Neap tides
Riddle 6
The difference between high and low tide yields this result, an important number ports need for ship support.
Answer: Tidal range
Riddle 7
The periodic rise and fall of oceans I bring. Gravitational forces make me swing. What am I?
Answer: The tides
Conclusion
The moon’s beauty, mystery and magic have inspired imagination and creativity for ages. Its various phases and influence on Earth gives it an enduring air of fascination. We hope these moon riddles have provided some fun food for thought and expanded your appreciation of Earth’s only natural satellite. Keep gazing at the night sky and discovering moon wonders both known and yet to be revealed!
