Time and clocks are a common theme in riddles due to their familiarity and the interesting ways they can be interpreted metaphorically. In this article, we have collected 75 of the best riddles about time and clocks, covering clever plays on words, lateral thinking puzzles, and fun brain teasers to entertain and challenge you.
Riddles have been used for centuries as a test of logic, wit and comprehension. The best riddles manage to be simple yet perplexing, posing thoughtful questions about the world around us. Riddles about time and clocks are especially intriguing because time is such an integral part of our lives. Clocks help us measure and keep track of time, creating order in our lives. Yet time itself remains a great mystery that scientists still struggle to fully understand.
In collecting these time and clock riddles, some common themes emerge:
- The puzzling nature of time itself and how we perceive its passage
- Different representations of time – clocks, hourglasses, calendars, etc
- Wordplay around temporal words like minute, second, day, etc
- Double meanings of phrases about time
- Literary and historical references involving time
While these riddles vary in difficulty, they all aim to make you think in novel ways. Can you decipher the tricky questions around time’s eternal flow? How quickly can you unravel the web of words around temporal themes? There’s only one way to find out – read on for 75 of our favorite time and clock riddles with answers!
Riddles
#1
What has hands but can’t clap?
A clock
#2
What goes up but never comes down?
Your age
#3
What gets wetter the more it dries?
A towel
#4
What has a face and two hands but no arms or legs?
A clock
#5
What can you catch but never throw?
A cold
#6
What gets broken without being held?
A promise
#7
What has a head and a tail but no body?
A coin
#8
What goes up and down but doesn’t move?
Stairs
#9
What has hands but can’t clap?
A clock
#10
What has four legs but can’t walk?
A table
#11
What room has no doors, no windows, no floor and no roof?
A mushroom
#12
What gets wetter as it dries?
A towel
#13
What has to be broken before it can be used?
An egg
#14
What goes up but never comes down?
Your age
#15
What can fill a room but takes up no space?
Light
#16
You see me once in June, twice in November and not at all in May. What am I?
The letter “e”
#17
What can you catch but not throw?
A cold
#18
I have cities but no houses, forests but no trees, water but no fish. What am I?
A map
#19
What goes up and never comes down?
Your age
#20
What gets wetter as it dries?
A towel
#21
What has hands but can’t clap?
A clock
#22
What has a head and a tail but no body?
A coin
#23
What goes up but never comes down?
Your age
#24
What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?
The letter “m”
#25
What belongs to you but is used more by others?
Your name
#26
What gets wetter as it dries?
A towel
#27
What goes through towns and hills but never moves?
A road
#28
What has needles but doesn’t sew?
A Christmas tree
#29
What has a thumb and four fingers but is not alive?
A glove
#30
What can you break but never touch?
A promise
#31
What goes up and down but doesn’t move?
Stairs
#32
What has a head, a tail, but no body?
A coin
#33
What has hands but can’t clap?
A clock
#34
What has words but never speaks?
A book
#35
What belongs to you but is used more by others?
Your name
#36
What is full of holes but still holds water?
A sponge
#37
What goes up and never comes down?
Your age
#38
What comes down but never goes up?
Rain
#39
I’m tall when I’m young and short when I’m old. What am I?
A candle
#40
What gets wetter as it dries?
A towel
#41
What can run but never walks, has a mouth but never talks, has a head but never weeps, has a bed but never sleeps?
A river
#42
What belongs to you but others use it more than you do?
Your name
#43
What goes up and down the stairs without moving?
The railing
#44
I have keys but no locks, space but no room, you can enter but can’t go outside. What am I?
A keyboard
#45
What has four fingers and a thumb, but is not living?
A glove
#46
What has a neck but no head?
A bottle
#47
What goes up and down but doesn’t move?
Stairs
#48
What has hands but can’t clap?
A clock
#49
What has a face but no head?
A clock
#50
What gets wetter as it dries?
A towel
#51
What has four fingers and a thumb but is not living?
A glove
#52
What has a bottom at the top?
Your legs
#53
What has hands but cannot clap?
A clock
#54
What has a tongue but cannot taste?
A shoe
#55
What says tick, tells time, but doesn’t have hands?
A clock tower
#56
Do you know what month of the year has 28 days?
All of them
#57
What is always coming but never arrives?
Tomorrow
#58
What belongs to you but others use it more than you do?
Your name
#59
I’m tall when I’m young, and I’m short when I’m old. What am I?
A candle
#60
What travels all around the world but stays in one corner?
A stamp
#61
Which word has no hands but tells time?
Clock
#62
What starts with ‘t’, ends with ‘t’ and has ‘t’ in it?
Teapot
#63
What falls but never breaks?
Night
#64
What has a face and two hands but no arms or legs?
A clock
#65
What breaks yet never falls and what falls yet never breaks?
Day breaks, and night falls
#66
I’m sometimes white and always wrong. What am I?
A clock that has stopped
#67
What goes up when rain comes down?
An umbrella
#68
What happens once in a minute, twice in a moment but never in thousand years?
The letter ‘M’
#69
The more you take away, the more I become. What am I?
A hole
#70
What can fly without wings?
Time
#71
What goes up but never comes down?
Your age
#72
I have a head and a tail but no body. What am I?
A coin
#73
I run but cannot walk. Wherever I go, thoughts follow close behind. What am I?
A nose
#74
What has four fingers and a thumb yet is not alive?
A glove
#75
What is always coming but never arrives?
Tomorrow
Conclusion
We hope you enjoyed this collection of time and clock riddles! Riddles are a fun way to challenge your mind and see the world in new ways. Solving riddles requires creative thinking as you work through various interpretations and double meanings. Riddles about time and clocks in particular force us to reflect on the curious nature of time itself.
While clocks create structure and order in our lives, time itself continues flowing at a constant rate, uninterrupted by the measuring devices we use to track it. The mental twists and turns induced by these riddles remind us that time remains an eternal mystery, ever-present yet just beyond our grasp. We can measure out our lives with coffee spoons and clock hands, but the true essence of time resides just outside our comprehension.
Next time you check the hour or feel time slipping away, remember these riddles and how they reveal the enigmas lurking within our numbered days. Time offers us both order and mystery – two threads intertwined in the fabric of reality. With focused awareness, may you appreciate each moment as a gift to be opened and explored before it vanishes into the past.
