fun riddles
Welcome to Quiz questions with fun riddles for those who like clever word games and little brain teasers. Here you get two sets of quiz questions and answers that are perfect for playing alone, with friends or in the family. The questions mix classic riddles, clever logic questions and linguistic traps where you need to think one step further. The difficulty level is medium to hard, so you'll get both quick wins and things that require thought. Each question has a clear answer and a short explanation, so you can understand the reasoning straight away and learn the patterns behind it. This makes it an easy online quiz to come back to when you want to practice problem solving, laugh at unexpected solutions and challenge your own creativity.
What makes a riddle genuinely funny is often its ability to play with language and trick the brain into following the wrong path. A classic funny riddle relies on double meanings, homonyms (words that sound the same but mean different things) or metaphors that are interpreted literally. The question "Which old man do you never see in summer?" tricks us into thinking of people, when in fact the answer is 'the snowman'. The fun comes when we realise our mistake and see the simple, unexpected solution. It's a form of intellectual humour that rewards creative and lateral thinking, rather than just pure knowledge.
Riddles are also a great social activity that creates community and laughter. To pose a riddle to a group is to invite a collective thought process filled with wild guesses, absurd suggestions and lively discussions. The joy when someone in the group cracks the nut, or the collective groan when the simple answer is revealed, is part of the experience. It's less about competing and more about sharing a moment of playful mental gymnastics. Riddles serve as a perfect icebreaker and a way to socialise across generations, as logic and creativity are universal and require no specific prior knowledge.
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Round 1
What gets wetter the more you try to dry something with it?
Answer: A towel
A towel absorbs water when it is used. The more you dry it, the more moisture it collects and therefore gets wetter, even if the purpose is to make something else dry.
What can fill an entire room without taking up any space?
Answer: Light
Light spreads through the room, illuminating it without being an object that takes up volume. It can therefore fill a space without crowding out anything else.
What has many keys but cannot open a single door?
Answer: A piano
A piano has keys, often called keys. They are used to create notes, not to unlock anything, so no doors can be opened with them.
What walks around the whole yard but never moves from its place?
Answer: A fence
A fence can surround a yard and form a closed boundary. It is stuck in the same place and cannot go anywhere, even though it goes round the area.
What does an eye have but cannot see?
Answer: A needle
A needle has a hole called an eye, where thread can be threaded through. It is not a visual organ, so it cannot see anything.
What has a neck but no head?
Answer: One bottle
A bottle has a part called the neck, where the opening is. It has no head or body in the biological sense, as it is an object.
What do you have to break before you can use it?
Answer: An egg
To access the contents, the shell needs to be cracked. Only when the egg is cracked can it be used in cooking or baking.
What can you catch but never throw away?
Answer: A cold
A cold can be said to be caught by contagion. It is not a physical object, so it cannot be thrown away with one movement.
What gets bigger the more you take away from it?
Answer: A hole
When you remove material from the ground or an object, the void increases. Therefore, the hole gets bigger the more you dig or remove.
What has teeth but can't eat?
Answer: A comb
A comb has teeth that split the hair when combing. They are not biological teeth and therefore cannot chew or eat.
What can't talk but answers when you call?
Answer: An echo
An echo is a sound reflection that returns after the sound has bounced off surfaces. It sounds like a response, but it's just your own sound coming back.
What happens but can't clap?
Answer: A watch
An analogue watch has hands that are sometimes called hands. They move to show time, but they cannot grip or clap like real hands.
What can travel the world and still stay in one corner?
Answer: A postage stamp
A stamp is often placed in the corner of an envelope. The letter can travel a long way, but the stamp remains on the same envelope, in its corner.
What has legs but cannot walk?
Answer: One table
A table has legs that support the disc. The legs are part of the structure and cannot move on their own like living bones.
What can you hold in your left hand but never in your right?
Answer: Your right elbow
Your right elbow can be reached and held with your left hand. With your right hand, you cannot grasp your own right elbow in the same way.
What goes up but never comes down?
Answer: Your age
Age increases with time and does not go backwards. You may feel younger, but the actual age in years does not decrease.
What could be in front of you yet never reached?
Answer: Tomorrow
Tomorrow is always in the future when you think about it. By the time it arrives, it has become today, so you never reach tomorrow as something fixed.
What has many words but cannot speak?
Answer: A book
A book contains text with many words. It cannot speak by itself, but the words only become sound when someone reads them aloud.
What has a head and a tail but no body?
Answer: One coin
A coin has two sides often called the head and tail. It's just a metal disc, so it doesn't have a body like an animal.
What is light as a feather but impossible to keep for long?
Answer: The spirit
Holding your breath doesn't require weight, but your body needs oxygen. After a while, you have to breathe again, so you can't hold it for long.
What thing has four wheels and flies but is not a bird?
Answer: A refuse lorry
The term refers to flies that are often found around rubbish bins. The vehicle has four wheels and may have flies around it, but the car itself does not fly.
What thing goes up and down without moving?
Answer: A staircase
A staircase leads up and down between levels. It is stationary, but it allows people to move up and down.
What exists once in a minute, twice in an hour, but never in a day?
Answer: The letter M
The words minute and hour contain the letter M, but the word day does not. The riddle is about letters in words, not about measuring time.
What becomes easier to see the darker it gets?
Answer: Stars
When the sky darkens, the ambient light is reduced. This makes the stars' points of light more visible compared to a bright daytime sky.
Which word becomes shorter when you add two letters?
Answer: Short
Adding the letters a and r makes the word shorter. The riddle is based on a word game where the result describes length.
Let's test your maths knowledge
If you've read the article on the front page of Quizfragor, you know the answer.
Round 2
What can you see in the water but not in the mirror, according to a clever question?
Answer: The letter V
The word water contains the letter V, but the word mirror does not. It is a linguistic puzzle that compares letters in words.
What comes once a year, twice a week and never a day?
Answer: The letter R
The letter R is present in the word year twice in the phrase per year counted as the word, and in week it does not occur, while in day it is missing. The puzzle is based on letter counting in the words.
What can break just by being mentioned in a riddle?
Answer: Silence
When you say something, silence in the room ends. Therefore, silence can be broken by mentioning it or starting to talk.
What has a heart but no organs?
Answer: A deck of cards
In a deck of cards, there is the colour of hearts, often called a heart. It is a symbol, not a biological organ, and is found on playing cards.
What can you throw out when you want to keep it?
Answer: An anchor
When an anchor is dropped, you want the boat to stay put. The act of dropping the anchor is therefore used to maintain the position, not to get rid of something.
What has a lid but no box?
Answer: A rubbish bin
A waste bin may have a lid on top. It is a receptacle for waste and is not a box in the usual sense, although it can be opened and closed.
What one thing can't you eat for breakfast, but it can be on the table?
Answer: A plate
A plate is an object on which food is placed. It is not intended to be eaten, but it can be left on the table at breakfast.
What can you put on the table without touching it?
Answer: A shadow
A shadow can fall across the surface of the table when light is blocked. You place it without physical contact, as it is just the absence of light.
What can run but has no legs, in a typical word puzzle?
Answer: A river
A river is often described as flowing or running. It has no legs, but the water moves through the landscape in a current.
What can you hear but not touch, and it disappears quickly?
Answer: A sound
Sound is vibration that is perceived by the auditory system. You can't grasp it like an object, and it subsides when the energy is dissipated or stopped.
What has a back but no front?
Answer: A bookshelf
A bookcase has a back, often called a spine or back panel. It does not have a front in the same anatomical sense, but only an open front.
What can be opened but not closed, if you think practically?
Answer: A parachute
Once a parachute is deployed, it opens to slow the fall. During the jump itself, it does not close again, as function and safety require it to remain open.
Which number gets bigger when you turn it upside down?
Answer: 6
When the number 6 is turned upside down, it looks like 9. Because 9 is bigger than 6, the number becomes bigger after you turn it over.
What can be full yet lack content that weighs something?
Answer: A calendar
A calendar can be full of bookings and dates. It is about planning and information, not physical mass, so it can be full without containing things.
What can you unlock without a key but still keep closed?
Answer: A zip puller
A zip is opened by pulling the puller, not by key. The same mechanism can also close again, so it can be kept closed after being opened.
What can you read but it can't read you back?
Answer: A newspaper
A newspaper contains printed text that you can read. It is an unconscious object and therefore cannot read or react to the reader.
What has a mouth but cannot eat, and is often found in nature?
Answer: A cave
A cave mouth is often called mouth in figurative language. It is an opening in rock or ground and cannot eat, as it is not alive.
What can you always find at the front but never at the back?
Answer: The letter L
In the longest word, the letter L is at the beginning, but it is not at the end of the word. The puzzle is based on identifying the first and last letters.
What can you take from someone without touching them?
Answer: One photo
You can take a photo of someone from a distance. The person is not physically affected, but you get a picture of them through the camera or mobile phone.
What can be so fragile that it is destroyed by a single word?
Answer: A secret
A secret can be destroyed when it is revealed. Saying a word or a detail can be enough for the information to no longer be secret.
What is always between two people but cannot be seen?
Answer: Distance
Distance is the measure of separation between two points or people. It is an abstract quantity that can be measured, but it is not visible as an object.
What can stand still but still walk, in a common pun?
Answer: A watch
A clock can stand still if it stops, but the expression that the clock is running is used when it is working. The riddle utilises the double meaning of the verb go.
What one thing can you have in front of you every day but never own?
Answer: The future
The future is always ahead of the present in time. When it comes, it becomes the present, so it cannot be owned as something finished or permanent.
What can you write but never see unless you read it?
Answer: One thought
A thought can be formulated and written down, but it is invisible in itself. Only when it is expressed in text or speech does its content become perceptible.
Which thing is better when you share it with someone else?
Answer: Joy
Joy can be amplified when it is shared socially through stories or common experiences. It is a feeling that often increases in experience when more people participate.
