Do you love riddles that make you pause, think, then smile? These are the tricky riddles — ones that aren’t obvious, even though they seem simple.
This article gives you six different styles of tricky riddles, each with ten puzzles + emojis + answers. You can try them alone, with friends, or family.
By the end, you’ll feel like a riddle master!
Wordplay & Double-Meaning Riddles
- 🍫 I have keys but no locks. I have space but no room. You can enter but can’t go outside. What am I? → A keyboard
- 🎩 What has hands but can’t clap? → A clock
- 🗣 What begins with “t”, ends with “t”, and has “t” in it? → A teapot
- 🍁 What has many leaves but is not a tree? → A book
- 🔤 What gets shorter when you add two letters to it? → Short
- 💬 If you speak my name, I disappear. What am I? → Silence
- 🚪 What can’t be used unless it’s broken? → An egg
- 🐝 What’s black and white and read all over? → A newspaper
- 🎯 What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years? → The letter “M”
- 🧩 What flies without wings and cries without eyes? → A cloud
Logical & Math-Twist Riddles
- 🪜 The more you take, the more you leave behind. What am I? → Footsteps
- 🧮 What is always coming but never arrives? → Tomorrow
- ⚖️ If two’s company and three’s a crowd, what are four and five? → Nine
- 💰 What number do you get when you divide 30 by ½ and then add 10? → 70
- 🕒 What runs, but never walks; has a bed, but never sleeps; has a mouth, but never talks? → A river
- 🧠 Two fathers and two sons went fishing. They caught three fish, each person got one fish. How? → They were grandfather, father, and son
- 🔢 How many letters are in the English alphabet? → 18 in “the English alphabet” (the phrase count)
- 🌙 What has a head, a tail, is brown, and has no legs? → A penny / coin
- 💡 What goes up but never comes down? → Your age
- 🧃 If there are six eggs in a basket, and six people each take one, how is one egg left? → The last person took the basket with the egg inside
Visual & Spatial Riddles
- 👀 You walk into a room and see three light bulbs, all off. Outside the room are three switches. You can turn switches as you like, go inside once, and must figure which switch is which bulb. How? → Turn on one switch, leave another on for a while, then off, feel them for warmth, etc.
- 🪜 A ladder 8 feet long leans against a wall. If the water under the wall rises 4 feet, how much of the ladder remains above water? → Still as much as before – the ladder moves with water
- 🪞 You see a face in a mirror but can’t see your own head. How? → Picture is cut at head
- 🌳 Among many trees, one shadow moves differently. What’s wrong? → That tree is actually behind a fence
- 🧩 When squares overlap, new shapes appear. What did you notice first? → The intersection
- 🎠 You ride a carousel and see yourself moving backward. Why? → Mirror in the middle
- ⏰ You look at a broken clock correct twice a day. What time is it now? → Matches one of the two correct times
- 🛋 A room with only one sofa facing the wall. You sit, see the wall but someone behind you takes your shadow. How? → Light behind you
- 🔍 Many dots draw a picture only when you look from far. What is it? → Pointillism
- 🧱 Bricks are arranged in a pattern; one is colored differently but blends in. What did you see first? → The odd‐one‐out
What’s Wrong / Impossible Riddles
- 🐸 A frog with a fish tail. What’s wrong? → Frog doesn’t have a fish tail
- 🧊 Ice cube floating on fire. What’s wrong? → Fire burns ice
- 🐘 Elephant with ears as small as a mouse. What’s wrong? → Ear size mismatch
- 🕰 Clock with 13 hours. What’s wrong? → Clocks have 12 hours
- 🍕 Pizza slice is square. What’s wrong? → Slice shape wrong
- 🚪 Door floating in sky. What’s wrong? → Doors need walls to exist
- 🐕 Dog with zebra stripes. What’s wrong? → Wrong animal pattern
- 🧁 Cupcake in a bowl of soup. What’s wrong? → Wrong placing
- 🌲 Tree growing upside-down. What’s wrong? → Roots in sky
- 🐧 Penguin in desert. What’s wrong? → Penguin doesn’t live in desert
Funny & Trick Questions
- 🐔 Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side. (It’s funny because it sounds serious)
- 💬 What gets wetter as it dries? → A towel
- 🐠 What can you catch but not throw? → A cold
- 🌈 Why is six afraid of seven? → Because seven eight (ate) nine
- 👻 What has a head but no brain? → A pillow
- 🎈 What goes up but never comes down? → Your age
- 🦆 What has feathers but can’t fly? → A penguin
- 🐷 What do you call a pig that does karate? → Pork chop
- 📚 What kind of room has no doors or windows? → A mushroom
- 🕵️ What question can you never answer “yes” to? → Are you asleep?
Tips to Solve Tricky Riddles Better
- Read the riddle slowly. Pay attention to every word.
- Think twice before you assume anything.
- Try literal and non-literal meanings. Sometimes the trick is a pun.
- Draw pictures or imagine the scene in your head.
- Practice by solving, sharing, and even making your own riddles.
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Conclusion
Tricky riddles are like puzzles for your mind—they stretch your thinking, make you laugh, and sometimes surprise you.
With these six styles, you have lots of puzzles to try with friends, family, or alone.
The more you play, the sharper you get. Keep guessing, keep laughing, and enjoy every moment when you figure one out!
“Riddle-loving author fueling brains and laughs — I write tricky puzzles, silly twists, and mind-bending fun. Catch all the riddles and chaos at Riddlistic.com!”