Sample Riddles

One strand dangles. Two strands twist.
Three or more can fashion this.
(A braid)

A home of wood in a wooded place, but built not by hand. High above the earthen ground, it holds its pale blue gems. What is it?
(A nest, a bird’s nest)

Three or four, I can stab through or rule the seas.
You know my cousins. What am I?
(A fork)

What can be swallowed, but can swallow you?
(Pride)

What word of five letters has only one left when two letters are removed?
(A stone)

Take me up and scratch my head, what once was red is black instead!
(A match)

Precious stones in a pack of cards.
(Diamonds)

When young, I am sweet in the sun.
When middle-aged, I make you gay.
When old, I am valued more than ever.
(Wine)

He has one and a person has two, a citizen has three and a human being has four, a personality has five and an inhabitant of earth has six. What am I?
(Syllables)

I love to dance and twist and prance, I shake my tail, as away I sail, wingless I fly into the sky. What am I?
(A kite)

There is a clerk at the butcher shop, he is five feet ten inches tall, and he wears size 13 sneakers. What does he weigh?
(Meat)

In ye fire thou hear me scream! Creaking and whining yet I am dead before thoust layeth me upon ye hearth.
(A log)

I know a hundred faces, and count the tailed heads, feasting bright upon the eyes of many who have died. Wielding well a mighty power, who hath but humble stature. Masses fall upon their knees, to scarce behold my only side. What am I?
(A coin, coins)

What has one eye but cannot see?
(A needle)

More precious than gold, but cannot be bought,
Can never be sold, only earned if it’s sought,
If it is broken it can still be mended,
At birth it can’t start nor by death is it ended.
(Friendship)

I’m where yesterday follows today and tomorrow is in the middle. What am I?
(A dictionary)

You will always find me in the past.
I can be created in the present,
But the future can never taint me.
What am I?
(History)

What is so delicate that even mentioning it breaks it?
(Silence)

What is it that no man wants, but no man wants to lose?
(a lawsuit, a duel)

A couple sharing five a piece,
Stretching, spreading, loudly meet,
We are known to often calm,
And yet were better known to harm,
To help and build, our team of ten,
Connects us to the minds of men.
What are we?
(Hands and fingers)

A man in prison has a visitor. Afterward a guard asks the inmate who the visitor was to him. The inmate replies: brothers and sisters I have none, but that man’s father is my father’s son. Who was the visitor to the inmate?
(His son)

My sides are firmly laced about,
Yet nothing is within;
You’ll think my head is strange indeed,
Being nothing else but skin.
(A drum)

With head without hair. With mouth without tooth.
(A bottle)

Lovely and round, I shine with pale light,
Grown in the darkness, a lady’s delight.
(A pearl)

Samuel was out for a walk and it started to rain. He did not have an umbrella and he wasn’t wearing a hat. His clothes were soaked, yet not a single hair on his head got wet. How could this be?
(Samuel is bald)

I have an eye but cannot see.
I’m faster than any man alive and have no limbs.
What am I?
(A hurricane)

What is lengthened by being cut at both ends?
(A ditch)

A mile from end to end, yet as close to as a friend. A precious commodity, freely given. Found on the rich, poor, short and tall, but shared among children most of all. What is it?
(A smile)

What grows in winter, dies in summer, and grows roots upward?
(Ice, an icicle)

A father’s child, a mother’s child, yet no one’s son. What am I?
(A daughter)

A leathery snake,
With a stinging bite,
I’ll stay coiled up,
Unless I must fight.
(A whip)

With me you are blind,
To others and what they are,
Over me you cannot see,
Even though I’m in your head,
I am full of myself,
I think I’m better than you,
I’m a horrible thing to be,
Can you tell me, What am I?
(Ignorant, ignorance)

Never ahead, ever behind,
Yet flying swiftly past;
For a child I last forever,
For adults I’m gone too fast.
(Childhood)

What has wings, but can not fly.
Is enclosed, but can outside also lie.
Can open itself up, Or close itself away.
Is the place of kings and queens,
And doggerel of every means.
What is it upon which I stand?
Which can lead us to different lands.
(A stage)

First you see me in the grass dressed in yellow gay; next I am in dainty white, then I fly away. What am I?
(A dandelion)

What English word has three consecutive double letters?
(Bookkeeper)

A three-letter word I’m sure you know,
I can be on a boat or a sleigh in the snow,
I’m pals with the rain and honor a king,
But my favorite use is attached to a string.
What am I?
(A bow)

I am not alive but I grow. I don’t have lungs but I need air. What am i?
(Fire)

The more you take the more you leave behind.
(Steps)

What heavy seven letter word can you take two away from and be left with eight?
(Weight)

You use a knife to slice my head and weep beside me when I am dead. What am I?
(An onion)

Thousands lay up gold within this house,
But no man made it.
Spears past counting guard this house,
But no man wards it.
(a beehive)

Looks like water, but it’s heat.
Sits on sand, distant on a street.
People have been known,
To follow it everywhere.
But it gets them no place,
And all they can do is stare.
(a mirage)

What is it something that you always have but you always leave behind?
(fingerprints)

Everyone has it.
Those who have it least don’t know that they have it.
Those who have it most wish they had less of it,
But not too little or none at all.
(age)

What goes through a door but never goes in and never comes out?
(a keyhole)

Iron roof, glass walls, burns and burns and never falls.
(a lantern)

I can bring tears to your eyes; resurrect the dead, make you smile, and reverse time. I form in an instant but I last a lifetime. What am I?
(memory, memories)

I build up castles. I tear down mountains.
I make some men blind, I help others to see.
What am I?
(sand)

You’ll have me at night and if you remove the first letter I’ll head toward the top.
(Supper)

I am a seed, three letters in the name,
Take away two and I sound quite the same.
What am I?
(pea)

Many have heard me, but nobody has seen me, and I will not speak back until spoken to. What am I?
(an echo)

What always ends everything?
(the letter G)

What falls but never breaks, followed by that which breaks but never falls?
(night and day)

Armless, legless, I crawl around when I’m young.
Then the time of changing sleep will come.
I will awake like a newborn, flying beast,
’till then on the remains of the dead I feast.
(a maggot)

My first is in wield, sever bones and marrow.
My second is in blade, forged in cold steel.
My third is in arbalest, and also in arrows.
My fourth is in power, plunged through a shield.
My fifth is in honor, and also in vows
My last will put an end to it all.
(weapon)

There is a word in the English language in which the first two letters signify a male, the first three letters signify a female, the first four signify a great man, and the whole word, a great woman. What is the word?
(heroine)

The sun bakes them, the hand breaks them, the foot treads on them, and the mouth tastes them. What are they?
(grapes)

The one who makes it sells it.
The one who buys it doesn’t use it.
The one who’s using it doesn’t know he’s using it.
What is it?
(a coffin)

It can only exist between any two things
And men know it well for the difficulty it brings.
(distance or range)

I weigh a lot but backwards I am not. What am I?
(a ton)

You hear it speak, for it has a hard tongue. But it cannot breathe, for it has not a lung. What is it?
(a bell)

You throw me out when you need me; you bring me back when you’re done. What am I?
(an anchor)

What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?
(the letter M)

Who gets paid when they drive away their customers?
(a coachman, taxi driver)

Has a blade of jagged cut.
Keeps the quickest hand out shut.
Goes in darkness. Wears a ring.
One is quiet. Many sing.
(a key)

What fastens two people yet touches only one?
(a wedding ring)

What ship has no captain but two mates?
(courtship)

What starts with an e but only has a single letter in it?
(envelope)

I go around all the places; cities, towns and villages, but never come inside. What am I?
(streets, roads)

What building has the most stories?
(a library)

If a man carried my burden, he would break his back. I am not rich, but I leave silver in my track. What am I?
(a snail)

The more you take from me, the bigger I get. What am I?
(a hole)

It may only be given,
Not taken or bought,
What the sinner desires,
But the saint does not.
(forgiveness, grace)

What is everyone living in the world doing at the same time?
(aging, getting older)

I have a tongue but cannot taste. I have a soul but cannot feel. What am I?
(a shoe)

I fly, yet I have no wings. I cry, yet I have no eyes. Darkness follows me; lower light I never see. What am I?
(clouds, a cloud)

A skin have I, more eyes than one. I can be very nice when I am done. What am I?
(a potato)

What has 4 fingers and a thumb, but is not living?
(a glove)

I am used to bat with, yet I never get a hit. I am near a ball, yet it is never thrown. What am I?
(eyelash)