People from different age groups enjoy intellectual challenges every once in a while. It does not matter if you are an adult or a child. If you and your relatives are up for such challenges, why don’t you send each other some hard riddles? There are many uses of difficult riddles. First, challenging questions will keep someone occupied for a quite long period. It is a great and fruitful way to pass the time instead of browsing aimlessly with your smartphone. Solving difficult cases is also a way to test one’s intellectual ability. You have to be able using intellectual resources to solve them.
Most cases will require you to think outside of the box. They do not demand straightforward problem solving. Sometimes the most difficult riddles do not even seem the slightest bit hard. The suitable hard riddles will differ depending on one’s background and age. How to enjoy these riddles in ultimate way? You should spare specific time to solve them. Prepare some snacks and beverages to fuel your brain for the challenging cases. The most entertaining way to solve them is by having somebody else around. The following examples are some of the most difficult riddles that will make you want to rake your brain.
The Hardest Riddles




















Tied when shy,
Slurred on wine,
Words on the tip,
Loosened and slip.
What word means the same thing when you take all the letters out of it?
If Teresa’s daughter is my daughter’s mother, what am I to Teresa?
What happens twice in a week, once in a year, but never in a day?
The part of a bird that is not in the sky when it’s flying. Instead, it roams the land and swims in the ocean, yet remains dry. What is it?
Many have heard me, but nobody has seen me, and I will not speak back until spoken to. What am I?
Mr Brown was killed on Sunday afternoon. The wife said she was reading a book. The butler said He was taking a shower. The chef said he was making breakfast. The maid said she was folding clothes, and the gardener said he was planting tomatoes. Who did it?
Whoever makes me, tells me not.
Whoever takes me, knows me not.
Whoever knows me, wants me not.
What am I?
It goes from the beach, through the town, and up the hill, but it stays in one place. What is it?
I am as light as a feather, but no man can hold me for long. What am I?
Short Hard Riddles
What ends everything always?
I disappear when you say my name. What am I?
What goes up and down without moving?
You answer me, but I never asked you a question. What am I?
What’s in a man’s pants that you won’t find in a woman’s dress?
What do the letter “T” and an island have in common?
What gets wet when drying?
What has no end, beginning, and middle?
What question can you never answer “yes” to?
They try to beat me, they try in vain.
And when I win, I end the pain.
Hard Riddle for Kids
What has hands but does not clap?
What’s full of holes but still holds water?
Which is heavier: a pound of bricks or a pound of feather?
How many animals did Moses take on the ark?
Why do birds fly south during winter?
What word is spelled wrong in every dictionary?
How is Europe like a frying pan?
How can a man go eight days without sleep?
What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in thousand years?
What can you catch but not throw?
Hard Riddles for Adult
Name a 7-letter word, from which if you take out 4 letters, you will have 1 left.
This mother comes from a family of eight,
Supports her children in spite of their weight,
Turns around without being called,
Has held you since the time you crawled.
I’m black when you get me, red when you use me, white when you’re all done. What am I?
I am heavy and hard to pick up, but backwards I’m not. What am I?
There are four days that start with the letter “T”. Two of them are Tuesday and Thursday. What are the other two?
Francelia killed almost 100 people, and was accountable for a damage of $4.7 million. Despite all these, she was not pressed with any charges. Why?
What is harder to catch the faster you run?
If I am holding a bee, what do I have in my eye?
I can be harbored, but few hold water.
You can nurse me, but only by holding me against someone else.
You can carry me, but not with your arms.
You can bury me, but not in earth.
What am I?
It’s shorter than the rest. But when you’re happy, you raise it up like it’s the best. What is it?
Tricky Riddles with Answers
I have cities, but no houses. I have mountains, but no trees. I have water, but no fish. What am I?
Jenny was born in December 28th, but her birthday is always in summer. How is this possible?
What tastes better than it smells?
People make me, keep me, change me, raise me, even though I can be very dirty. What am I?
Every night I’m told what to do,
And each morning I do what I’m told,
but I still don’t escape your scold.
I come from a mine and get surrounded by wood always. Everyone uses me. What am I?
Which is the correct way to say: “The yolk of the egg are white” or “The yolk of the egg is white”?
What flies when it’s born, lies when it’s alive, and runs when it’s dead?
Frank was born in 1933 and died in 1946 at the age of 57. How can this be?
Three doctors say Alan is their brother, but Alan says he has no brothers. Who’s telling lies?
Funny Hard Riddles
If turkeys are for Thanksgiving, jockeys are for horses and monkeys are for the jungle, then what is for rednecks?
When is 99 more than 100?
There are 6 sisters. Each sister has 1 brother. How many brothers are in the sisters’ family?
I have many faces, expressions and emotions and am only one tap away. What am I?
Walk on the living, they don’t even mumble.
Walk on the dead, they mutter and grumble.
A man runs away from home. He turns left, and keeps running. After some time he turns left again and keeps running. He later turns left once more and runs back home. Who was the man in question?
What kind of room has no windows or doors?
What can you hold in your right hand but never in your left hand?
What kind of table has no legs?
What goes up a chimney down, but not down a chimney up?
Impossible Riddles
A man wants to enter an exclusive club, but he doesn’t know the password, so he watches the bouncer to figure it out. A woman comes up and the bouncer says, “12.” The woman replies, “6.” The bouncer lets her in. Another woman comes up and the bouncer says, “6.” The woman says “3” and the bouncer lets her in. The man feels he’s heard enough and goes up to the door. The bouncer says “10,” and the man replies, “5.” The bouncer tells him to get lost. What should the man have said instead?
How can you physically stand behind your father while he is standing behind you?
10 fish are in a tank. 2 drown, 4 swim away, and 3 die. How many are left?
A plane crashes on the border of USA and Mexico. There were only 3 survivors. Where do you bury them?
What has to be broken before you can use it?
When you need me, you throw me away. When you don’t need me, you bring me back. What am I?
You stay alone and you are sleeping in your bedroom, your parents ring your doorbell as they have come to have breakfast with you, you have bread, milk, honey, jam, cornflakes at your house. What will you open first?
You’re a bus driver. At the first stop you pick up 2 women and 3 men. And the second stop, a man and a woman get off and a man gets one. At the third stop, all the remaining men from the first stop get off and three women get on. At the fourth stop 2 men get on. What is the name of the bus driver?
What has 4 letters, sometimes has 9, and never has 5?
A man walks into a bar and asks for a drink of water. The bartender pulls out a gun and aims it at him. The man thanks the bartender and leaves. Why?
Hard Math Riddles
Four in an hour,
Three is seventy five,
Two in a half,
One is a room for me.
What are the last five numbers of this sequence: 8, 18, 11, 15, 5, 4, 14, 9, 19, 1, 7, 17, 6, 16, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?
Three times what number is no larger than two times that number?
What three numbers have the same answer when added together and multiplied together?
How can 8 + 8 = 4?
How can you add eight 6s together so that the total adds up to 750?
You have been given the task of transporting 3,000 apples 1,000 miles from Appleland to Bananaville. Your truck can carry 1,000 apples at a time. Every time you travel a mile towards Bananaville you must pay a tax of 1 apple but you pay nothing when going in the other direction (towards Appleland). What is highest number of apples you can get to Bananaville?
A small number of cards has been lost from a complete pack. If I deal among four people, three cards remain. If I deal among three people, two remain and if I deal among five people, two cards remain. How many cards are there?
If you take my son’s age and multiply it by one and a half times his age you get 24. How old is my son?
There is a 5-gallon and a 3-gallon box. You also have a hose with unlimited water. How are you gonna make the 5-gallon box have 4 gallons of water using your items? (You do not know the exact measure measurements of a gallon).
Difficult Riddles with Simple Answers
What do you lose when you stand up?
The man who invented it doesn’t want it.
The man who bought it doesn’t need it.
The man who needs it doesn’t know.
What 5 letter English word can be pronounced the same even with 4 of its letters removed?
A little girl kicked a soccer ball. It went 10 feet and came back to her. How is this possible?
What is made of wood but cannot be sawed?
A red house is made out of red bricks. A blue house is made out of blue bricks. What is a green house made out of?
A man throws his stick across the river, and his dog goes to retrieve it on the opposite bank. The dog returned only a few moments later. How is it possible that his dog returned dry?
What is red and smells like blue paint?
What has a head and tail but no body?
A patch of lily pads float in a lake. Every day, the patch doubles in size. If it takes 48 days for the patch to cover the entire lake, how long would it take for the patch to cover half of the lake?
Before Mount Everest was discovered, what was the highest mountain on Earth?
A sundial is a timepiece that has the fewest number of moving parts. Which timepiece has the most moving parts?
A clerk at a butcher shop stands five feet ten inches tall and wears size 13 sneakers. What does he weigh?
Little Nancy Etticoat, In her white petticoat,
With a red nose, The longer she stands, The shorter she grows.
Given this rhyme, what is “she?
You have a lighter and two lengths of rope that burn for exactly 1 hour each. They do not burn consistently so you cannot, for example, cut one in half and burn that. How can you use these two ropes to measure exactly 45 minutes?
David’s mother has three sons: James, Chris, and?
How would you combine one-third of 12 and four-fifths of 7 to get 11?
A farmer has five haystacks in one field and four haystacks in another. How many haystacks would he have if he combined them all in one field?
One snowy morning, Jane awoke to find that her bedroom window was misty with condensation. She drew the word “SNOWING” on it with her finger. Then she crossed out the letter N, turning it into another English word: “SOWING.” She continued this way, removing one letter at a time, until there was just one letter remaining, which is itself a word. What words did Jane make, and in what order?
In a town, there are two hairdressers. You walked down the streets and enter one to find that the premises are sparkling clean, and the man is well kept and well-dressed. You walk then into the other to find the man has hair everywhere in his place, and horrible bad head. Which one should you go to for your haircut?