It seems we never outgrow our love of riddles, especially when they are perfect for an adult audience. In this article, we share some easy riddles for adults to get you started. Then we tickle your funny bone with some funny adult riddles. You’ll enjoy challenging your friends and family with our “What Am I?” riddles for adults. Then, after you get warmed up, we have some hard riddles for adults, some of which are very tricky. This article closes with some Christmas riddles for adults perfect for enlivening your holiday party. Riddle away!
Table of Contents
Easy Riddles for Adults
Our easy riddles for adults are perfect to refresh your ability to solve riddles. It is possible you haven’t riddled since you were much younger, and may have forgotten the type of creative thinking necessary to figure out riddle answers. We have included many old favorites you will probably remember, as well as some easy new riddles for you.
- Why did the little boy bury his flashlight?
- What has a face and two hands, but has no arms or legs?
- What five-letter word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?
- What starts with a P, ends with an E, and has thousands of letters?
- What word begins and ends with an E, but only has one letter?
- What has to be broken before you can use it?
- What has a neck but has no head?
- What type of cheese is made backwards?
- What occurs once in a minute, twice in a moment, and never in one thousand years?
- Which letter of the alphabet has the most water?
- What begins with T, ends with T, and has T in it?
- Which month has 28 days?
Funny Riddles for Adults
- Johnny throws a ball as hard as he can. It comes back to him, even though nothing and nobody touches it. How?
- You see a boat filled with people, yet there is not a single person on board. How is that possible?
- What is the difference between a jeweler and a jailer?
- What has legs, but does not walk?
- What can you catch, but not throw?
- If everyone bought a white car, what would we have?
- What kind of band never plays music?
- What has many teeth, but cannot bite?
- What is cut on a table but is never eaten?
- What runs around the whole yard without moving?
- You draw a line. Without touching it, how do you make the line longer?
- Mary’s father has five daughters – Nana, Nene, Nini, Nono. What is the fifth daughter’s name?
- What ship has two mates but no captain?
- Three men were in a boat. It capsized, but only two got their hair wet. Why?
- How many letters are there in the English alphabet?
- Why would a man living in Arizona not be buried in Utah?
- What has one head, one foot and four legs?
- When is a door not a door?
- Where does Friday come before Thursday?
“What Am I?” Riddles for Adults
“What am I?” riddles are some of the most popular and fun riddles, because they often make you think of something totally different than the actual answer. They are also relatively easy to remember, so you can have fun sharing them with others. Most of these “What am I?” riddles take some serious thinking, and some seem rather raunchy at first, so be careful!
- I go in hard. I come out soft. You blow me hard. What am I?
- The more you take away, the bigger I become. What am I?
- I move very slowly at an indistinguishable rate.
Although I take my time, I am never late.
I accompany life, but survive when your dead.
I am viewed with esteem as I sit on your head.
What am I?
- I have seas without water.
I have forests without wood.
I have deserts without sand.
I have houses with no brick.
What am I?
- I’m a fruit.
If you take away my first letter, I’m a crime.
If you take away my first two letters, I’m an animal.
If you take away my first and last letters, I’m a form of music.
What am I?
- I have billions of eyes, yet I live in darkness.
I have millions of ears, yet only four lobes.
I have no muscle, yet I rule two hemispheres.
What am I?
- Alone I am 24th, with a friend I am 20.
Add another friend and I am unclean.
What am I?
- Give me food, and I will live.
Give me water, and I will die.
What am I?
- I can only live where there is light, but I die if the light shines on me.
What am I?
- I repeat only the last word you say.
The more I repeat, the softer I get.
I cannot be seen but can be heard.
What am I?
- You can easily touch me,
But not see me.
You can throw me out,
But not away.
What am I?
- Never was, I am always to be.
No one ever saw me, nor ever will.
And yet I give confidence to all,
Who live and breathe on this terrestrial ball.
What am I?
- Take off my skin – I won’t cry, but you will,
What am I?
- I am not alive but I grow.
I don’t have lungs but I need air.
What am I?
- I have keys but no locks.
I have a space but no room.
You can enter, but you can’t go outside.
What am I?
Hard Riddles for Adults
Now you should be ready to solve some tricky hard riddles for adults. Take your time and really think about the words used in the riddle. Frequently, riddles are hard because they include unnecessary or additional information. Stop, think, and ask yourself what is really being called for in the way of intuitive thinking. After you figure them out, use our hard riddles to stump your friends and family.
- A woman shoots her husband
Then she holds him underwater for five minutes.
Next, she hangs him.
Right after that, they enjoy a lovely dinner.
How?
- What comes from a mine, is always surrounded by wood always, and used by everyone.
- How can you physically stand behind your father while he is standing behind you?
- A girl has as many brothers as sisters.
Each brother has only half as many brothers as sisters.
How many brothers and sisters are there in the family?
- What are the next three letters in this combination? OTTFFSS
- A is the brother of B.
B is the brother of C.
C is the father of D.
How is D related to A?
- What speaks without a mouth,
Hears without ears,
Has no body,
But comes alive with wind?
- My life is measured in hours.
I serve you by expiring.
I’m quick when I’m thin.
I’m slow when I’m fat.
The wind is my enemy.
- What can you hold in your right hand, but never in your left hand?
- What belongs to you, but everyone else uses it.
- How is seven different from the rest of the numbers between one and ten?
Christmas Riddles for Adults
Nothing makes a holiday more fun than laughter and you will find our Christmas riddles for adults tickle your funny bone and stump your friends. You can even use these Christmas riddles for a team game; see which team can answer the most riddles correctly.
- What was so good about the neurotic doll the girl was given for Christmas?
- Which one of Santa’s reindeer used to work for Proctor and Gamble?
- What did the little boy’s Mom say when he asked for a dog for Christmas?
- What nationality is Santa Claus?
- What do you call a cat on the beach at Christmastime?
- What do you get if you cross Father Christmas with a detective?
- What do monkeys sing at Christmas?
- What are Christmas trees like bad knitters?
- How do sheep in Mexico say Merry Christmas?
- What do you get if you deep fry Santa Claus?
- Why is Christmas just like a day at the office?
- If athletes get athletes foot, what do astronauts get?
- Just before Christmas, an honest politician, a kind lawyer, and Santa
Claus were in the elevator of a very posh hotel. Just before the doors opened
they all noticed a $5 bill lying on the floor. Which one picked it up?
- Why was Santa’s little helper depressed?
- What do you get when you cross a snowman with a vampire?
- What do you get when you cross an archer with a gift-wrapper?
- What are the life stages of a human?
- What would it have been like if there had been three Wise Women instead of three Wise Men?
- Why did the little boy cry when he opened his gift?
Well, there you have it. A comprehensive selection of riddles for adults. We hope you have found some old favorites, tested your brain with some really difficult riddles, and laughed a great deal, either alone or with friends. If you want to make up your own riddles, it is not that difficult. The best way to do so is to start with an object – the answer to your riddle. Then think of characteristics that might apply to that object as well as several others. Finally, write out your riddle, starting with a characteristic that applies to your object as well as many others. Give it a try; it’s fun! Start riddling!
Susan majored in English with a double minor in Humanities and Business at Arizona State University and earned a Master’s degree in Educational Administration from Liberty University. She taught grades four through twelve in both public and private schools. Subjects included English, U.S. and world history and geography, math, earth and physical science, Bible, information technologies, and creative writing.
Susan has been freelance writing for over ten years, during which time she has written and edited books, newspaper articles, biographies, book reviews, guidelines, neighborhood descriptions for realtors, Power Point presentations, resumes, and numerous other projects.
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