Riddles for Adults: Funny, Hard and Challenging
If you’re solving riddles for adults, we know you’re probably a kid at heart. Apart from being entertaining, challenging riddles are very beneficial in many ways.
Riddles improve vocabulary and fuel reading comprehension, but they also allow us to think outside of the box and work wonders for the development of the mind.
They force you to problem-solve and think critically, which helps stimulate your brain and reduce the risk of memory loss later on. Have fun rattling your brain and trying to crack these riddles with answers!
Brain Teasers For Adult Riddlers
No one said these were going to be easy. Good luck!
1.) I can be crushed to pieces, but only if I am given away first, I can be clogged and attacked, but that’s usually my own doing. No matter how many problems I have, you wouldn’t dare let me go. What am I?
A heart.
2.) People say I put doctors out of business. Sometimes I am sour. Sometimes I am sweet. I can be eaten and can also be drunk. What am I?
An apple.
3.) How can you tell that Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are about to get married?
Because they all have rings.
4.) What did the smelly feet and smelly shoes say to each other before going to a long day walking?
This socks.
See 65 tricky riddles for teens.
5.) What food is so funny that it can be a comedian?
Crackers.
See 23 World’s Hardest Riddles and 1 Incredibly Difficult Brainteaser.
6.) I can be hot, I can be cold, I can run, and I can be still, I can be hard, and I can be soft. What am I?
Water.
Good Riddles For Adults With Answers
7.) How did Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune make up the solar system?
They plan-et.
8.) What makes more as you take them?
Footsteps.
9.) I have branches, sometimes a few and other times hundreds or more, but I have no fruit, trunk, or leaves. What am I?
A bank.
10.) I am a beer, yet kids can drink me and not get drunk. What am I?
Root beer.
See Awesome Scavenger Hunt Riddles.
11.) I am a ball that can be rolled but never bounced or thrown. What am I?
Eyeball.
12.) What is the thing that you must give before you keep?
Your word.
13.) What do a dollar and the moon have in common?
Four quarters.
14.) People knead me to buy anything.
Dough.
Tip: Try out some of these riddles before a brainstorming meeting to get folks thinking outside the box.
Check out Good Trick Questions
Funny Riddles
15.) What vegetable is the king of rock and roll?
Elvis Parsley.
16.) What did Roger Rabbit give to Jessica Rabbit when they were married?
An eighteen-carrot ring.
Think you know your stuff? Take the 55 Difficult Riddles and Brain Teasers Challenge and see how you do.
17.) What did the doctor prescribe to the sick lemon?
Lemon-aid.
18.) I have no legs. I will never walk but always run. What am I?
A river.
19.) I have no life, but I can die. What am I?
A battery.
20.) I have rivers but do not have water. I have dense forests but no trees or animals. And I have cities, but no people live in those cities. What am I?
A map.
Check out Easy Riddles With Answers.
Grown-Up Riddles Funny
21.) I never ask questions but always answer. What am I?
Show Answer: A doorbell.
22.) I was born big, but as the day passes, as I get older, I become small. What am I?
A candle.
23.) I will always come, never arrive today. What am I?
Tomorrow.
24.) I am full of keys, but I cannot open any doors. What am I?
Show Answer: A piano.
25.) How do shells get around in the ocean?
A taxi crab.
26.) Who has 88 teeth but never brushes them?
A piano.
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Hard to Solve Puzzlers
These riddles for adults may produce a few groans – just warning you.
27.) If someone robbed you in the shower, what would you be?
An eye-wetness.
28.) What’s a plumber’s favorite song?
“Singing in the Drain.”
29.) Which travels faster? Hot or Cold?
Hot is faster because you can catch a cold.
30.) I am a word. If you pronounce me correctly, it will be wrong. If you pronounce me wrong, it is right? What word am I?
Wrong.
31.) I don’t have eyes, ears, nose, and tongue, but I can see, smell, hear, and taste everything. What am I?
A brain.
32.) I do not have wings, but I can fly. I don’t have eyes, but I will cry! What am I?
A cloud.
33.) I do not speak, cannot hear or speak anything, but I will always tell the truth. What am I?
A mirror.
34.) I go around all the places, cities, towns, and villages but never come inside. What am I?
A street.
35.) I have lots of memories, but I own nothing. What am I?
A photo frame.
Tip: These brain teasers can be used as icebreakers before a brainstorming session in a work environment.
Difficult Riddles
These riddles for adults are challenging!
36.) People always buy me to eat, but they never eat me. What am I?
A plate.
37.) The one who makes me does not need me when he makes me. The one who buys me does not use me for themselves. And, the one who uses me doesn’t know that they are using me. What am I?
A coffin.
38.) When the water comes down, when it rains, I go up. What am I?
An umbrella.
39.) What gets shorter when you add two letters to it?
The word “short.”
40.) What is something that is yours but is used more by people you know?
Your name.
41.) You can break me easily without touching or seeing me. What am I?
A promise.
42.) You will throw me away when you want to use me. You will take me in when you don’t want to use me. What am I?
An anchor.
43.) Two fathers and two sons are in a car, yet only three people are in the car. How is this possible.
The three people are a grandfather, a father, and a son.
Hard Puzzles for Adults
If you’re looking for riddles for kids, you’ve come to the wrong spot. These riddles for adults are no walk in the park – good luck!
44.) I have no bones and no legs, but if you keep me warm, I will soon walk away. What am I?
An egg.
45.) You see a boat filled with people. You look again, but this time you don’t see a single person on the boat. How can this be?
All the people on the boat are married.
46.) A girl has as many brothers as sisters, but each brother has only half as many brothers as sisters. How many brothers and sisters are in the family?
Three brothers and four sisters. (Do the math, and it works out.)
Difficult Puzzlers
47.) My first two letters signify a male, My first three letters signify a female, My first four letters signify a great man, and my entire meaning signifies a great woman. What word am I?
Heroine.
48.) Take away my first letter, and I still sound the same. Take away my last letter. I still sound the same. Even take away my letter in the middle, I will still sound the same. I am a five-letter word. What am I?
Empty.
49.) A man is found dead in an alley with a dagger plunged into his head. The only evidence as to what occurred is an overturned table and 52 bicycles. What happened to the man?
Killed in a card game. (Bicycle is a brand of playing cards and 52 cards in a deck).
50.) A woman shoots her husband, then holds him underwater for five minutes. Then, she hangs him. And yet, ten minutes later, they enjoy a wonderful dinner together. How can this be?
She took a photograph of him and developed it in a dark room. Then, the couple sat down for dinner.
Clever Riddles
51.) Which is heavier: a ton of bricks or a ton of feathers?
They weigh the same. They both weigh a ton.
52.) How many bananas can you eat if your stomach is empty?
Just one—after that, your stomach’s not empty anymore.
53.) What kind of coat is always wet when you put it on?
A coat of paint.
54.) What kind of band never plays music?
A rubber band.
55.) What has lots of eyes but can’t see?
A potato.
56.) What can’t be put in a saucepan?
A lid.
57.) What is tall, dark/grey, and invisible?
Smoke.
58.) What can you hold in your right hand but never in your left hand?
Your left hand.
Tricky Riddles
59.) You walk into a room that contains a match, a kerosene lamp, a candle, and a fireplace. What would you light first?
The match.
60.) A man is trapped in a room. The room has only two possible exits: two doors. Through the first door, there is a room constructed from magnifying glass. The blazing hot sun instantly fries anything or anyone that enters. Through the second door, there is a fire-breathing dragon. How does the man escape?
He waits until nighttime and then goes through the first door.
61.) You see me once in June, twice in November, and not at all in May. What am I?
The letter E.
62.) Brothers and sisters, I have none, but that man’s father is my father’s son. Who is in the painting?
The man’s son.
63.) A king, queen, and two twins all lay in a large room. How are there no adults in the room?
They’re all beds.
64.) What does man love more than life, hate more than death or mortal strife; that which contented men desire; the poor have, the rich require; the miser spends, the spendthrift saves, and all men carry to their graves?
Nothing.
65.) With pointed fangs, I sit and wait; with piercing force, I crunch out fate, grabbing victims, proclaiming might, physically joining with a single bite. What am I?
A stapler.
Best Riddles
66.) An electric train is headed east. Where does the smoke go?&
Electric trains don’t produce smoke.
67.) What runs around the whole yard without moving?
A fence.
68.) What has many teeth but cannot bite?
A comb.
69.) What has one eye but can’t see?
A needle.
70.) I am short, I come second among a dozen, and every four years, I change in a way that none of the other dozen do.
The month of February.
71.) Why is it so easy for an elephant to get a job?
Because it will work for peanuts.
72.) I follow you all the time and copy your every move, but you can’t touch me or catch me. What am I?
Your shadow.
73.) How can you drop a raw egg on the concrete floor without cracking it?
The egg won’t crack the concrete floor.
Conclusion
Well, we hope you enjoyed these riddles and got the answers you needed! Most times, hard riddles have straightforward answers. So if you managed to figure some of these out, we congratulate you!
Frequently, inspiration can come to you light a light bulb going off in your head. Other times, you may just be stumped. Continue to sharpen your mind sharp and have fun solving more of our riddles to come!
By Mike O’Halloran
Mike is a co-author of 4 trivia books for kids and the founder of Greeting Card Poet.
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