If you enjoy word games, solving problems, brainteasers, tackling tough trivia questions and other intellectual challenges, then grab your thinking cap and prepare to put your skills to the test.
In the collection of queries below, you'll find a variety of hard riddles sure to give even the biggest Einsteins in the crowd, a run for their money.
Among them are classic riddles like: What appears twice in the morning, twice in the evening, but only once at night? Or, what has three feet but can't walk?
You'll also be tested by a roundup of perplexing math riddles like: Two moms and two daughters are in a car, but there are only three people in the car. How?
Or, how about this one: I am a word with six letters. When you take away one, I am 12. What am I?
Along with those brainteasers, you'll also discover a host of numeric sequences to solve, as well as other puzzlers, word plays and logic questions.
After all, there's nothing quite like the satisfaction that comes from finding the solution to a serious head-scratcher.
So, read on to see how many of these hard riddles you can solve. Whether you answer one or all of them, you're are guaranteed to give your brain a workout.
Hard Riddles and Answers
A mother has four daughters. Each daughter has a brother. How many children does the mother have?
Answer: Five. All the daughters share the same brother.
What has a face and hands, but no arms or legs?
Answer: A clock.
I am in you. You're often in me. If I surround you, you could die. What am I?
Answer: Water.
What's harder for you to catch the faster you run?
Answer: Your breath.
I go up and down, yet I never move. What am I?
Answer: The stairs.
I appear twice in the morning. I appear twice in the evening. But I only appear once at night. What am I?
Answer: The letter "N."
What has 13 hearts but no other organs?
Answer: A deck of cards.
Though I am always in front of you, I remain invisible. What am I?
Answer: The future.
What has three feet but can't walk?
Answer: A yardstick.
What has a tail but no body?
Answer: A coin.
What is so delicate that if you say its name, it breaks?
Answer: Silence.
You can feel me, hear me and you know when I'm there. Even so, you'll never be able to find me. What am I?
Answer: The wind.
What is always on its way but never arrives?
Answer: Tomorrow.
Five friends are together in a room. Ashley is knitting. Charlotte is cooking. Mia is playing chess. Alice is reading a book. What is the fifth friend doing?
Answer: Playing chess with Mia.
How do you make a net hold water?
Answer: Freeze the water.
I arrive at night without asking, then leave in the morning without being taken. What am I?
Answer: The stars.
You walk into a dark room. Inside is a match, a candle, a lantern and a fireplace. Which do you light first?
Answer: The match.
What animal is named after the animal it eats?
Answer: An anteater.
What vehicle is spelled the same forward and backward?
Answer: Racecar.
Two girls are born to the same mother on the exact same day, at the same time, but they aren't twins. How is that possible?
Answer: They are triplets.
I am your mother's and father's child, but I'm not your brother or sister. Who am I?
Answer: You.
What has teeth but cannot bite?
Answer: A comb.
You buy me to eat, but never eat me. What am I?
Answer: A fork.
There's a one-story white house. The walls are white, the floors are white, the furniture is white. What color are the stairs?
Answer: There are no stairs, it's a one-story house.
Where can you find cities with no people, roads with no cars and oceans with no fish?
Answer: On a map.
A man claims to know the score of every single baseball game before it begins. He is always right. How is that possible?
Answer: The score before any game begins is always 0 – 0.
The 22nd and 24th presidents of the U.S. had the same parents, but were not brothers. How is this possible?
Answer: They are the same person: Grover Cleveland. Cleveland served two, non-consecutive terms, making him the 22nd and 24th president.
Why can't a man living in New York be buried in California?
Answer: You don't bury someone who is living.
What word has 26 letters, but only three syllables?
Answer: Alphabet.
Hard Math Riddles
When Mary was 8, her brother was half her age. Now that Mary is 14. How old is her brother?
Answer: 10. Half Mary's age would make him 4. Now that she’s 14, subtract 4 and you get 10.
If two's company and three's a crowd, what are four and five?
Answer: Nine.
Two moms and two daughters are in a car, but there are only three people in the car. How?
Answer: They are a grandmother, mother and daughter.
What is the next number in this sequence? 3, 6, 4, 8, 6, 12, 10 ... ?
Answer: 20 (The pattern fluxuates between multiplying by the number two and subtracting the number two).
Which weighs more: a ton of bricks or a ton of feathers?
Answer: Neither, they both weigh a ton.
You’re driving a bus. At the first stop, you pick up four children with blue eyes. At the next stop, you pick up six children with brown eyes. On the final stop, you pick up nine children with green eyes. What color are the bus driver’s eyes?
Answer: Whatever your eye color is; you are the bus driver.
A man puts 20 apples into a basket. He eats all but five of them. How many does he have left?
Answer: Five.
John's mother had three children. The first was named Melissa. The second was named David. What was the third child named?
Answer: John.
What is 3/7 chicken, 2/3 cat and 2/4 goat?
Answer: Chicago.
If you flip a quarter 21 times and it lands on heads each time, what are the chances it will be tails on the next flip?
Answer: 50-50. The odds of heads or tails are the same no matter how many times you flip a coin.
I am a number. I'm not an odd number. I'm higher than 90, but not higher than 100. If you subtract me from 100 you get zero. What number am I?
Answer: 100.
I am a word with six letters. When you take away one, I am 12. What am I?
Answer: Dozens.
This odd number becomes even when you take away a letter. What is the number?
Answer: Seven.
What is the next number in this sequence: 1, 4, 10, 19, 31 ... ?
Answer: 46 (1 + 3 = 4; 4 + 6 = 10; 10 + 9 = 19; 19 + 12 = 31; 31 + 15 = 46; the second number in each equation is a multiple of three).
Two kids are on the beach. One has four piles of sand, the other has two piles of sand. If they combine them, how many piles of sand are there in total?
Answer: One.
Which five-letter word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?
Answer: Short.
When does 9 + 5 = 2?
Answer: When you are adding numbers on a 12-hour clock.
Olivia has six siblings. Each one is two years apart. The youngest, Kelsey, is 7 years old, and Olivia is the oldest. How old is Olivia?
Answer: 19.
If it takes 13 people 5 days to build a barn, how many days will it take 21 people to build the same barn?
Answer: None. The barn has already been built.
If 1 = 3, 2 = 3, 3 = 5, 4 = 4, 5 = 4, then what does 6 = ?
Answer: Three, because "six" has three letters.
A cargo boat holds 49 shipping containers. There are 36 more small containers than large containers. How many containers are on the boat?
Answer: 42.5 (Subtract 36 from 49, divide the answer by two. Add that number to 36 to get the answer).
How can you get to 1,000 using only eights and addition?
Answer: 888 + 88 + 8 + 8 + 8 = 1,000.
What number do you get if you multiply all the numbers on a telephone keypad?
Answer: Zero. Any number multiplied by zero, is always zero.
A fish lives at the bottom of a 30-foot lake. Each morning, it swims up three feet. At night, it floats down two feet. How many days will it take the fish to reach the surface?
Answer: 28 days. The fish makes progress of one foot each day. On day 28, it reaches the surface before it can float back down two feet at night.
A farmer has a chicken, a fox and a bag of grain. The farmer must cross a river with all three. His small boat will only hold one of them at a time. If the fox is left with the chicken, it will eat it. If the chicken is left behind, it will eat the grain. How does the farmer cross the river?
Answer: The farmer takes the chicken first and leaves it on the other side. The farmer returns empty-handed. He then takes the fox across and brings the chicken back with him. He leaves the chicken and crosses with the grain. He returns alone, retrieves the chicken, thus safely bringing all three across the river.
