Even if you haven't been in school for decades, it's vitally important to train your brain to stary sharp—and brain teasers can help with that. Studies suggest that these types of puzzles can speed up cognitive processing and improve short-term memory. In addition to all the health benefits, they also provide a welcome escape from daily chores and routines. So read on for more than 100 riddles for adults you can use to help stump your friends, impress your coworkers, and start flexing those cognitive muscles!
RELATED: 85 Riddles for Kids (With Answers!)
Why Is It Important for Adults to Do Riddles?
As mentioned above, figuring out brain teasers is a great way to boost your critical thinking skills and creative abilities. Researchers have gone so far as to posit that puzzles can actually preserve cognitive function among individuals suffering from cognitive decline.
And that's not even the best part. On top of keeping our brains sharp, riddles can also make us incredibly joyful. Seriously.
Do you know that "aha!" moment you experience when you finally get to the bottom of whatever brain teaser you're working on? Well, MRI machines have actually been able to capture what happens in the brain during this time.
According to a 2018 study published in the Journal of Human Brain Mapping, finally finding a solution to whatever you're working on results in a rush of dopamine to the nucleus accumbens, the area of the brain responsible for rewards and reinforcement.
With that, we can determine that the best riddles out there don't just keep you sharp—they also leave you extremely satisfied.
Easy Riddles for Adults
Best Life
- Riddle: What do you have to break before you can use it? Answer: An egg
- Riddle: What is full of holes but still holds water? Answer: A sponge
- Riddle: What is always in front of you but can't be seen? Answer: The future
- Riddle: Where is the only place where today comes before yesterday? Answer: The dictionary
- Riddle: What kind of band never plays music? Answer: A rubber band
- Riddle: Sam and Sally have four daughters. Each of their daughters has one brother. How many children do Sam and Sally have in total? Answer: Five
- Riddle: What has 13 hearts but no other organs? Answer: A deck of cards
- Riddle: If an electric train is traveling south, which way is the smoke going? Answer: There is no smoke; it is an electric train.
- Riddle: What has one head, one foot, and four legs? Answer: A bed
- Riddle: What has many teeth but can't bite? Answer: A comb
- Riddle: What do the letter "T" and an island have in common? Answer: They are both found in the middle of water
- Riddle: David's father has three sons: Peanut, Butter, and _____? Answer: David
- Riddle: Some say I put doctors out of business. Sometimes I am sour. Other times, I am sweet. You can eat me, and you can drink me. What am I? Answer: An apple
- Riddle: Sam's dad has three daughters. Two are named Stephanie and Amanda. What's the name of the third daughter? Answer: Sam
- Riddle: If your uncle's sister is not your aunt, then who is she to you? Answer: Your mother
- Riddle: If two snakes marry, what will their towels say? Answer: "Hiss and hers"
- Riddle: What has four fingers and a thumb but isn't alive? Answer: A glove
- Riddle: Two fathers and two sons are in a car, but there are only three people in the vehicle. How? Answer: The group consists of a grandfather, a father, and his son
RELATED: 15 Logic Puzzles That Will Help You Stay Sharp (All Ages!).
Funny Riddles
Best Life
- Riddle: When is a door no longer a door? Answer: When it's left ajar
- Riddle: I have four wheels and flies. What am I? Answer: A garbage truck
- Riddle: What can you put in a bucket to make it weigh less? Answer: A hole
- Riddle: You can hold me in your right hand, but never in your left hand. What am I? Answer: Your left hand
- Riddle: How can you drop a raw egg on the concrete floor without cracking it? Answer: Pretty easily, there's no way an egg will crack a concrete floor
- Riddle: A bus driver goes the wrong way down a one-way street. He passes the cops, but they don't stop him. Why? Answer: He was walking
- Riddle: What can you catch, but not throw? Answer: A cold
- Riddle: What type of cheese is made backward? Answer: Edam
- Riddle: What type of building contains the most stories? Answer: A library
- Riddle: People knead me to buy things. What am I? Answer: Dough
- Riddle: How many bananas can you eat if your stomach is empty? Answer: Just one—after that, your stomach is no longer empty
- Riddle: How can kids drink beer and not get drunk? Answer: By sticking to root beer
- Riddle: What gets wet while drying? Answer: A towel
Hard Riddles for Adults
Best Life
- Riddle: There are two in a corner, one in a room, zero in a house, but one in a shelter. What is it? Answer: The letter "R"
- Riddle: A plane crashed on the border of Spain and Portugal. Where were the survivors buried? Answer: They weren't—you're not supposed to bury survivors
- Riddle: Poor people have it. Rich people need it. If you eat it, you will die. What is it? Answer: Nothing
- Riddle: There are five sisters in a room. Simone is reading a book, Clara is cooking, Alexis is playing chess, and Helena is doing the laundry. What's the fifth sister doing? Answer: Playing chess with Alexis
- Riddle: A man looks at a painting in a museum and says,"Brothers and sisters I have none, but that man's father is my father's son." Who is in the painting? Answer: The man's son
- Riddle: You walk into a room that contains a match, a kerosene lamp, a candle, and a fireplace. What should you light first? Answer: The match
- Riddle: I have branches, but no fruit, trunk, or leaves. What am I? Answer: A bank
- Riddle: What is so fragile that saying its name breaks it? Answer: Silence
- Riddle: The more of them you take, the more you leave behind. What are they? Answer: Footsteps
- Riddle: How do you know that Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are about to get married? Answer: They all have rings
- Riddle: What goes all around the world but stays in a corner? Answer: A stamp
- Riddle: A man rode into town on Tuesday and left a few days later on Tuesday. How is that possible? Answer: Tuesday was his horse's name
- Riddle: What cuts across cities and fields, but never moves? Answer: A road
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Logic Riddles for Adults
Best Life
- Riddle: Two men are in a desert. They both have backpacks on. One of the guys is dead. The guy who is alive has his backpack open and the guy who is dead has his backpack closed. What is in the dead man's backpack? Answer: A parachute
- Riddle: Two girls were born to the same mother, on the same day, at the same time, in the same month, and in the same year—but they're not twins. How is this possible Answer: The girls are triplets.
- Riddle: What can go through a window but doesn't break it? Answer: Light
- Riddle: A woman lives in a one-story house where everything is blue. The carpet is blue, the tile is blue, the cabinets are blue, and so on. So then, what color are the stairs? Answer: It's a one-story house so there are no stairs
- Riddle: Two people are born at the same moment, but they don't have the same birthdays. How? Answer: They were born in different time zones
- Riddle: The person who made it doesn’t need it. The person who bought it doesn’t want it. The person who needs it doesn’t know it. What is it? Answer: A coffin
- Riddle: Whoever makes it doesn't tell. Whoever takes it doesn't know. Whoever knows it doesn't want it. What is it? Answer: Counterfeit money
- Riddle: It has no top or bottom but can hold flesh, bones, and blood all at the same time. What is this object? Answer: A ring
- Riddle: There are two paths ahead, but only one is safe. Two guards know which way is safe, but one guard can only tell the truth, while the other can only lie, and you don't know who's who. What is one question you can ask to find the safer path? Answer: "Which way will the other guard tell me is safer?"
- Riddle: He has married many women but has never married. Who is he? Answer: A priest
Riddles About Work
Best Life
- Riddle: A man and his boss have the same parents, but they are not siblings. How is this possible? Answer: He's self-employed
- Riddle: What does nobody want, yet nobody wants to lose? Answer: Work
- Riddle: Why did the invisible man turn down a job offer? Answer: He just couldn't see himself doing it
- Riddle: Why did the spider get a job in I.T.? Answer: Because he excels at web design
- Riddle: Why is it so easy for elephants to get jobs? Answer: Because they'll work for peanuts
- Riddle: What do you tell yourself when you wake up late for work and realize you have a fever? Answer: "Self, I-so-late"
- Riddle: A man was just doing his job when his suit was torn. He died a few minutes later. Why? Answer: He was an astronaut
- Riddle: What happened to the beans when they showed up late to work? Answer: They got canned
- Riddle: A man is preparing for a business trip. He stops by his office on the way to the airport. The night watchman stops him before he leaves and asks him not to get on the flight. He explains he had a dream that the plane crashed and everyone on board died. The man does cancel his trip. And sure enough, the plane does crash, killing everyone on board. He gave the watchman a few thousand dollars for saving his life and then fired him. Why? Answer: A night watchman isn't supposed to sleep on the job
- Riddle: People make me, save me, change me, raise me. What am I? Answer: Money
- Riddle: What is the difference between a jeweler and a jailer? Answer: A jeweler sells watches while a jailer watches cells
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Math Riddles for Adults
Best Life
- Riddle: When my dad was 31, I was just 8 years old. Now his age is twice as old as my age. What is my current age? Answer: 23 years old
- Riddle: The day before yesterday I was 21, and next year I will be 24. When is my birthday? Answer: Dec. 31; today is Jan. 1
- Riddle: It is 9 a.m. now. Josephine studies for two hours, takes a bath for one hour, and then has lunch for 1 hour. How many hours are left before 9 a.m. tomorrow? Answer: 20 hours
- Riddle: There is an empty basket that is one foot in diameter. What is the total number of eggs that you can put in this empty basket? Answer: Just one—after that, it doesn't count as an empty basket
- Riddle: Which is heavier: a ton of bricks or a ton of feathers? Answer: Neither; they both weigh a ton
- Riddle: If a zookeeper had 100 pairs of animals in her zoo, and two pairs of babies are born for each one of the original animals, but sadly, 23 animals don't survive, how many animals do you have left in total? Answer: 977 animals (100 x 2 = 200; 200 + 800 = 1000; 1000 – 23 = 977)
- Riddle: Four cars come to a four-way stop, each coming from a different direction. They can't decide who got there first, so they all go forward at the same time. All four cars go, but none crash into each other. How is this possible? Answer: They all made right-hand turns
- Riddle: How much dirt is there in a hole that is three feet wide, four feet long, and five feet deep? Answer: There is no dirt in it—it's a hole
- Riddle: What is the smallest number that increases by 12 when it is flipped and turned upside-down? Answer: 86. When turned upside-down and flipped, it becomes 98
- Riddle: I am a three-digit number. My tens digit is five more than my ones digit. My hundreds digit is eight less than my tens digit. What number am I? Answer: 194
- Riddle: When someone asks Michael how old he is, he replies, "In two years I will be twice as old as I used to be five years ago." How old is he? Answer: 12
- Riddle: Turn me on my side, and I am everything. Cut me in half and I am nothing. What am I? Answer: The number eight
- Riddle: I am an odd number. Take away just one letter and I become even. What number am I? Answer: Seven
- Riddle: If two's company and three's a crowd, what are four and five? Answer: Nine
- Riddle: A hen and a half lays an egg and a half in a day and a half. How many eggs does one hen lay in one day? Answer: 2/3 an egg
Fun Riddles About Love
Best Life
- Riddle: I can break, I can get clogged, I can be attacked, I can be given, I can be kept, I can be crushed, yet I can be whole at the same time. What am I? Answer: A heart
- Riddle: What do you call two Italian ants in love? Answer: Rome-ants
- Riddle: How come it's so easy to fall in love with a French chef? Answer: They know how to butter you up
- Riddle: You see a boat filled with people, yet there isn't a single person on board. How is that possible? Answer: Everyone is married
- Riddle: Why did the banker break up with his girlfriend? Answer: He was losing interest
- Riddle: What did the paper clip say to the magnet? Answer: "I find you very attractive"
- Riddle: What do snakes give each other when they say goodbye? Answer: A tiny hiss on the cheek
- Riddle: I am present at the beginning of love; the start of life and I am the end of evil. What am I? Answer: The letter "L"
- Riddle: Most of the time, my color is red, I am beautiful, and everyone loves me, especially ladies. Sometimes I can hurt you. I don't mean it, I am sorry. What am I? Answer: A rose
- Riddle: I am a nine-lettered word and rhyme with "perfection." People use me as another name for love. What am I? Answer: Affection
- Riddle: What can fill a room but takes up no space? Answer: Love
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Word Riddles for Adults
Best Life
- Riddle: Lovely and round, I'm shimmery white, grown in the darkness, a lady's delight. What am I? Answer: A pearl
- Riddle: I have a head and a tail but no body. What am I? Answer: A coin
- Riddle: I have words, but I never speak. What am I? Answer: A book
- Riddle: I have legs, but I do not walk. What am I? Answer: A chair
- Riddle: I am harder to catch the faster you run. What am I? Answer: Your breath
- Riddle: I taste better than I smell. What am I? Answer: A tongue.
- Riddle: What starts with T, ends with T, and has T in it? Answer: A teapot
- Riddle: I have many keys, but I can't open a single lock. What am I? Answer: A piano
- Riddle: What word is five letters long and actually becomes shorter when you add two letters to it? Answer: "Short"
- Riddle: A word I know, six letters it contains, remove one letter, and 12 remain. What is it? Answer: "Dozens"
- Riddle: What English word has three consecutive double letters? Answer: "Bookkeeper"
- Riddle: What 5-letter word typed in all capital letters can be read the same upside down?
- Riddle: What common English verb becomes its own past tense by rearranging its letters?
- Riddle: This thing, all things devours: birds, beasts, trees, flowers. Gnaws iron. Bites steel. Grinds stone to dust. Slays king. Ruins town. Pushes tall mountains into the Earth. What is it? Answer: Time
- Riddle: Where do you take a sick boat? Answer: To the dock-tor
- Riddle: How do you spell COW in thirteen letters? Answer: "SEE O DOUBLE YOU"
- Riddle: I have a neck but no head. What am I? Answer: A guitar
- Riddle: What word in the dictionary is spelled incorrectly? Answer: "Incorrectly"
- Riddle: I begin with an "E" and contain just one letter. What am I? Answer: An envelope
- Riddle: What five-letter word is pronounced the same even if you take away four of its letters? Answer: "Queue"
Answer: "SWIMS"
Answer: "Eat"
Wrapping Up
That's it for our list of riddles for adults! Be sure to check back with us soon for more ways to keep your brain happy and healthy. You can also sign up for our newsletter so you don't miss out on what's next!
