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HomeTricky riddles for ages 11 to 14
Riddles for older children who like a challenge. Many hide the answer in plain sight, in the spelling of a word or a second meaning, so read each one carefully.
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I speak without a mouth and hear without ears. I have no body, but I come alive with sound bouncing off walls. What am I?
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An echo. An echo is your own sound bouncing back off a wall or cliff. It ‘speaks’ without a mouth.
I am always in front of you, but you can never see me. What am I?
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The future. The future is always ahead of you, but nobody can see it yet.
What can you hold in your left hand but never in your right hand?
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Your right hand. Your left hand can hold your right hand, but your right hand can't hold itself!
I am taken from a mine and shut in a wooden case, from which I am never released, yet almost everyone uses me. What am I?
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Pencil lead. The “lead” (really graphite) is mined, then sealed inside a wooden pencil.
What has a bottom at the top?
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Your legs. The top of your legs is where your bottom is!
What five-letter word has one left when two letters are removed?
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Stone. Take “st” away from “stone” and you are left with “one”!
What kind of tree can you carry in your hand?
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A palm. The flat inside of your hand is called your palm!
What walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon and three legs in the evening?
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A person. A baby crawls on all fours, an adult walks on two legs, and an old person uses a walking stick. (Morning, noon and evening stand for the stages of life.)
What goes through cities and fields but never moves?
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A road. A road stretches through towns and fields, but it stays in one place.
Which building has the most storeys?
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A library. A library is full of stories (in books)! It is a play on “storeys” and “stories”.
What has many teeth but cannot chew, and cuts wood in a carpenter’s hands?
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A saw. A saw has sharp teeth along its blade for cutting wood.
I have a spine and many leaves, but I am not a plant. I have pages to read. What am I?
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A notebook. A notebook has a spine and “leaves” (sheets of paper).
I am a word that sounds the same when you take away four of my five letters. What am I?
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Queue. “Queue” without “ueue” leaves “Q”, which sounds the same!
What has a head like a cat, feet like a cat and a tail like a cat, but isn’t a cat?
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A kitten. A kitten is a baby cat, so it is not (yet) a cat!
A plane crashes exactly on the border of two countries. Where are the survivors buried?
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Survivors aren’t buried. Survivors are alive, so they aren’t buried at all!
What has a face that never frowns, two hands that never wave, and it lives on a tower in London?
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Big Ben. Big Ben is the famous clock tower in London (its real name is the Elizabeth Tower).
What do you call words that sound the same but are spelled differently, like “sea” and “see”?
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Homophones. Homophones sound alike but have different spellings and meanings.
What is always coming but never arrives?
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Tomorrow. When tomorrow comes, it becomes today!
Which number, when written as a word, has its letters in alphabetical order?
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Forty. F, O, R, T, Y are in alphabetical order!
I am a place where you can find thousands of words, yet I am not a book. I sit in your phone or computer and fix your spelling. What am I?
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A spellchecker. A spellchecker compares your words with a built-in word list.
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