50 Classic Riddles with Answers (2024 Updated)

I’m not alive, but I grow; I don’t have lungs, but I need air; I don’t have a mouth, but water kills me. What am I?

I speak without a mouth and hear without ears. I have no body, but I come alive with wind. What am I?

I’m taken from a mine, and shut up in a wooden case, from which I’m never released, and yet I am used by almost every person. What am I?

I can be cracked, made, told, and played. What am I?

The more of this there is, the less you see. What is it?

I’m always in front of you but can’t be seen. What am I?

What has many keys but can’t open a single lock?

What can travel around the world while staying in a corner?

What has to be broken before you can use it?

I’m tall when I’m young, and I’m short when I’m old. What am I?

What is full of holes but still holds water?

What can you keep after giving it to someone?

I have branches, but no fruit, trunk, or leaves. What am I?

The more you take, the more you leave behind. What am I?

I’m light as a feather, yet the strongest man can’t hold me for more than five minutes. What am I?

What goes up but never comes down?

I have keys but no locks, space but no room, you can enter, but you can’t go outside. What am I?

What gets wetter as it dries?

What can you hold in your right hand but never in your left?

I’m not alive, but I can grow; I don’t have eyes, but I can cry; What am I?

I’m always running, but I never get tired or hot. What am I?

What can be seen in the middle of March and April that can’t be seen at the beginning or end of either month?

What has one eye, but can’t see?

I’m round, I have no legs, but I can run fast. What am I?

I can fill a room, but I take up no space. What am I?

What has a head, a tail, is brown, and has no legs?

I have a heart that doesn’t beat, and a head that doesn’t think, I’m made for you to sit and eat. What am I?

What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?

What has legs but doesn’t walk?

The more you have of it, the less you see. What is it?

I can be long or short; I can be grown or bought; I can be painted or left bare; I can be round or square. What am I?

I have cities but no houses, forests but no trees, and rivers but no water. What am I?

I’m always on the dinner table, but you don’t get to eat me. What am I?

I have no life, but I can die; I serve you by day, and by night, I lie. What am I?

I have a head, I have a tail, but I have no body. What am I?

I can fly without wings, I cry without eyes. Wherever I go, darkness flies. What am I?

The more you take away from me, the bigger I get. What am I?

I can run but never walk; I have a bed but never sleep. What am I?

What is so fragile that saying its name breaks it?

I’m not alive, but I can grow; I don’t have eyes, but I can cry. What am I?

What belongs to you but is used by others more than by yourself?

I am heavy forward, but backward, I am not. What am I?

What comes in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?

I have hands that wave at you but never say goodbye. What am I?

What has roots that nobody sees, is taller than trees, up, up it goes, yet it never grows?

What is always coming but never arrives?

I am not alive, but I grow; I don’t have eyes, but I can cry; What am I?

I have keys but no locks, I have space but no room, you can enter but can’t go outside. What am I?

The more you have of it, the less you see. What is it?

I can fill a room, but I take up no space. What am I?