Riddles are language brain teasers that use lateral thinking in order to come to a conclusion. Some are simple and easy to solve but others can be major head-scratchers and might take some big-time brain power to solve. We’ve compiled several of the latter for your riddling enjoyment.
If you think you’re already a pro at solving tricky riddles, put yourself to the test with these and find out! (Answers are included below.)
#1
What five-letter word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?
The answer is in the question itself.
Answer: Short.
#2
What is seen in the middle of March and April that can’t be seen at the beginning or end of either month?
To get this one right you actually need to get super literal.
Answer: The letter “R.”
#3
What English word has three consecutive double letters?
This one is pretty impossible but use the facts you know about English to get on track. And you must know this is probably going to be a compound word. Now, just wrack your brain!
Answer: Bookkeeper.
#4
What disappears as soon as you say its name?
Hard riddles like this one require you to think logically. The answer seems so simple—but not until you’ve figured it out! Before that moment, it’s got your brain in a twist.
Answer: Silence
#5
What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?
Again, riddles like this often have you crunching the numbers and stretching your brain cells thinking all about time and the way it works. By now, you might’ve figured out that number riddles rarely involve math.
Answer: The letter “M.”
Bonus Riddle:
What word in the English language does the following: the first two letters signify a male, the first three letters signify a female, the first four letters signify a great, while the entire world signifies a great woman. What is the word?
This is hard because it gets you thinking about gender and the ways they’re different. You have to think of one word that holds the others.
Did you figure it out?
Answer: Heroine