Good riddles can leave high school students both stumped and laughing. Trying to solve them and find the answer encourages creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. It’s also a lot of fun! Want to share some with your class? Here’s a list of riddles for high school students to bring some energy to the classroom.
Jump to:
- Classic Riddles for High School Students
- Food & Drink Riddles
- Math & Science Riddles
- Animal Riddles
- School & Learning Riddles
- Holiday & Seasonal Riddles
Classic Riddles for High School Students
1. Which month has 28 days?
All months have 28 days.
2. What do you break before you use it?
An egg.
3. Trees are my home, but I never go inside. When I fall off a tree, I am dead. What am I?
A leaf.
4. I have hands, but I cannot shake your hand. I have a face, but I cannot smile at you. What am I?
A clock.
5. I have no doors, but I have keys. I have no rooms, but I have space. You can enter, but you cannot leave. What am I?
A keyboard.
6. If you drop me on the ground, I survive. But if you drop me in water, I die. What am I?
Paper.
7. What has a bottom at the top?
Your legs.
8. You can hear me, but you cannot see or touch me. What am I?
A voice.
9. What is black and white and read all over?
A newspaper.
10. How can a man go for eight days without sleeping?
He sleeps at night.
11. You live in a one-story house made entirely of redwood. What color are the stairs?
What stairs? It is a one-story house.
12. What do you find at the end of a line?
The letter “E.”
13. Name three consecutive days that aren’t the days of the week.
Yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
14. There are two fathers and two sons in a car. How many people are in the car?
Three people—a grandfather, a father, and a son.
15. Poor people have it. Rich people need it. If you eat it, you die. What is it?
Nothing.
16. What five-letter word reads the same right side up and upside down when written in all caps? *
SWIMS.
17. What has a thumb and fingers but is not alive?
A glove.
18. What is full of holes but holds water?
A sponge.
19. A man shaves throughout the day, yet he has a beard. How?
He is a barber.
20. What has a head and a tail but no body?
A coin.
21. What gets wetter the more it dries?
A towel.
22. What has a neck but no head?
A bottle.
23. What can’t be kept until it is given?
A promise.
24. What goes up but never comes down?
Your age.
25. When I am young, I am tall. I grow shorter as I become older. What am I?
A candle.
26. What has a mouth but cannot eat and runs but has no legs?
A river.
27. What has branches but no leaves or fruits?
A bank.
28. What has 13 hearts but no brains?
A pack of playing cards.
29. What speaks but has no mouth and reproduces but has no body? *
An echo.
30. What has no beginning, end, or middle?
A circle.
31. What grows bigger the more you take away from it?
A hole.
32. What do you place on the table and cut but never eat?
A pack of playing cards.
33. What breaks the moment you say its name?
Silence.
34. During which month do people sleep the least?
February—it has the fewest days.
35. The person who buys me cannot use me, and the person who uses me cannot buy or see me. What am I?
A coffin.
36. You can hear me but cannot see me. I don’t speak until you do. What am I?
An echo.
37. I am hard to find, difficult to leave, and impossible to forget. What am I?
A friend.
38. I have seas with no water, mountains with no land, and towns with no people. What am I?
A map.
39. What can be caught but is impossible to throw? *
A cold.
40. When you have me, you want to share me. But if you share me, you don’t have me any longer. What am I?
A secret.
41. What goes all around the world but stays in one place?
A stamp.
42. What has one eye but cannot see?
A needle.
43. Everyone has me but nobody can lose me. What am I?
A shadow.
44. There was a plane crash and every single person died. Who survived?
Couples.
45. What invention lets you look right through a wall?
A window.
46. They come out at night without being called and are lost in the day without being stolen. What are they?
Stars.
47. What has four legs but can’t walk?
A table.
48. What goes up when rain comes down?
An umbrella.
49. I am your mother’s brother’s brother-in-law. Who am I?
Your father.
50. What has a tongue but never talks, and has no legs but sometimes walks?
A shoe.
51. I am a vegetable that bugs stay away from. What am I?
Squash.
52. Born in an instant, I tell all stories. I can be lost, but I never die. What am I?
A memory.
53. With shiny fangs, my bloodless bite will bring together what’s mostly white. What am I?
A stapler.
54. A plane crashed on the border of the United States and Canada. Where do they bury the survivors?
Nowhere—the survivors are alive.
55. What type of bow can never be tied?
A rainbow.
56. What room do ghosts avoid?
The living room.
57. What can you hold in your right hand but never in your left hand?
Your left hand.
58. What’s always in front of you but can’t be seen? *
The future.
59. What can’t bite you even though it has many teeth? *
A comb.
60. Two boys are born at the same time to the same mother, but they are not twins. How is this possible?*
They’re triplets.
61. What is purple and smells exactly like green paint? *
Purple paint.
62. Veronica’s birthday is on February 3, but her birthday falls in summer. How is that possible? *
She lives in the Southern Hemisphere.
63. The more of this you encounter, the less you’ll be able to see. What is it? *
Darkness.
Food & Drink Riddles
64. I grow richer with alcohol but die with water. What am I?
Fire.
65. I’m layered and and if you peel me, I’ll make you weep. What am I?*
An onion.
66. What room has no windows or doors?
A mushroom.
67. What kind of cup doesn’t hold water?*
A cupcake.
68. You throw away the outside and cook the inside, then eat the outside and throw away the inside. What is it?
Corn on the cob.
69. My first letter is in chocolate but not in ham. My second letter is in cake and jam, and my third is in tea but not in coffee. What am I?
A cat.
70. You are alone at home and sleeping. Your friends ring the doorbell. They have come for breakfast. You have cornflakes, bread, jam, a carton of milk, and a bottle of juice. What will you open first?
Your eyes.
71. How can you drop a raw egg from up high onto a concrete floor without cracking it?
Concrete floors are very hard to crack.
72. I am made of water, but I die when you put water on me. What am I?
Ice.
73. When do you go at red and stop at green?
While eating a watermelon.
74. I am a bird, I am a fruit and I am a person. What am I?*
A Kiwi.
75. I am a fruit with seeds on the outside. What am I?*
A strawberry.
Math & Science Riddles
76. If you multiply this number by any other number, the answer will always be the same. What number is it?
Zero.
77. An apple is 40 cents, a banana is 60 cents, and a grapefruit is 80 cents. How much is a pear?
40 cents. The price of each fruit is calculated by multiplying the number of vowels by 20 cents.
78. Find the number less than 100 that is increased by one-fifth of its value when its digits are reversed.
45 (1/5*45 = 9, 9+45 = 54)
79. Which weighs more, a pound of iron bars or a pound of feathers?
They both weigh the same.
80. What is the center of gravity?
The letter “V.”
81. An electric train is traveling from east to west, and the wind is blowing from north to south. In which direction does the smoke go?
None—electric trains don’t produce smoke.
82. It is lighter than a feather, but you can’t hold it for more than two minutes. What is it?
Your breath.
83. I can fill up a room but take no space. What am I?
Light.
84. I am easy to lift but hard to throw. What am I?
A feather.
85. I am smooth as silk and can be hard or soft. I fall but cannot climb. What am I?
Rain.
86. If you are running a race and you pass the person who is running second, which position are you in?
Second.
87. Forwards I am heavy, but backward I am not. What am I?
Ton.
88. I can be hot, I can be cold, I can run and I can be still, I can be hard and I can be soft. What am I? *
Water.
89. Give it food and it will live; give it water and it will die. What is it? *
Fire.
90. Born in the ocean and white as snow. When I fall back to water I disappear without a trace. What am I? *
Salt.
91. What can eat a lot of iron without getting sick?*
Rust.
Animal Riddles
92. A woman builds a house with all four walls facing south. A bear walks past the house. What color is the bear?
White. It is a polar bear since this must be the North Pole if all walls face south.
93. I have a head like a cat and feet like a cat, but I am not a cat. What am I?
A kitten.
94. A farmer walks toward his field and he sees three frogs sitting on the shoulders of two rabbits. Three parrots and four mice run toward him. How many pairs of legs are going toward the field?
One pair—the farmer’s.
95. How do you spell “cow” in 13 letters?
CEE O DOUBLE YOU.
96. What jumps when it walks and sits when it stands?*
Kangaroo.
97. I sleep by day and fly at night, but I have no feathers to aid my flight. What am I?*
A bat.
98. I am an animal named after the animal that I eat. What am I?*
Anteater.
99. My wings are used as flippers, so in water I can flow. Sometimes when on land I slide on my belly in the snow. What am I?*
A penguin.
100. The strangest creature you’ll ever find: two eyes in front and many more behind. What am I?*
A peacock.
School & Learning Riddles
101. How many books can you pack inside an empty backpack?
One. It is no longer empty after that.
102. What is the longest word in the dictionary?
Smiles, because there is a mile between each ‘s.’
103. Where does divorce come before marriage?
In the dictionary.
104. What starts with a P and ends with an X and has hundreds of letters in between?
A postbox.
105. What can be found at the beginning of eternity, the end of time and space, and the beginning of every end?
The letter “E.”
106. What vehicle is a palindrome?
Racecar.
107. There is only one word spelled wrong in the dictionary. What is it?
W-R-O-N-G.
108. What begins with T, finishes with T, and has T in it?
A teapot.
109. What gets sharper the more you use it?
Your brain.
110. Which English word has three consecutive double letters?
Bookkeeper.
111. What becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?
The word “short.”
112. What can you find in a minute or an hour but never in a day or a month?
The letter “U.”
113. What is the only English word with “ii” in it?
Skiing.
114. What is the only English word with “uu” in it?
Vacuum.
115. Kate’s mother has four daughters: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and _____. What is the name of the fourth daughter?
Kate.
116. It has keys, but no locks. It has space, but no room. You can enter, but can’t go inside. What is it?*
A keyboard.
Holiday & Seasonal Riddles
117. I’m green in March and worn for luck, but I can fit in your hand.*
A shamrock.
118. I’m cracked, dyed, hidden, and found.*
An Easter egg.
119. I’m lit one by one across several nights to bring more light, not heat.*
A menorah/hanukkiah.
120. I’m a cookie you might like to eat, and some might say I’m a favored holiday treat. I have brown arms, eyes and don’t forget my feet. What am I?*
A gingerbread man.
121. I am opened each day and have many doors. Inside each is a small surprise. What am I? *
An advent calendar.
122. I’m covered before I’m seen and torn open to be used. What am I?*
A wrapped present.
123. I am a plant seen every Christmas that people hang up above. When underneath it, they kiss someone they love. What am I?*
Mistletoe.
124. If the end of the year is December 31st, what is the end of Christmas?*
The letter ‘s.’
125. I arrive at midnight without footsteps, and my first act is to change every calendar.*
New Year’s Day.