Classic Riddles

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

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

The taller I am, the younger I grow. The shorter I become, the older I am. What am I?

What can you break, even if you never pick it up or touch it?

I eat and live. Give me water and I die. I bring warmth but also destruction. What am I?

I show you the world but everything I show you is reversed. I am still when you are still and move when you move. What am I?

I have hands but I cannot clap. I have a face but no eyes to see. I tell you something every moment of the day yet I never speak a word. What am I?

I follow you by day but vanish at night. I copy your every move but have no will of my own. What am I?

I am small but I can open great things. I have no power of my own, yet nothing opens without me. I am cut and shaped for one purpose only. What am I?

I have hundreds of leaves but no roots or branches. I have a spine but no bones. Open me and worlds appear. Close me and they vanish. What am I?

I am black and white and read all over. I am filled with stories but I cannot speak. I age quickly but I never move. What am I?

The more you remove from me, the larger I become. What am I?

I hold great weight without hands or arms. I live at the bottom but rule from below. I am heavy when needed and useless otherwise. What am I?

I always point north but have no opinion. I guide without moving. I am lost without the earth's invisible force. What am I?

I have two faces but only one is shown at a time. I am flipped in moments of indecision. I am small but I built empires. What am I?

I have six faces but only one is ever shown at a time. I have no voice but I decide your fate in games. What am I?

I am sharp when I am young. I grow blunt with age. I help you devour things yet I can fall out. Replace me and I return — once. What am I?

I get better with age but am ruined by heat. I am treasured when old but ignored when young. I come from grapes or grain. What am I?

I help you rise but I never move myself. I stand straight and yet I lean. Climb me and you reach somewhere new. What am I?

I have five rooms but no doors and no windows. Every room is empty yet something lives inside. What am I?

I have an eye but cannot see. I am sharp at one end and hollow at the other. I help hold things together. What am I?

I have a tongue but cannot taste. I carry messages but never speak. Lick me and I seal myself. What am I?

Thousands cross me every day but I never move. I span great distances yet I never travel. What am I?

I go up but I never come down. I am always climbed but I never move. I exist only between two levels. What am I?

I am born in darkness and die when brought to light. I feed the room with my brightness but consume myself in doing so. What am I?

I come in pairs but you never use both at the same time on the same foot. I protect you from the ground but the ground is all I touch. What am I?

I am the window through which you see the world. I never lie yet I am always deceived. Cover me and your world goes dark. What am I?

I have no bones yet I am one of the strongest muscles. I help you eat and speak. I can wound without drawing blood. What am I?

I beat all your life and never rest. Stop me and everything stops. I am the size of your fist but I power everything. What am I?

There are two of us and we never touch each other. We work together all day and night. We take in the invisible and give back the invisible. What are we?

I am harder than wood yet I am alive. I hold you up but you cannot see me. Break me and I heal — but slowly. What am I?

I travel the entire body every minute of the day. I carry life to every corner. I am red but I started darker. What am I?

You use me every moment of your life yet you rarely think of me. I am invisible but essential. Take me away and nothing survives. What am I?

A house with no doors, no windows, and a golden treasure inside. What am I?

The more layers you remove, the more you weep. I am essential in cooking and hated when raw. What am I?

Red on the outside, white on the inside, with seeds at the centre. A teacher's favourite, a doctor's enemy. What am I?

I rise without legs. I need heat to become what I am. I start soft, become hard, then return to soft. What am I?

I am the daughter of water yet when water touches me I die. What am I?

I am always with you in the night. I flee from the smallest light. I am not evil — I am simply the absence of something. What am I?

I have no shape of my own yet I fill any room. I cannot be held yet I choke those who breathe me. I am born from fire but I am not fire. What am I?

I am born from everything yet I am nothing on my own. I settle on every surface you forget. I am the fate of all things eventually. What am I?

I divide without cutting and connect without touching. I am always in between but I belong to neither side. What am I?

Millions walk on me, drive on me, and run on me. I go everywhere but I never move. The more you use me the more worn I become. What am I?

You can see through me but you cannot walk through me without breaking me. I keep the cold out but let the light in. What am I?

I stand all day. I am opened and closed thousands of times yet I never complain. I am your first welcome and last farewell. What am I?

The more you walk towards me, the further I move away. You can always see me but you can never reach me. What am I?

I am dug for the living yet filled by the dead. I cost everything but give nothing back. What am I?

I can be kept or broken. I can be made or lost. I am not a physical thing, yet I carry enormous weight. What am I?

I come when you close your eyes and vanish when you open them. I can terrify or delight you. I feel real yet I never am. What am I?

I can be crystal clear or impossibly blurry. I comfort you or haunt you. I am not real, yet I shape who you are. What am I?

Everyone has it. Nobody can give it away. Nobody can stop it. The more of it you use, the less you have. What is it?

Everyone has me and uses me every day. You were given me at birth. Others call you by me, but you never call yourself by me. What am I?

The more of these you have, the older you are. Yet many people wish for more of them. They come once a year and are celebrated with candles. What are they?

Everyone does it but few remember it. You spend a third of your life doing it. It restores you, heals you, and is ruined by babies. What is it?

Children dread me, teachers love me, parents nag about me. I follow you home but I am not a pet. What am I?

I rule without power, measure without thinking, and am used in school but rarely at weekends. What am I?

I make my mark but can always be undone. I am sharp at first and blunt with use. I am older than the pen. What am I?

Two of us together and I am powerful. Separate us and I am useless. I am sharp but I am for creation not destruction. What am I?

I have no legs yet I run across fields. I am round yet I never travel in a straight line when kicked. I bring people together in their millions. What am I?

Two wheels but no engine. I go where no car can follow. I am powered by the very person I carry. What am I?

I help you see more clearly yet many people forget I am even there. I sit on your face but you look through me not at me. Without me the world is a blur. What am I?

I am a crown for those without a kingdom. I shelter you from sun and rain. Take me off to show respect. What am I?

I fly but I am always tied down. I need the wind and a willing hand. Let go of me and I am lost. What am I?

I am full of nothing yet I bring joy to children everywhere. Pop me and I am gone in an instant. I rise when released. What am I?

I freeze a moment forever but I am never alive. I show you people who may be long gone. I fade over decades but I never forget. What am I?

I have twelve rooms and three hundred and sixty five floors. Each floor is used only once and then discarded. What am I?

I measure time with sand. When I run out, flip me over and I begin again. I am ancient yet as accurate as I ever was. What am I?

I have ribs but no bones. I move through water using human arms. I carry one or two but never more. What am I?

I stand in the sea but never swim. I shine all night but give no warmth. I warn those far away from something near. What am I?

I tick all day and night yet I have no heartbeat. I am precise but I am always slightly wrong. Every hundred years I need to be corrected. What am I?

I clean by getting dirty myself. I disappear as I do my job. I make the invisible visible in bubbles. What am I?

I have six strings but I am not a puppet. I have a body but no organs. Press me in the right places and I sing. What am I?

I have eighty-eight keys but no locks. I am heavy but I make light things. My voice can be gentle as a whisper or thunderous as a storm. What am I?

I have only four strings yet I sang at every royal court in Europe. I am made of wood but I breathe like a living thing. I can make grown men weep. What am I?

I make music without touching a single instrument. My hands tell dozens of people what to do. I face away from the audience. What am I?

I tick like a clock but I do not tell the time. Musicians use me to stay together. I can be fast or slow but I am always perfectly consistent. What am I?

I am the instrument between an artist's hand and the canvas. I can be as fine as a hair or as wide as a hand. I hold colour but I have none of my own. What am I?

I am a blank space waiting to become a world. I am stretched and primed and patient. A great painting begins with me but I am forgotten when the work is done. What am I?

I am a world that exists only in words. I can take years to write and hours to read. I can change how a person sees the world — without showing them a single image. What am I?

I use the fewest words to say the most. I am measured in feet but I do not walk. I can last a thousand years without a single image. What am I?

I am a city of books where nobody lives but countless people visit. I am free to enter but you must return what you take. I hold more voices than any room in the world. What am I?

I am milk that time and bacteria have transformed. I can be fresh and mild or ancient and powerful. Some of me are worth more than gold by weight. What am I?

I am made by a million wings from a million flowers. I never spoil. I have been found in ancient tombs, still edible after thousands of years. What am I?

I have puzzled philosophers for centuries. I feed the world every morning. I am the beginning of nearly every creature that flies. What am I?

I am the largest joint in the human body. I am a hinge that carries your entire weight every time you stand. I am vulnerable yet essential. What am I?

I grow every day of your life and never stop. I protect the most sensitive part of your finger. Cut me and I feel nothing. Tear me and I feel everything. What am I?

I am twelve yards of pure tension. I is one player against one. Nations have wept because of me. What am I?

I am the most debated rule in sport. I require a millimetre's precision. Millions argue about me every weekend. What am I?

I require three of the same thing from one person. I originated in cricket, moved to football, and is celebrated everywhere. What am I?

I am the person everyone argues with but everyone needs. I make decisions in seconds that millions debate for years. I am unpaid at grassroots level and abused at professional level. What am I?

Children turn me and jump through me for hours. I am not a game that can be won. I am a rope that goes nowhere but takes you somewhere. What am I?

I am the smallest bank in the world. I have no interest rates. I must be broken to be emptied. I am shaped like a pig for reasons nobody agrees on. What am I?

I am eaten once a year with fire on top. You make a wish before extinguishing me. I taste the same but I mean more every year. What am I?

I am over in a second yet remembered forever. I cannot be planned and enjoyed simultaneously. I am the gift that needs no wrapping. What am I?

I answer every question you ask yet I know nothing. I repeat your words but I am not a parrot. I am the mountain's reply. What am I?

I am proof of the most ordinary moments of your life. I am printed in seconds and thrown away in seconds. I record the small transactions that add up to who you are. What am I?

You look at me every single day and forget what you see almost immediately. I am the first face you see in the morning. What am I?

I copy everything you do but understand nothing. I have no weight, no voice, no feelings. I am your constant companion who has never spoken a word to you. What am I?

I am the voice of an empty place. I give a cave its character and a mountain its personality. I am yourself, coming back to you. What am I?