Forward I am heavy, but backward I am not. What am I?
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Ton
“Ton” is a heavy weight, and spelled backward it reads “not.”
Hard Riddles: 20 Brain Teasers with Answers
Classic brain teasers and lateral-thinking puzzles that need a second look. Think before you tap, because the answer is often simpler than it seems.
What is so fragile that saying its name breaks it?
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Silence
As soon as you say “silence,” the quiet is gone.
The more of it there is, the less you can see. What is it?
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Darkness
The darker it gets, the less you can see.
I have branches, but no fruit, no trunk and no leaves. What am I?
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A bank
A bank has branches in many towns.
What runs around a whole yard without moving?
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A fence
A fence surrounds the yard, but it stays still.
What belongs to you, but other people use it more than you do?
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Your name
People say your name much more often than you do.
A man looks at a photo and says, “Brothers and sisters I have none, but that man’s father is my father’s son.” Who is in the photo?
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His son
The man has no brothers, so “my father’s son” is himself. That makes the man in the photo his son.
I am taken from a mine and shut inside a wooden case. I am never let out, but almost everyone uses me. What am I?
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Pencil lead
The “lead” of a pencil is graphite, which is mined and then put inside the wood.
I am a five-letter word, and you can skip me across a pond. Take away two letters and only one is left. What am I?
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Stone
Skipping stones is a pond game, and if you take away “st” from “stone,” the word “one” is left.
What tastes better than it smells?
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Your tongue
You taste with your tongue, and a tongue does not have a smell of its own.
What can be cracked, made, told and played?
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A joke
People crack a joke, make a joke, tell a joke and play a joke on someone.
A cowboy rides into town on Friday. He stays for three days and then rides out on Friday. How is that possible?
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His horse is named Friday
The cowboy arrives on a horse called Friday, and he leaves on the same horse.
What is at the end of a rainbow?
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The letter W
The word “rainbow” ends with the letter W.
A man is found dead in an empty field with an unopened package next to him. What is in the package?
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A parachute
The man fell from a plane when his parachute did not open.
Which word in the dictionary is spelled wrong?
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Wrong
Every time you spell the word “wrong,” you spell it “wrong” — the word itself.
I am not alive, but I grow. I do not have lungs, but I need air. I do not have a mouth, but water kills me. What am I?
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Fire
Fire spreads, needs oxygen to burn and goes out when it gets wet.
What can you break without ever touching it or dropping it?
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A promise
A promise breaks when you do not keep it.
You see me once in June, twice in November and not at all in May. What am I?
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The letter E
June has one E, November has two and May has none.
A woman shoots her husband and holds him underwater for five minutes. Then she hangs him. Right after that, they go out to dinner together. How?
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She was a photographer, and she shot, developed and hung a photo
She took his photo, put it in the developer for five minutes and then hung it up to dry.
A man lives on the 20th floor. Every day he rides the elevator down, but coming home he rides up only to the 10th floor and walks the rest. On rainy days he goes all the way up. Why?
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He is short and can only reach the 10th-floor button, but on rainy days he has an umbrella
The umbrella lets him press the button for the 20th floor.