Tricky Riddles for Teens
- 15 riddles
- Ages 12-16
- Answers included
These are harder than the rest of the site. Several are lateral thinking puzzles, which means the answer is not hidden in the wording but in an assumption you made without noticing.
If you are stuck, the useful question is not what the answer is. It is which assumption you brought to the question that nobody actually stated.
A man lives on the tenth floor. Every morning he takes the lift down. Coming home he takes it to the seventh floor and walks the rest, except on rainy days when he rides all the way. Why?
Two people are born at the same moment to the same mother on the same day, but they are not twins. How?
A woman shoots her husband, holds him under water for five minutes, then hangs him. Ten minutes later they go out to dinner. How?
What can run but never walks, has a mouth but never talks, has a head but never weeps, has a bed but never sleeps?
A man pushes his car to a hotel and tells the owner he is bankrupt. Why?
Forward I am heavy, backward I am not. What am I?
I am taken from a mine and shut in a wooden case, from which I am never released, and yet I am used by almost everyone. What am I?
A doctor and a boy are fishing. The boy is the doctor's son but the doctor is not the boy's father. Who is the doctor?
What English word has three consecutive double letters?
If you have me, you want to share me. If you share me, you no longer have me. What am I?
A man leaves home, turns left three times and returns home to find two masked men waiting. Who are they?
What occurs once in a minute, twice in a moment, and never in a thousand years?
A rooster lays an egg on the peak of a roof. Which side does it roll down?
You are in a race and overtake the person in second place. What position are you now in?
What is seen in the middle of March and April that cannot be seen at the start or end of either?
Questions about Tricky Riddles for Teens
What is a lateral thinking puzzle?
One where the answer requires questioning an assumption you made rather than working harder at the information given. The lift riddle is the classic example.
What age are these suitable for?
Twelve and above, though a determined ten-year-old will manage several of them, particularly the spelling-based ones.
Why do people get the overtaking riddle wrong?
Because the mind hears 'overtake' and jumps to winning. Overtaking second place puts you in second place, not first.
How should I use these with a group?
Give one riddle and let the group ask yes-or-no questions before guessing. That turns each puzzle into a ten-minute activity rather than a ten-second one.