Riddles - use as starters for S1/2 classes

1. S1 starter

2. An onion
Take off my skin,
I won't cry, but
you will. What
am I?

3. A coat of paint
What kind of coat
can only be put on
wet?

4. A promise
You can’t keep this
until you have
given it. What is it?

5. I’m tall when I’m
young and I’m short
when I’m old. What
am I?
A candle

6. What has one eye
but cannot see?
A needle

7. They come out at night
without being called,
and are lost in the day
without being stolen.
What are they?
The stars

8. What is so delicate
that saying its
name breaks it?
Silence

9. What starts with
the letter “t”, is
filled with “t” and
ends in “t”?
A teapot

10. If I have it, I don’t
share it. If I share
it, I don’t have it.
What is it?
A secret

11. What word
becomes shorter
when you add two
letters to it?
Short

12. The person who makes it
doesn’t need it.
The person who buys it won’t
use it.
The person who needs it
doesn’t know about it.
What is it?
A coffin

13. S1 starter

14. What belongs to
you, but is used
more by others?
Your name

15. If twelve children and
eight dogs were under
an umbrella, how come
none of them got wet?
It wasn’t raining

16. What is the beginning of
eternity, the end of time
and space, the beginning
of every end and the end
of every race?
The letter ‘e’

17. What has rivers with
no water, forests but
no trees and cities
with no buildings?
A map

18. What has a tongue,
cannot walk on its own,
but gets around a lot?
A pair of shoes

19. What has 13 hearts,
but no other organs?
A deck of cards

20. What does December
have that other
months don’t have?
The letter ‘D’

21. What can run, but never
walks? Has a mouth, but
never talks? Has a
head, but never weeps?
Has a bed, but never
A river

22. A doctor and a boy were
fishing. The boy was the
doctor’s son, but the doctor
was not the boy’s father.
Who was the doctor?
His mother

23. What is easy to
get into, but hard
to get out of?
Trouble

24. What occurs once in a
minute, twice in a
moment, but never in a
thousand years?
The letter ‘m’

26. S1 starter
First to answer
correctly gets
2 points…

27. A vicar / priest
He has married many
women but is still
single. Who is he?

28. Racecar
Which vehicle is
spelled the same
forwards and
backwards?

29. A penny / 2p
What has a head, a
tail, is brown, and has
no legs?

30. Fire
I am not alive, but I grow;
I don't have lungs, but I
need air; I don't have a
mouth, but water kills me.
What am I?

31. Gloves
What can you fill
with empty
hands?

32. A telephone
You answer me
though I never ask
you questions. What
am I?

33. There are 4 days
starting with ‘T’.
What are they?
Tuesday, Thursday, today and
tomorrow

34. Lighter than what I am
made of. More of me is
hidden than seen.
An iceberg

35. What gets
wetter the
more it dries?
A towel

36. How could a
cowboy ride into
town on Friday, stay
two days, and ride
out on Friday?
His horse is called Friday…

38. Are you asleep?
What question
can you never
answer "yes" to?

39. Neither, the yolk is yellow
Which is correct to say,
"The yolk of the egg
are white?" or "The
yolk of the egg is
white?"

40. Jack and Jill are goldfish
Jack and Jill are lying on the
floor inside the house,
dead. They died from lack
of water. There is shattered
glass next to them. How
did they die?

41. Four men in a band
Four jolly men sat down to play, And
played all night till the break of day. They
played for cash and not for fun, With a
separate score for every one. When it
came time to square accounts, They all
had made quite fair amounts. Now, not
one has lost and all have gained, Tell me,
now, this can you explain?

42. None. Roosters don’t lay eggs
If a rooster laid a
brown egg and a
white egg, what kind
of chicks would hatch?