Kids Riddles

Free printable

Printable riddle sheet — Ages 12–15

32 riddles, ready to print — with the answer key on its own page.

This sheet is made to print. Use your browser's Print option (Ctrl/Cmd + P) or save it as a PDF — the answer key prints on its own page so it's easy to keep separate.

Ages 12–15 — Sharp Minds riddle sheet

32 riddles across 4 categories · write your guess on the line, then check the answer key at the end.

Wordplay

  1. 1. I'm a five-letter word. Even if you remove my last four letters, I'm still pronounced exactly the same. What word am I?

    My guess: ______________________________________________

  2. 2. Which word in the English language is always spelled incorrectly, no matter which dictionary you check?

    My guess: ______________________________________________

  3. 3. I contain cities with no houses in them, mountains with no trees on them, and water with no fish in it. What am I?

    My guess: ______________________________________________

  4. 4. I have a heart, yet it never beats. I have layers you peel away before you find the tender part inside. What am I?

    My guess: ______________________________________________

  5. 5. I'm covered in sharp needles, yet I've never sewn a single stitch in my life. What am I?

    My guess: ______________________________________________

  6. 6. I start out tall, but I get shorter every single time you use me for your schoolwork. What am I?

    My guess: ______________________________________________

  7. 7. I'm an English word made of three doubled letters in a row (like -oo-, -kk-, -ee-). I'm someone who manages a company's financial records. What word am I?

    My guess: ______________________________________________

  8. 8. What do you call a fish that has no eye?

    My guess: ______________________________________________

Math & Logic

  1. 9. Two trains start 300 miles apart and travel toward each other — one at 60 mph, the other at 40 mph. How long until they meet?

    My guess: ______________________________________________

  2. 10. The sum of three consecutive whole numbers is 72. What are the three numbers?

    My guess: ______________________________________________

  3. 11. A rectangular garden is twice as long as it is wide. Its perimeter is 60 meters. What are its dimensions?

    My guess: ______________________________________________

  4. 12. If 5 machines can make 5 widgets in 5 minutes, how long would it take 100 machines to make 100 widgets?

    My guess: ______________________________________________

  5. 13. You have an unmarked 3-liter jug and an unmarked 5-liter jug. How can you measure out exactly 4 liters of water?

    My guess: ______________________________________________

  6. 14. What is the smallest 4-digit palindrome (reads the same forwards and backwards) that is also an even number?

    My guess: ______________________________________________

  7. 15. What is the next number in this sequence: 2, 6, 12, 20, 30, ?

    My guess: ______________________________________________

  8. 16. If you flip a fair coin 3 times, what is the probability of getting at least one heads?

    My guess: ______________________________________________

Lateral Thinking

  1. 17. A man lives on the 12th floor of an apartment building. Every morning he takes the elevator all the way down to the ground floor. Every evening, he rides the elevator back up to only the 7th floor and walks the rest of the way — except on rainy days, when he rides it all the way to the 12th floor. Why?

    My guess: ______________________________________________

  2. 18. A woman 'shoots' her husband, then holds him underwater for five minutes, and finally hangs him up. Five minutes later, the two of them sit down and enjoy a lovely dinner together. How is this possible?

    My guess: ______________________________________________

  3. 19. A man is found dead in a locked room with no windows. The only things in the room are a puddle of water and a rope hanging from the ceiling. How did he die?

    My guess: ______________________________________________

  4. 20. Two men play five games of checkers against other people. Each man wins the same number of games, and there are no ties. How is this possible?

    My guess: ______________________________________________

  5. 21. A boy is rushed to the hospital emergency room. The ER doctor looks at him and says, 'I can't operate on him — he's my son!' But the doctor is not the boy's father. How is this possible?

    My guess: ______________________________________________

  6. 22. How can a man go eight full days without sleep?

    My guess: ______________________________________________

  7. 23. You're in a room with no doors and no windows. All you have is a mirror and a table. How do you get out?

    My guess: ______________________________________________

  8. 24. A cowboy rides into town on Friday, stays for three days, and rides back out on Friday. How is that possible?

    My guess: ______________________________________________

Trivia

  1. 25. What is the chemical symbol for gold?

    My guess: ______________________________________________

  2. 26. In which year did World War II end?

    My guess: ______________________________________________

  3. 27. What is the largest ocean on Earth?

    My guess: ______________________________________________

  4. 28. Who wrote the play 'Romeo and Juliet'?

    My guess: ______________________________________________

  5. 29. What organelle is often called the "powerhouse of the cell"?

    My guess: ______________________________________________

  6. 30. How many sides does a hexagon have?

    My guess: ______________________________________________

  7. 31. About how fast does light travel, in kilometers per second?

    My guess: ______________________________________________

  8. 32. What is the capital city of Australia?

    My guess: ______________________________________________

Answer key — Ages 12–15

Wordplay

  1. 1. Queue — "Queue" and "Q" sound identical.
  2. 2. The word "incorrectly" itself — A classic pun — whatever word you name, the honest answer to "which word is spelled incorrectly" is the word "incorrectly."
  3. 3. A map
  4. 4. An artichoke
  5. 5. A pine tree
  6. 6. A pencil
  7. 7. Bookkeeper — B-O-O-K-K-E-E-P-E-R contains "oo," "kk," and "ee" back to back — a rare feature in English.
  8. 8. A "fsh" — It's missing its "eye" — the letter I.

Math & Logic

  1. 9. 3 hours — Their combined closing speed is 100 mph, and 300 ÷ 100 = 3.
  2. 10. 23, 24, and 25 — n + (n+1) + (n+2) = 72 → 3n + 3 = 72 → n = 23.
  3. 11. 10 meters wide by 20 meters long — l + w = 30 and l = 2w, so 3w = 30, giving w = 10 and l = 20.
  4. 12. 5 minutes — Each machine makes 1 widget every 5 minutes — adding more machines making more widgets in parallel doesn't change that per-machine time.
  5. 13. Fill the 5L jug, pour into the 3L jug until it's full (2L stays in the 5L jug). Empty the 3L jug, then pour that 2L into it. Fill the 5L jug again, then top off the 3L jug (which needs 1 more liter) from it — that leaves exactly 4L in the 5L jug.
  6. 14. 2002 — The last digit has to match the first and be even; 1 is odd, so the smallest working first/last digit is 2, giving 2002.
  7. 15. 42 — The differences between terms increase by 2 each time (4, 6, 8, 10, 12); each term is n×(n+1).
  8. 16. 7/8 — 1 − (probability of all tails) = 1 − (1/2)³ = 1 − 1/8 = 7/8.

Lateral Thinking

  1. 17. He's too short to reach the 12th-floor button, but on rainy days he uses his umbrella to press it.
  2. 18. She's a photographer — she took his photo, developed the film in water, and hung it up to dry.
  3. 19. He stood on a block of ice to hang himself, and the ice melted, leaving behind the puddle.
  4. 20. They aren't playing each other — each man is playing different opponents.
  5. 21. The doctor is the boy's mother.
  6. 22. He sleeps at night. — The riddle plays on "days" meaning daytime hours, not full 24-hour periods.
  7. 23. Look in the mirror, see what you "saw," take the saw, and cut the table in half — two halves make a whole, and you climb out through the hole.
  8. 24. His horse is named Friday.

Trivia

  1. 25. Au
  2. 26. 1945
  3. 27. The Pacific Ocean
  4. 28. William Shakespeare
  5. 29. The mitochondria
  6. 30. 6
  7. 31. About 300,000 km/s
  8. 32. Canberra — A commonly missed fact — Sydney is the biggest city, but Canberra is the capital.

← Back to the on-screen version