The Best What Am I Riddles 300 Riddles, Brainteasers and Puzzles For The Whole Family
The Best What Am I Riddles 300 Riddles, Brainteasers and Puzzles For The Whole Family
M. Prefontaine
M. Prefontaine has asserted his moral right to be identified as the author of this work in
accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise
without the prior permission of the copyright owner.
Published by MP Publishing
Copyright © 2018
Introduction
This is a fun book of 300 traditional ‘What am I?’ riddles for the whole
family.
They are designed to test logic, lateral thinking as well as memory and
to engage the brain in seeing patterns and connections between
different things and circumstances.
The book is split into four chapters graduating in difficulty, in the view
of the author, as you move through the book.
If all else fails, the answers are at the back of the book.
Contents
Introduction
EASY
MEDIUM
DIFFICULT
FIENDISH
EASY ANSWERS
MEDIUM ANSWERS
DIFFICULT ANSWERS
FIENDISH ANSWERS
EASY
1. 100 feet in the air but back on the ground.
What am I?
3. I have no fingers, but I can still point. I have no but arms, but I can
still strike. I have no feet, but I can still run.
What am I?
4. I can be used to build castles, but I crumble in your hands. I can help
you to see and am found all around the lands.
What am I?
5. You heard me once, and then again. Afterwards I fade away, until
you call me again.
What am I?
6. Sometimes I can run but do not walk. Wherever I go you will follow
close behind.
What am I?
7. Everyone needs me and wants me, yet everyone gives me away every
day.
What am I?
9. I have many rings and get a brand new one every year, but they are
not worth much. They will let you tell how old I am.
What am I?
10. Kings and queens may cling to power, and the jesters may have
their call. However, I can defeat them all.
What am I?
12. I am a time of year for gathering crops. Remove the first three
letters I become something you can wear.
What am I?
13. I only exist when you are here. Where you never were, I can never
be.
What am I?
14. I have a head and I have a tail, but my eyes can never see my tail.
What am I?
16. I am lighter than what I am made of. You can see a part of me, but
more of me is hidden underneath.
What am I?
17. I cannot be stolen, but I can be given out. I am owned by all, those
with too little will have doubts.
What am I?
21. I can speak but have a metal tongue. I cannot breathe, for I have no
lung.
What am I?
30. I am the only vegetable or fruit that is never sold frozen, canned,
processed, or in any other form but fresh.
What am I?
33. I am the type of room you cannot enter or leave. I rise from the
ground below. I could be poisonous.
What am I?
40. You can hold me in your left hand but not your right.
What am I?
47. I am an instrument that you can hear, but you cannot touch or see
me.
What am I?
51. You can catch me, but you cannot throw me anywhere.
What am I?
56. On the outside, I have beige walls which surround a castle of the
purest white, and a treasure of liquid gold hides in the center.
What am I?
60. You have one, but others use yours more than you do.
What is it?
65. I help engines to turn and can hold your trousers to stay up.
What am I?
66. My voice is tender, my waist is slender and I am often invited to
play. Yet wherever I go I must take my bow otherwise I have nothing to
say.
What am I?
67. The eight of us go forth to protect our king from the enemy’s attack.
What am I?
71. Tear me off and scratch my head. What was once red is now black.
What am I?
3. The more holes that you cover the lower I will go.
What am I?
4. You use me from your head to your toes, the more I do the less of me
remains.
What am I?
5. I will always run but never walk, often murmur but never talk I have
a bed but never sleep and have a mouth but never eat.
What am I?
8. My clothes come off when you put on your clothes. However, I get
them back when you take your clothes off.
What am I?
11. I sleep when you are awake, I am awake when you fall asleep. I can
fly but have no feathers to aid my flight.
What am I?
12. I am all around you, but you cannot see me. I have no throat but
can roar. I am welcomed during the summer but despised in the winter.
What am I?
13. I love to twist and dance. I have no wings, but I fly high up into the
sky.
What am I?
14. You throw me out when you use me and take me in when you are
done.
What am I?
15. I am gold and can be black and white, I'm a symbol for a nation,
when freedom took flight.
What am I?
16. I provide light, yet I am solid. Without me you would feel enclosed.
I do not like being touched, especially with a lot of force. I like to be in
buildings.
What am I?
17. I am an unruly field that reaches far. Yet I have no tracks and am
crossed without paths.
What am I?
18. My tail is long, my coat is brown, I like the country, I like the town.
I can live in a house or live in a shed, And I come out to play when you
are in bed.
What am I?
19. I am the word that has three syllables and twenty six letters.
What am I?
20. Six legs, two heads, two hands, one long nose. Yet I use only four
legs wherever I go.
What am I?
21. I'm not a bird, but I can fly through the sky. I'm not a river, but I'm
full of water.
What am I?
22. I am a drum which beats a sound without being touched, and once I
am silent it will be the death of you.
What am I?
23. Brothers and sisters, have I none, but this man’s father is my
father’s son.
Who is he?
24. I am the kind of nut that is empty at the center and have no shell.
No plant will ever grow from me.
What am I?
27. I am gentle enough to soothe your skin, light enough to fly in the
sky, strong enough to crack rocks.
What am I?
28. I am a seed with three letters in my name. Take away the last two
and I still sound the same.
What am I?
30. I have no eyes and no legs. I have no ears and am strong enough to
move the earth.
What am I?
31. I only point in one direction, but I guide people around the world.
What am I?
33. A man shaves several times a day, yet he still has a beard.
Who is this man?
36. There are 5 small items used every day you'll find in ‘a Tennis
Court’.
What are they?
37. I have four wings, but cannot fly, I never laugh and never cry; on
the same spot I'm always found, toiling away with little sound.
What am I?
38. I have a tongue but cannot taste. I have a soul but cannot feel.
What am I?
39. I have an eye but cannot see. I’m faster than any man alive yet have
no limbs.
What am I?
40. You can swallow me but I can also swallow you up as well.
What am I?
42. You wear me every day but you never put me on. I will change
colors if you leave me outside too long.
What am I?
45. I cannot hear or even see, but sense light and sounds that there may
be. Sometimes I end up on the hook, or even deep into a book.
What am I?
48. I am two. Without one or the other both would not exist.
What am I?
51. I have a trunk but am not an elephant. I have a bark but am not a
dog. I am made from fresh air.
What am I?
53. I am always found two in a coffin. I love to start a fight, and two of
me make a difference.
What am I?
56. I can hurt without moving and poison without touching. I bear both
truth and lies and am not judged by our size.
What am I?
59. I drive away my customers, but they are still happy to pay me.
What am I?
62. I am not a bird, but I can fly through the sky. I am not a river but
am full of water.
What am I?
64. Every dawn begins with me and at dusk I will be the first you see.
Daybreak couldn’t come without me.
What am I?
65. I have a frame but no pictures. I have two poles, but they are lying
flat.
What am I?
66. I am sometimes light and sometimes dark and swim amongst the
twinkling lights. Seas and oceans obey me but mountains I cannot
move.
What am I?
69. I am white and perfect for cutting and grinding. I am a useful tool
for most mammals.
What am I?
70. I am a word which becomes longer when the third letter is removed.
What am I?
71. I never was but always will be. No one ever saw me, but everyone
knows I exist.
What am I?
72. I row quickly with four oars yet never come out from under my
roof.
What am I?
73. Glittering points that downward thrust. Sparkling spears that never
rust.
What am I?
75. I am the number you get when you multiply all the numbers on a
telephone together.
What am I?
DIFFICULT
1. You throw away my outside and then eat what is inside. Then you
throw away the inside.
What am I?
3. I am black, but light can be shone on me. Different lights will make
me change size.
What am I?
4. I am soft and hairy from door to door. I am the pet that always stays
in the house and on the floor.
What am I?
6. As I get hotter I get bigger and climb ever higher. However, I can
never escape from my glass prison.
What am I?
7. I open my jaws when you poke two fingers in me. I especially like to
devour papers.
What am I?
10. When you see me at work I am blue, but when you see me at rest
I'm red. You don't see me too often. I'm there for you if you're hurt,
but I'm vital for you if you are hurt or not.
What am I?
11. You can throw me off from the highest building and I won’t break,
but I will break if you place me in water.
What am I?
12. I am a box who holds keys but not locks. With the right
combination of keys, I may unlock your soul.
What am I?
13. H,I,J,K,L,M,N,O
What am I?
14. I can be driven but have no wheels. I can be sliced but remain
whole.
What am I?
17. I can be repeated but rarely in the same way. I can't be changed but
can be rewritten. I can be passed down but should not be forgotten.
What am I?
18. I have many wheels but move I do not. Call me what I am, call me a
lot.
What am I?
20. I turn around once. What is out will not get in. I turn around again.
What is in will not get out.
What am I?
22. I have no head, and a tail I lack, but I do have arms, and legs, and
back; I inhabit the palace, the tavern, the cot, 'tis a beggarly residence
where I am not.
What am I?
25. I’m the part of the bird that’s not in the sky. I can swim in the
ocean and yet remain dry.
What am I?
29. The first two letters of an English word refer to a man, the first
three refer to a woman, the first four to a great man and the whole
word to a great woman.
What am I?
31. I move slowly but I'm dead. I leave and then I'm back. I'm clear
and then I'm red. I'm many neurotics' snack.
What am I?
32. With pointed fangs I sit and wait, with piercing force I serve out
fate. Grabbing bloodless victims, proclaiming my might, physically
joining with a single bite.
What am I?
34. Countless blades that do not cut but am cut by kids to make a buck.
What am I?
35. Late afternoons I often bathe. I'll soak in water piping hot. My
essence goes through my see-through clothes. Used up I've gone to pot.
What am I?
36. I have a long neck, a name of a bird and feed on cargo of ships. I am
not alive.
What am I?
39. Although I'm far from the point, I'm not a mistake. I fix yours.
What am I?
40. No matter how much rain falls I won’t get any wetter.
What am I?
41. I stare at you, you stare at me. I have three eyes yet can't see. Every
time I blink, I give you commands. You do as you are told, with your
feet and hands.
What am I?
42. I am a sport that starts with a T, has four letters, and is played
around the world.
What am I?
43. You can easily touch me, but not see me. You can throw me out, but
not away.
What am I?
44. I get dirty in about 5 days but it takes 5 minutes to clean me. It
takes a long time for me to be long but I can be short in 5 seconds.
What am I?
47. People look at me all the time. I have a large vocabulary. I can teach
people a lot of new things. I can be mysterious, funny, adventurous,
romantic, scary, and sad. I tell stories. I can take people to other
worlds.
What am I?
49. I don't have eyes, but once I did see. Once I had thoughts, but now
I'm white and empty.
What am I?
50. Whoever makes it, tells it not. Whoever takes it, knows it not. And
whoever knows it wants it not.
What am I?
51. I fly after I am first born, but then will lie down. After I die I will
run away.
What am I?
52. I am a letter but am nowhere in the periodic table.
What am I?
54. I am long, thin and twisting but can turn one story into another.
What am I?
55. I am a heavy seven letter word. If you take away two you are left
with eight.
What am I?
56. I am a house that will last far longer than any mason, builder or
carpenter will build.
What am I?
57. You put me in dry and I get wet. The longer I stay in the stronger it
will get.
What am I?
58. My blades are slashed by another’s blades, but I lie low to survive. I
am busiest during the summer.
What am I?
59. I have cold head and feet and am as round as a ball. I am always
turning on myself.
What am I?
60. I am an old relative who’s hands can’t hold anything and who’s eyes
can’t see anything.
What am I?
63. When I get closer my tail gets longer, but as I move away my tail
leads the way.
What am I?
66. I soar without any wings, I see without eyes. I have traveled the
universe and conquered the world yet never left home.
What am I?
75. Too much for one, enough for two, but nothing for three.
What am I?
FIENDISH
1. When I am skinny I am fast, but when I am fat I am slow, but I'll still
delight you from your eyes to your nose.
What am I?
2. Thirty men and only two women, but the women are the strongest.
They are all dressed in black or white and they can fight for hours.
What am I?
3. I have a name, but it is not mine, and no one cares about me in their
prime. People cry at my sight and lie by me all day and night.
What am I?
4. I go up and I go down, towards the sky and the ground. I'm present
and past tense too. Let's go for a ride, me and you.
What am I?
5. I have a ring but no fingers. I used to stay still all the time, but
nowadays I follow you around.
What am I?
8. I have cities but have no people, forests but no trees, and oceans with
no water.
What am I?
10. Sometimes I fly as fast as the speed of light. Sometimes I can crawl
as slow as a snail. You will certainly miss me when I'm gone.
What am I?
11. I am a rock group with four members. All dead and one was
assassinated.
What am I?
12. I am a food with 5 letters. If you remove the first letter I am a form
of energy. Remove two and I'm needed to live. Scramble the last 3 and
you can drink me down.
What am I?
13. I have a hundred legs, but cannot stand. I have a long neck, but no
head. I cannot see, but I help keep your house neat and tidy.
What am I?
14. I can hiss like bacon frying. I am made with an egg, I have plenty of
backbone, but lack a good leg. I peel layers like onions. I can be long,
like a flagpole, yet fit in a hole.
What am I?
16. I dig out tiny caves, and store gold and silver in them. I also build
bridges of silver and make crowns of gold. Sooner or later everybody
needs my help, yet many people afraid to let me help them.
What am I?
17. I have long legs, crooked thighs, little head, and no eyes.
What am I?
18. My top and bottom both equal are, my waist is as slender as a bee’s.
Whether I stand on my head or my base I am quite the same. But if my
head should be cut off I to nothing change.
What am I?
22. When I take five and add six. I get eleven, but when I take six and
add seven, I get one.
What am I?
23. I open to close but I close to open. I'm surrounded by water but I'm
never soaking.
What am I?
24. I have a neck and no head, two arms but no hands. I'm with you to
school, I'm with you to work.
What am I?
25. I have three eyes and only one leg. Obey me or you will be sorry.
What am I?
26. I have two legs and they only touch the ground when I am not
moving.
What am I?
27. I am a sport in which the winners move backwards, and the losers
move forward.
What am I?
28. You go in through one hole, you come out through three holes. Once
you’re inside you’re ready to go outside, but once you’re outside you’re
still inside.
What am I?
29. There is a green house. Inside the green house, there is a white
house. Inside the white house, there is a red house. Inside the red house,
there are lots of babies.
Who am I?
30. In my core I have 5. But 500 stand in the beginning and the end of
mine. I also include the first letter and the first number to make me
complete. I am the name of a King.
Who am I?
31. I am a ten-letter word that can be created using only the top row of
letters on a typewriter.
What am I?
33. I am a house and has post on top, a roof at the bottom, while the
rainwater comes from below.
What I am?
34. When the day after tomorrow is yesterday, today will be as far from
Wednesday as today was from Wednesday when the day before
yesterday was tomorrow.
What day is tomorrow?
35.
16, 06, 68, 88, ?, 98
What number replaces the question mark?
38. I can bring tears to your eyes; resurrect the dead, make you smile,
and reverse time. I form in an instant but I last a life time.
What am I?
39. There are many different kinds but the one you pick doesn’t do its
job.
What am I?
40. If you throw me out of the window, I'll leave a grieving wife. Bring
me back, but through a door, you'll see someone giving life.
What am I?
41. I am something, a lot of people don't like me, including you,but I'm
called upon anytime one is injured. I like playing with pregnant
women, I'm a 5 letter word, and if my last letter is put before first
letter, I become a name of a country.
What am I?
42. I'm made up of 12 completely different letters, but you can type me
with just 1.
What am I?
43. I am a fruit. You cross off the first letter I am a crime. Cross of the
second letter I’m an animal. Cross off the next two letters I am a vowel.
What am I?
44. I have an eye but cannot see, take time to generate, and can
dissipate in seconds.
What am I?
47. I sit high glowing and watch the world go by, without me everything
would seem dull and dangerous.
What am I?
48. Only one color, but not one size, stuck at the bottom, yet easily flies,
present in sun, but not in rain, doing no harm, and feeling no pain.
What am I?
49. XLR8
What word am I?
51. As a whole, I am both safe and secure. Behead me, and I become a
place of meeting. Behead me again, and I am the partner of ready.
Restore me, and I become the domain of beasts.
What am I?
52. I am an English word of six letters. The last three letters are the
past tense of its first three letters.
What am I?
53. I am a 5 letter word which when printed in capitals can be read the
same upside down.
What am I?
54. I am made of wood but cannot be sawed.
What am I?
56. I am not a pool but have a cover. I am not a tree but I have leaves. I
am not a shirt but have sleeves. I am not slave but am bound.
What am I?
58. I am three words that sound the same. One you can smell, one is
delivered and the last you can spend.
What am I?
60. I have two meanings. One is to be broken and the other is to hold
on.
What am I?
61. My first two letters say my name and my last asks a question. What
I embrace I destroy eventually.
What am I?
62. I have two bodies which are joined together as one. When I stand
still I run and run.
What am I?
64. With a halo of water and a tongue of wood. A body of stone has
long stood.
What am I?
65. My head bobs lazily in your lawn. Many think I am cute with my
face of yellow and hair of white.
What am I?
66. If you break me then I am better than I was before, and harder to
be broken again.
What am I?
67. When you stop and look you can always see me. If you try to touch
me you cannot feel me. I cannot move but as you get closer to me I
move away.
What am I?
75. You can always find me in the past. I can be created in the present,
but the future will never taint me.
What am I?
EASY ANSWERS
1. An upside down centipede
2. A cat
3. A clock
4. Sand
5. An echo
6. Your nose
7. Money
8. An egg
9. A tree
10. Aces
11. Nose
12. Harvest
13. Reflection
14. A coin
15. Stars
16. An iceberg
17. Knowledge
18. Strawberry
19. A chalkboard
21. A bell
22. A peacock
25. Darkness
26. Edam
27. A musician
29. Breath
30. Lettuce
31. Light
33. Mushroom
34. A kangaroo
35. Ohio
36. A hole
37. Boxing ring
38. Not
41. Windows
43. Time
45. Tomorrow
46. Frost
48. A ruler
49. Fire
50. Comb
51. A cold
52. The letter ‘T’. They are the first letters of one to ten.
54. Troublesome
55. Infinity
56. An egg
57. Nothing
58. A rainbow
61. A horse
62. Water
63. An accountant
64. A starfish
65. A belt
66. A violin
67. Pawns
68. Moose
69. Q
70. Joke
71. Match
72. Teapot
74. Letter O
75. A crown
MEDIUM ANSWERS
1. A breath
2. The letter E
3. A recorder
4. A bar of soap
5. A river
6. A keyhole
7. An eye
8. A clothes hanger
9. A needle
10. A fart
11. A bat
13. A kite
14. An anchor
15. An eagle
16. Windows
19. Alphabet
20. A horseman
21. A cloud
22. A heart
24. Donut
25. A yard
26. Electricity
27. Water
28. Pea
29. Bottle
30. A worm
31. A compass
32. A pillow
33. A barber
34. Sister
35. A monkey
38. A shoe
39. A hurricane
40. Water
42. Skin
43. A telephone
44. An automobile
45. Worm
46. A tongue
47. Carpet
49. Donut
51. A tree
52. A nut
54. Liver
55. Mars
56. Words
57. Cherry
58. An elevator
60. A snowman
61. Saw
62. Clouds
63. EL
64. D
65. Glasses
67. Screw
68. Fingernails
69. Teeth
70. Lounger
71. Tomorrow
72. A turtle
73. Icicles
74. Plate
75. 0
DIFFICULT ANSWERS
1. Corn on the cob
2. The brain
3. The pupil
4. Car-pet
5. Paint
6. Mercury thermometer
7. Scissors
8. A beetle
9. A promise
10. Blood
11. Tissue
12. A piano
15. Sawdust
16. Light
17. History
18. A parking lot
19. Light
20. A key
21. A boat
22. A chair
23. Worm
25. A shadow
26. Clouds
27. A feather
28. A sponge
29. Heroine
30. Number 8
31. Fingernails
32. A stapler
33. A goose
34. Grass
36. A crane
37. A fish hook
38. Bow
39. Eraser
40. Water
42. Golf
44. Hair
45. Time
46. Elevator
47. A book
48. Words
49. A skull
51. A snowflake
53. Music
55. Weights
56. A grave
57. A teabag
58. Grass
61. Abbreviation
62. Forgiveness
63. A comet
64. A thimble
65. Dice
66. Imagination
68. Ankles
69. Beehive
70. Blank
73. Asteroid
2. Chess pieces
3. A grave stone
4. A seesaw
5. A phone
6. A fish
7. A road
8. A map
9. Gloves
10. Time
12. Wheat
13. A broom
14. A snake
15. Zero
16. A dentist
17. Tongs
18. Number 8
19. Die
20. Temper
22. A clock
23. A drawbridge
24. A shirt
26. A wheelbarrow
28. A shirt
30. David
31. Typewriter
32. Unquestionably
33. A boat
38. Memory
39. A lock
40. Taking 'n' out of 'window' creates 'widow'. Putting 'n' into 'door' creates
'donor'.
41. Pains
43. Grape
44. A tornado
45. A pendulum
46. Dice
48. Shadow
49. Accelerate
50. Beauty
51. Stable
52. Seesaw
53. SWIMS
54. Sawdust
55. The NATO phonetic alphabet (Tango, golf, hotel India and Juliet)
56. A book
57. A ship
59. A scarecrow
60. A tie
61. Ivy
62. Hourglass
63. Binary
64. Castles
65. Daisy
66. A record
67. Horizon
68. Ten
69. Is
73. Blame
74. A daughter
75. History