1
I can be cracked, made, told, and played. What am I?
A) Code
B) Joke
C) Ice
D) Record
Answer: B — Joke. (You can crack, make, tell, or play a joke.)
You see a room with a single match, a candle, and a fireplace. Which do you light first?
A) Candle
B) Match
C) Fireplace
D) Any of them
Answer: B — Match. (You must light the match before anything else.)
I have keys but open no locks, space but no room, and you can enter but can’t go outside. What am I?
A) Piano
B) Keyboard
C) Doorway
D) Safe
Answer: B — Keyboard.
What goes up and down the stairs without moving?
A) Carpet
B) Handrail
C) Banister
D) Shadow
Answer: A — Carpet.
I have no voice, yet I become loud; I have no legs, yet I can travel. I can be gentle or violent. What am I?
A) Wind
B) Sound
C) Water
D) Thought
Answer: A — Wind.
I build up castles, tear down mountains, make some men blind, help others to see. What am I?
A) Sand
B) Wind
C) Time
D) Stone
Answer: A — Sand. (Sand builds sandcastles, erodes mountains, makes glass for lenses.)
I’m 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?
A) Fire
B) Plant
C) Rust
D) Shadow
Answer: A — Fire. (Needs oxygen, is extinguished by water.)
I’m taken from a mine and shut in a wooden case, from which I’m never released, and yet I’m used by almost everyone. What am I?
A) Coal
B) Pencil lead (graphite)
C) Gold
D) Silver
Answer: B — Pencil lead (graphite). (Mined and encased in wood.)
What can fill a room but takes up no space?
A) Air
B) Light
C) Sound
D) Fog
Answer: B — Light. (It fills space but isn’t a solid volume.)
I have holes all over yet I still hold water. What am I?
A) Sponge
B) Bucket
C) Net
D) Sieve
Answer: A — Sponge.
What can be swallowed, struck, broken, and told?
A) Promise
B) Heart
C) Record
D) Code
Answer: A — Promise.
What has one eye but cannot see and is often found on a farm?
A) Needle
B) Storm
C) Potato
D) Hurricane (trick)
Answer: C — Potato. (Some potatoes have an "eye" but it doesn't see.)
You can find me in Mercury, Earth, Mars and Jupiter, but never in Venus or Neptune. What am I?
A) The letter R
B) Water
C) Life
D) Rings
Answer: A — The letter “R.”
I can run but never walk, have a mouth but never talk, have a head but never weep. What am I?
A) River
B) Clock
C) Car
D) Shadow
Answer: A — River.
I speak without a mouth and hear without ears. I have no body, but I come alive with wind. What am I?
A) Echo
B) Shadow
C) Thought
D) Fire
Answer: A — Echo.
I can be long or short; I can be grown or bought; I can be painted or left bare; what am I?
A) Hair
B) Nail
C) Garden
D) Beard
Answer: A — Hair. (Fits all clues.)
I always follow you and copy your every move, but you can’t touch me or catch me. What am I?
A) Shadow
B) Reflection
C) Echo
D) Memory
Answer: A — Shadow.
I start out tall, but the longer I stand, the shorter I grow. What am I?
A) Candle
B) Tree
C) Mountain
D) Rope
Answer: A — Candle.
I go in hard and dry and come out soft and wet. The longer I’m in, the stronger I get. What am I?
A) Tea bag
B) Bread dough
C) Soap
D) Shampoo
Answer: A — Tea bag. (Steeps in hot water.)
What has cities with no people, forests without trees, and rivers without water?
A) Map
B) Imagination
C) Book
D) Painting
Answer: A — Map.
I’m light as a feather, yet the strongest man can’t hold me for five minutes. What am I?
A) Breath
B) Time
C) Breath (again)
D) Heat
Answer: A — Breath.
You can break me but never touch me. What am I?
A) Silence
B) Promise
C) Record
D) Glass
Answer: A — Silence.
I’m found in socks, scarves and mittens; and often in the paws of playful kittens. What am I?
A) Yarn
B) Cotton
C) Wool
D) Thread
Answer: A — Yarn.
I turn once, what is out will not get in. I turn again, what is in will not get out. What am I?
A) Clock
B) Key
C) Door
D) Lock
Answer: B — Key.
I have a neck but no head, two arms but no hands. What am I?
A) Shirt
B) Tree
C) Lamp
D) Guitar
Answer: A — Shirt. (Has a neck opening and sleeves like arms.)
I can hold something even though I’m full of holes. What am I?
A) Net
B) Strainer
C) Basket
D) Sponge
Answer: A — Net.
The person who makes it sells it. The person who buys it never uses it. The person who uses it never knows they’re using it. What is it?
A) Coffin
B) Medicine
C) Book
D) Map
Answer: A — Coffin.
I am always hungry and must be fed, but if you give me water I soon will die. What am I?
A) Fire
B) Plant
C) Fish
D) Bird
Answer: A — Fire.
The more you take, the more you leave behind. What are they?
A) Footsteps
B) Memories
C) Holes
D) Photographs
Answer: A — Footsteps.
I have a head, a tail, am brown, and have no legs. What am I?
A) Snake
B) Coin
C) Squirrel
D) Penny (variant)
Answer: B — Coin.