Interesting riddles: a collection of simple and fun questions
Riddles value flexible thinking and wordplay, and they’re said to be great for brain exercise and language training.
Indeed, the more associations you can draw from a question and the more words you know, the more riddles you’ll be able to solve.
In this article, we’ll introduce lots of easy and fun riddles!
We’ve included brief explanations along with the answers, so feel free to use them as a reference.
Now, let’s dive in and try some riddles!
Interesting riddles. A collection of simple and fun questions (1–10)
Where is a place where crocodiles are always doing handstands?
See the answer
garden
It’s a riddle where the key is the phrase “the crocodile is upside down.” If you read ‘wani’ (crocodile) backwards, it becomes ‘niwa’ (garden), so the answer was “garden.” Since it had few characters, it might have been a bit easy!
One leg is a needle and the other is a pencil—what is it?
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Compass
A compass has a needle on one side and a pencil on the other, right? If you picture the figure described in the problem statement carefully, many of you might have had a flash of insight.
What sport do grasshoppers like?
See the answer
baseball
In baseball, the person who hits the ball is called a batter. If the word made you think of 'grasshopper' (which sounds the same in Japanese), you might have gotten it right, don’t you think?
What is the ball that has something inside it?
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cardboard
Even though it’s a “ball,” you can put lots of things inside a cardboard box, right? If you’re someone who can think of lots of words that include “ball,” this question was probably easy for you to answer.
What condiment will agree with anything?
See the answer
source
“Sandō shite kureru” means someone will agree with your opinion. The source might be the kind of person who says a breezy “So—ssu!!” and readily agrees to anything.
Why is there a box with grass inside?
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chopstick case
If you put “しば (shiba)” inside “はこ (hako),” it becomes “はしばこ (hashibako).” It’s easier to understand if you think of the problem written entirely in hiragana!
What kind of chair would an octopus sit on?
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Taco rice
It was a riddle where you had to find a word that contains both “tako” (octopus) and “isu” (chair). It might have been a bit difficult. By the way, taco rice is a local dish from Okinawa that consists of taco fillings from Mexican tacos served over rice.
Among breads, which bread is respected by other breads and addressed with the honorific “-san”?
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croissant
The word “croissant” ends with “-san,” which is also a Japanese honorific, doesn’t it? Maybe it’s respected by the other breads.
What animal appears when you put a childcare worker and a musician back-to-back?
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deer
Combining the backs—meaning matching the last letters—of “nursery teacher” and “musician” gives you “deer.” It was a riddle you could solve by interpreting the wording of the question flexibly.
What is the tool where the taller one has faster legs, and the shorter one has slower legs?
See the answer
clock
Since the minute hand makes one full rotation in one hour and the hour hand makes one full rotation in twelve hours, the answer is a clock. The key to solving it was to clearly visualize the situation described in the question and recall a familiar tool.