Riddles for ESL Practice
IES Tolosa
Riddle #1
What has a face and two hands but no arms or legs?
Theme: Household object
Riddle #2
What instrument can you hear but never see?
Theme: Senses
Riddle #3
What occurs once in a minute, twice in a moment and never in one thousand years?
Theme: Alphabet
Riddle #4
What gets broken without being held?
Hint: This riddle has more than one possible answer.
Riddle #5
I sleep in the day and I fly in the night. I have no feathers to aid my flight. What am I?
Theme: Animals
Riddle #6
If you drop me I'll probably crack, but give me a smile and I'll always smile back. What am I?
Theme: Household object
Riddle #7
I'm sometimes full, but I never overflow. What am I?
Theme: Universe
Riddle #8
Why is six afraid?
Theme: Numbers
Riddle #9: A Tongue Twister!
As I was going to St. Ives,
I met a man with seven wives,
Each wife had seven sacks,
Each sack had seven cats,
Each cat had seven kits:
Kits, cats, sacks, and wives,
How many were there going to St. Ives?
Hint: Don’t let the rhymes trick you.
Riddle #10: Critical Thinking
“First think of the person who lives in disguise,
Who deals in secrets and tells naught but lies,
Next tell me what’s always the last thing to mend,
The middle of middle and end of the end?
And finally give me the sound often heard,
During the search for a hard-to-find word.
Now string them together, and answer me this,
Which creature would you be unwilling to kiss?”
Hint: Think about this riddle in parts.
Answer Key