150+ Fun and Challenging 5th Grade Riddles to Test Your Smarts

Fifth grade riddles offer the perfect blend of fun and mental challenge for growing minds. These brain teasers help students develop critical thinking skills while providing entertainment during classroom breaks or family game nights. 

From wordplay puzzles to mathematical conundrums, these riddles stretch young thinkers’ abilities without frustrating them. With over 150 options available, teachers and parents can find riddles that match any child’s interests and abilities.

5th Grade Riddles for Kids to Test Their Smarts 🧠

• What has keys but no locks, space but no room, and you can enter but not go in? 🖥️ Answer: A keyboard
• I’m light as a feather, but the strongest person can’t hold me for more than a few minutes. What am I? 
• 💨 Answer: Breath
• The more you take, the more you leave behind. What am I? 
• 👣 Answer: Footsteps
• What has a head and a tail but no body? 
• 💰 Answer: A coin
• What begins with T, ends with T, and has T in it? 🫖 Answer: A teapot
• What gets wetter as it dries? 
• 🧖 Answer: A towel
• What can travel around the world while staying in a corner? 
• 📬 Answer: A stamp
• I’m tall when I’m young, and short when I’m old. What am I? 
• 🕯️ Answer: A candle
• What has an eye but cannot see? 🪡 Answer: A needle
• What has a face and two hands but no arms or legs? 
• ⏰ Answer: A clock
• What five-letter word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it? 
• 📏 Answer: Short (add “er” to make “shorter”)
• What word is spelled incorrectly in every dictionary? 
• 📚 Answer: Incorrectly
• What has 13 hearts but no other organs? 
• 🃏 Answer: A deck of cards
• What can you catch but not throw? 
• 🤧 Answer: A cold
• I’m not alive, but I can grow; I don’t have lungs, but I need air. What am I? 
• 🔥 Answer: Fire
• What gets broken without being held? 
• 🤝 Answer: A promise
• What two words, when combined, contain the most letters? 
• 📫 Answer: Post Office
• What has a neck but no head? 
• 👕 Answer: A bottle
• What can you hold in your right hand but not in your left? 
• 👐 Answer: Your left elbow
• If you drop a yellow hat in the Red Sea, what does it become? 
• 💦 Answer: Wet
• What kind of room has no doors or windows? 
• 🍄 Answer: A mushroom
• What has many teeth but can’t bite? 
• 🪥 Answer: A comb
• What has one eye but cannot see? 
• 🧵 Answer: A needle
• What has legs but doesn’t walk? 
• 🪑 Answer: A table
• What is full of holes but still holds water? 
• 🧽 Answer: A sponge
• What can you break, even if you never pick it up or touch it? 
• 🤐 Answer: A promise
• What runs but never walks, has a mouth but never talks? 
• 🏞️ Answer: A river
• I have branches but no fruit, trunk, or leaves. What am I? 
• 🏦 Answer: A bank
• What can go up a chimney down but can’t go down a chimney up? 
• ☂️ Answer: An umbrella
• What’s black when it’s clean and white when it’s dirty? 
• 📝 Answer: A chalkboard
• What invention lets you look right through a wall? 
• 🪟 Answer: A window
• What has a bottom at the top? 
• 👖 Answer: Your legs
• You see a boat filled with people, yet there isn’t a single person on board. How is that possible? 
• 👫 Answer: All the people on the boat are married, not single
• What has four wheels and flies? 
• 🚛 Answer: A garbage truck
• What gets sharper the more you use it? 
• 🧠 Answer: Your brain

5th Grade Riddles (With Answers) for Curious Young Minds 🤓

• What breaks when you say it? 
• 🤫 Answer: Silence
• I’m found in socks, scarves, and mittens; and often in the paws of playful kittens. What am I? 
• 🧶 Answer: Yarn
• A man who was outside in the rain without an umbrella or hat didn’t get a single hair on his head wet. Why? 
• 👨‍🦲 Answer: He was bald
• What is at the end of a rainbow? 
• 🌈 Answer: The letter W
• What can travel all around the world without leaving its corner? 
• 📮 Answer: A stamp
• What has to be broken before you can use it? 
• 🥚 Answer: An egg
• I have cities, but no houses. I have mountains, but no trees. I have water, but no fish. What am I? 
• 🗺️ Answer: A map
• I’m light as a feather, yet the strongest person can’t hold me for more than 5 minutes. What am I? 
• 😮‍💨 Answer: Breath
• What has a head and a tail but no body? 
• 💲 Answer: A coin
• I add five to nine and get two. How is this possible? 
• 🕒 Answer: When you add 5 hours to 9 o’clock, you get 2 o’clock
• What question can you never answer “yes” to? 
• 😴 Answer: Are you asleep?
• What starts with the letter “t”, is filled with “t” and ends in “t”? 
• ☕ Answer: A teapot
• What is so delicate that saying its name breaks it? 
• 🔇 Answer: Silence
• What belongs to you but others use it more than you do? 
• 📛 Answer: Your name
• A man looks at a painting in a museum and says, “Brothers and sisters I have none, but this man’s father is my father’s son.” Who is in the painting? 
• 👶 Answer: The man’s son
• What has many keys but can’t open a single lock? 
• 🎹 Answer: A piano
• What is always in front of you but can’t be seen? 
• 🔮 Answer: The future
• What has a bottom at the top? 
• 🦵 Answer: Your legs
• What 8-letter word can have a letter taken away and still make a word? Take another letter away and it still makes a word. Keep on doing that until you have one letter left. What is the word? 
• 📝 Answer: Starting → Staring → String → Sting → Sing → Sin → In → I
• What word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it? 
• 📏 Answer: Short (add “er” to make “shorter”)
• I can be cracked, made, told, and played. What am I? 
• 🃏 Answer: A joke
• What is easy to get into but hard to get out of? 
• 🪤 Answer: Trouble
• Name four days of the week that start with the letter “T”. 
• 📆 Answer: Tuesday, Thursday, Today, and Tomorrow
• What goes up but never comes down? 
• 👵 Answer: Your age
• 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? 
• 🔥 Answer: Fire
• What is always coming but never arrives? 
• 📅 Answer: Tomorrow
• What gets bigger when more is taken away? 
• 🕳️ Answer: A hole
• What has four eyes but can’t see? 
• 👓 Answer: Mississippi (it has four letter “i”s)
• What has one head, one foot, and four legs? 
• 🛏️ Answer: A bed
• What 7-letter word becomes longer when the third letter is removed? 
• 📋 Answer: Lounger → Longer
• I run but never walk, I murmur but never talk, I have a bed but never sleep. What am I? 🌊 Answer: A river
• What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years? 🔤 Answer: The letter M
• Why can’t a man living in New York be buried in Chicago? 
• ⚰️ Answer: Because he’s still living
• A farmer has 17 sheep. All but 9 die. How many sheep are left? 
• 🐑 Answer: 9 sheep (all BUT 9 die, meaning 9 are left)
• What kind of tree can you carry in your hand? 
• 🌴 Answer: A palm tree

Easy 5th Grade Riddles to Enjoy and Solve 😊

• What has a face and two hands but no arms or legs? 
• ⏰ Answer: A clock
• What can you catch but not throw? 
• 🤒 Answer: A cold
• What has many teeth but cannot bite? 
• 🪥 Answer: A comb
• What runs around a house but never moves? 
• 🧱 Answer: A fence
• I have branches but no fruit, trunk, or leaves. What am I? 
• 🏦 Answer: A bank
• What has legs but cannot walk? 
• 🪑 Answer: A table
• What has a thumb and four fingers but is not alive? 
• 🧤 Answer: A glove
• What has a neck but no head? 
• 🍾 Answer: A bottle
• What goes up and down but doesn’t move? 
• 🛣️ Answer: A staircase
• What gets wetter as it dries? 
• 🧖‍♀️ Answer: A towel
• What’s full of holes but still holds water? 
• 🧽 Answer: A sponge
• What has one eye but cannot see? 
• 🪡 Answer: A needle
• What has a head and a tail but no body? 
• 💰 Answer: A coin
• What room has no walls? 
• 🍄 Answer: A mushroom
• What is always in front of you but cannot be seen? 
• 📆 Answer: The future
• What is at the end of a rainbow? 
• 🌈 Answer: The letter W
• What is so fragile that when you say its name, you break it? 
• 🔇 Answer: Silence
• I’m tall when I’m young, and short when I’m old. What am I? 
• 🕯️ Answer: A candle
• What can you break even if you never pick it up or touch it? 
• 🤐 Answer: A promise
• What can travel around the world while staying in a corner? 
• 📮 Answer: A stamp
• What has an eye but cannot see? 
• 🌀 Answer: A hurricane
• What begins with an E but only has one letter in it? 
• ✉️ Answer: An envelope
• Which letter of the alphabet has the most water? 
• 💧 Answer: The letter C (sea)
• What type of cheese is made backward? 
• 🧀 Answer: Edam (made spelled backward)
• What has 13 hearts but no other organs? 
• 🃏 Answer: A deck of cards
• What comes once in a year, twice in a month, but never in a week? 
• 🔤 Answer: The letter “N”
• What has keys but no locks? 
• 🎹 Answer: A piano
• What is black when it’s clean and white when it’s dirty? 
• 📝 Answer: A chalkboard
• What kind of band never plays music? 
• 💍 Answer: A rubber band
• What can you catch but not throw? 
• 🤧 Answer: A cold
• Which weighs more, a pound of feathers or a pound of bricks? 
• ⚖️ Answer: They both weigh one pound
• Which month has 28 days? 
• 📅 Answer: All of them
• What question can you never answer “yes” to? 
• 💤 Answer: Are you asleep?
• What has many needles but doesn’t sew? 
• 🌲 Answer: A pine tree
• What invention lets you look right through a wall? 
• 🪟 Answer: A window

Hard 5th Grade Riddles for the Most Clever Students 🤯

• A man walks into a restaurant and asks the waiter for a glass of water. The waiter pulls out a gun and points it at the man. The man says thank you and leaves. Why? 
• 😱 Answer: The man had hiccups, and the waiter scared them away
• If you have me, you want to share with me. If you share me, you haven’t got me. What am I? 
• 🤫 Answer: A secret
• I turn once, what is out will not get in. I turn again, what is in will not get out. What am I? 
• 🔑 Answer: A key
• What is the beginning of eternity, the end of time and space, the beginning of every end, and the end of every race? 
• 🔤 Answer: The letter E
• The person who makes it, sells it. The person who buys it, never uses it. The person who uses it, never sees it. What is it? 
• ⚰️ Answer: A coffin
• What is seen in the middle of March and April that can’t be seen at the beginning or end of either month? 🔤
•  Answer: The letter R
• A woman shoots her husband. Then she holds him underwater for over 5 minutes. Finally, she hangs him. But 5 minutes later they both go out together and enjoy a wonderful dinner together. How can this be? 
• 📸 Answer: The woman is a photographer who took his picture, developed it, and hung it to dry
• During what month do people sleep the least? 
• 📆 Answer: February (because it’s the shortest month)
• There is a one-story house where everything is yellow. The walls are yellow, the doors are yellow, even all the furniture is yellow. What color are the stairs? 
• 🏠 Answer: There are no stairs, it’s a one-story house
• I speak without a mouth and hear without ears. I have no body, but I come alive with wind. What am I? 
• 🔊 Answer: An echo
• How many months have 28 days? 
• 📅 Answer: All 12 months have at least 28 days
• A girl has as many brothers as sisters. Each of her brothers has twice as many sisters as brothers. How many brothers and sisters are in the family? 
• 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Answer: 4 sisters and 3 brothers
• You’re in a race and you pass the person in second place. What position are you in now? 🏃 Answer: Second place
• What starts with a P, ends with an E, and has thousands of letters? 
• 📬 Answer: Post Office
• What is 3/7 chicken, 2/3 cat, and 2/4 goat? 
• 🔤 Answer: Chicago (chi-ca-go)
• If there are four apples and you take away three, how many apples do you have? 🍎 Answer: Three apples (the ones you took)
• Two fathers and two sons went fishing. Each caught exactly one fish. Yet, when they returned, they only had three fish. How is this possible? 
• 🎣 Answer: There were only three people: a grandfather, his son, and his grandson (two fathers and two sons)
• A bus driver was heading down a street in Colorado. He went right past a stop sign without stopping, turned left where there was a “no left turn” sign, and went the wrong way on a one-way street. He didn’t break any traffic laws. How? 🚶 Answer: He was walking, not driving the bus
• What stays where it is when it goes off? 
• 💥 Answer: An alarm
• Forward I am heavy, but backward I am not. What am I? 
• 🐘 Answer: The word “ton” (backward it spells “not”)
• If you were running a race and passed the person in 2nd place, what place would you be in now? 
• 🥈 Answer: 2nd place
• I am an odd number. Take away a letter and I become even. What number am I? 
• 🔢 Answer: Seven (take away the ‘s’ and it becomes ‘even’)
• The day before yesterday I was 17. Next year I’ll be 20. When is my birthday? 
• 🎂 Answer: December 31 (and today is January 1)
• A cowboy rides into town on Friday, stays three days, then leaves on Friday. How is this possible? 
• 🐴 Answer: His horse’s name is Friday
• What building has the most stories? 
• 📚 Answer: A library
• What is put on a table and cut, but is never eaten? 
• 📑 Answer: A deck of cards
• I have cities, but no houses. I have mountains, but no trees. I have water, but no fish. What am I? 
• 🗺️ Answer: A map
• What five-letter word typed in all capital letters can be read the same upside down? 
• 🔄 Answer: SWIMS
• If a rooster lays an egg on the exact peak of a barn roof, which side will the egg roll down? 
• 🐔 Answer: Roosters don’t lay eggs
• A woman gives a beggar 50 cents. The woman is the beggar’s sister, but the beggar is not the woman’s brother. How is this possible? 
• 👫 Answer: The beggar is the woman’s sister
• What makes more noise as it gets smaller? 
• ⏱️ Answer: A countdown timer
• You walk into a room with a rabbit holding a carrot, a pig eating slop, and a chimp holding a banana. Which animal in the room is the smartest? 
• 🧠 Answer: You are (you’re the only human in the room)
• What is always coming but never arrives? 
• 📆 Answer: Tomorrow
• What is as light as a feather, but even the world’s strongest person cannot hold it for more than a minute? 💨 Answer: Their breath
• Using only addition, how can you add eight 8’s to get the number 1000? 
• 🧮 Answer: 888 + 88 + 8 + 8 + 8 = 1000

Conclusion

These 5th grade riddles offer the perfect blend of fun and mental challenge for growing minds. From wordplay to logic puzzles, they develop critical thinking skills while providing entertainment for classroom breaks or family time.

Parents and teachers can use these riddles to engage children’s curiosity and build problem-solving abilities. With options ranging from easy to difficult, there’s something for every child, making learning an enjoyable experience that stretches young minds in playful ways.