Trick questions are a great way to stimulate your brain and have a little fun at the same time. No matter how smart you are, trick questions will find a way to stump you.
Logic, rationale, and common sense will not necessarily hold your hand through these questions. Some of them are funny, some rely on wordplay, and some involve changing your perspective on how one looks at things.
Many times, the first thought in your head will be the incorrect answer. You would have to think a step further to crack them. Use these questions to trick your friends and use them to start conversations in social settings!
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trick questions Quiz
The list below has tricky and clever questions that will have your friends wracking their brains for the right answer. They can be easily slipped into conversations at parties, at work with your colleagues, and at school with your schoolmates. Teachers and camp counselors can also use the following questions to pique the interest of the children they are responsible for.
Mind Trick Questions
- Question – If you sit a cup on the table facing south with you are on the north side of the table, on which side is the cup’s handle?
Answer – The handle is always on the outside no matter which way the cup is turned.
- Question – What is always coming, but never arrives?
Answer – Tomorrow
- Question – Who is bigger, Mr. Bigger, Mrs. Bigger, or their baby?
Answer – The baby, since he is a little Bigger
- Question – What can be broken, but is never held?
Answer – A promise
- Question – What has a head, a tail, but does not have a body?
Answer – A coin
- Question – What can you hold without touching it at all?
Answer – A conversation
- Question – What is it that lives if it is fed, and dies if you give it a drink?
Answer – A fire
- Question – What happened when the wheel was invented?
Answer – It caused a revolution
- Question – What word would you use to describe a man who does not have all his fingers on one hand?
Answer – Normal, because people usually have half their fingers on one hand.
- Question – What is it that goes up, but never comes down?
Answer – Age
- Question – What can one catch that is not thrown?
Answer – A cold
- Question – What goes up and down, but always remains in the same place?
Answer – Stairs
- Question – Two mothers and two daughter went out to eat, everyone ate one slice of pizza, yet only three slices were eaten. How’s that possible?
Answer – The group included a grandmother, her daughter, and her daughter’s daughter
Hard Questions To Answer
- Question – What is it that if you have, you want to share me, and if you share, you do not have?
Answer – A secret
- Question – What do you sit on, sleep on, and brush your teeth with?
Answer – A chair, a bed, a toothbrush
- Question – If a plane crashes on the border between the United States of America and Canada, where do they bure the survivors?
Answer – Survivors are not buried
- Question – What do you call a woman who knows where her husband is all the time?
Answer – A widow
- Question – If it takes eight men ten hours to build a wall, how long would it take four men?
Answer – No time, because the wall is already built
- Question – Uncle Bill’s farm had a terrible storm and all but seven sheep were killed. How many sheep are still alive?
Answer – Seven
- Question – Which weighs more, a pound of feathers or a pound of bricks?
Answer – Neither. They both weigh the same.
- Question – First you throw away my outside and cook the inside. Then you eat my outside and throw away my inside. What am I?
Answer – Corn on the cob. You throw away the husk, cook the corn. Then, you eat the kernels, and throw away the cob.
- Question – If you have a bowl with six apples and you take away four, how many do you have?
Answer – The four you took away
- Question – “The attorney is my brother,” testified the accountant. But the attorney testified he did not have a brother. Who is lying?
Answer – Neither one, because the accountant was his sister
- Question – If you had only one match and entered a dark room containing an oil lamp, some kindling wood, and a newspaper, which would you light first?
Answer – The match
- Question – A girl leaves home and turns left three times, only to return home facing two guys wearing masks. Who are the two guys?
Answer – The catcher and the umpire
- Question – Some months have 31 days, others have 30 days, but how many have 28 days?
Answer – All months have 28 days
- Question – If you spell “sit in the tub” as s-o-a-k, and you spell a “funny story” as j-o-k-e, how you spell the “white of an egg”?
Answer – a-l-b-u-m-e-n; e-g-g-w-h-i-t-e
- Question – What breaks and never falls, and what falls and never breaks?
Answer – Day breaks and night falls
- Question – What’s greater than God and more evil than the devil. Rich people want it, poor people have it. And if you eat it, you die?
Answer – Nothing
Trick Questions To Ask
- Question – Is it legal for a man to marry his widow’s sister?
Answer – No, but since he is dead it would be hard to do so
- Question – How was it possible that every single person in an airplane crash died, but two people survived?
Answer – The two survivors were married
- Question – If I have it, I don’t share it. If I share it, I don’t have it. What is it?
Answer – A secret
- Question – If Mrs. John’s bungalow is decorated completely in pink, with the walls, carpet, and furniture all shades of pink, what colour are the stairs?
Answer – There are no stairs, because bungalows do not have a second floor
- Question – If an electric train is moving north at 100mph and a wind is blowing to the west at 10mph, which way does the smoke blow?
Answer – An electric train has no smoke
- Question – How did the boy kick his soccer ball ten feet, and then have it come back to him on its own?
Answer – He kicked it up
- Question – We see it once in a year, twice in a week, and never in a day. What is it?
Answer – The letter ‘e’
- Question – How could a man go outside in the pouring rain without protection, and not have a hair on his head get wet?
Answer – He was bald
- Question – A man lives on the 100th floor of an apartment building. On rainy days he rides the elevator all the way up. However, on sunny days, he goes half way and takes the stairs the rest of the way. Why?
Answer – The man is short and can only reach the button for the 50th floor on the elevator. On rainy days, he uses his umbrella handle
- Question – If you divide thirty by half and add ten, what do you get?
Answer – 70; Half is 0.5. If you divide 30 by 0.5, you get 60. When you add ten, you get 70.
- Question – A man and his son were in an automobile accident. The man died on the way to the hospital, but the boy was rushed into surgery. The emergency room surgeon said, “I cannot operate, because that is my son!” How was this possible?
Answer – The emergency room surgeon was his mother
- Question – On a Sunday morning, the oldest girl in a family was murdered. The father was reading the paper, the mother was in the kitchen cooking breakfast, and the girl’s brother was playing video games. Uncle George was visiting and was out getting the mail. Who murdered the girl?
Answer – Uncle George, because it was a Sunday and the mail is not delivered on Sunday
- Question – A man dressed in all black is walking down a country lane. Suddenly, a large black car with no lights on comes around the corner and screeches to a halt. How did the car’s driver know he was there?
Answer – It was day time
- Question – You ask the sales associate in a hardware store, “How much will one cost?” “Twenty cents,” she replies. “And how much will twelve cost me?” you ask. “Forty cents,” she replies. “Okay, I’ll take one hundred and twelve.” How much did you pay?
Answer – Sixty cents. You needed three number for your house number – 112
- Question – Robert, my neighbour, a forty five year old blacksmith is seven feet tall, and eats all day long. What does he weigh?
Answer – Iron
- Question – A fishing boat, with a ladder in it, is leaning against a wall at the harbour. There are five oars and two fishing nets in the trawler. The distance between two consecutive steps on the ladder is one meter. If waves are lashing against the wall rise a half meter in every half hour, how long will it take before six steps of the ladder are under the waves?
Answer – Since the fishing boat rises with the waves, no steps will go under water
- Question – Complete this series of numbers – 9=4; 21=9; 22=9; 24=10; 8=5; 7=5; 99=10; 100=7; 16=?; 17=?
Answer – 16=7 and 17=9. Each number is equal to the number of letters in their spelling
- Question – What is the maximum number of times a single page of a newspaper can be folded in half by hand?
Answer – Only once, because after that you will be folding it into quarters, eighths, etc.
- Question – There are three important rooms in a house. The first one is filled with money. The second one is filled with important papers. The third one is filled with jewellery. One day all of these rooms burst into fire. Which room did the policemen put out the fire in first?
Answer – None of them, because policemen do not put out fires; firemen do
- Question – Why are 1968 pennies worth more than 1967 pennies?
Answer – Because there is one more penny in 1968 pennies than in 1967 pennies
- Question – There are eight men sitting on a couch. Three legs break and six men leave. How many legs are remaining?
Answer – Five. The legs of the two remaining men which is four and the remaining couch leg.
Funny Trick Questions
- Question – What two words, when combined, hold the most letters?
Answer – Post Office
- Question – What did one campfire say to the other?
Answer – Shall we go out tonight?
- Question – If a monkey, a squirrel, and a bird are racing to the top of a coconut tree, who will get the banana first?
Answer – None, because you cannot get a banana from a coconut tree
- Question – Why can’t a woman living in Europe be buried in Canada?
Answer – A living woman cannot be buried anywhere
- Question – If ten birds are sitting in a tree and a hunter shoots one, how many birds are left in the tree?
Answer – None, because after one bird got shot, the rest flew away
- Question – Why are movie stars considered cool?
Answer – Because they have so many fans
- Question – If you imagine you are in a sinking rowboat surrounded by sharks, how would you survive?
Answer – Stop imagining
- Question – A girl fell off a 50-foot ladder but didn’t get hurt. How come?
Answer – She fell off the bottom rung
- Question – What is white and black, but red all over?
Answer – The newspaper is ‘read’ all over
- Question – How many sides does a circle have?
Answer – Two, because it has an inside and an outside
- Question – I start out tall, but the longer I stand, the shorter I grow. What am I?
Answer – A candle
- Question – What is the biggest problem with snow boots?
Answer – Snow boots melt
- Question – What has four wheels and flies?
Answer – A garbage truck
- Question – Why do fluorescent lights hum?
Answer – Because they cannot remember the words
- Question – If I drink, I die. If I eat, I’m fine. What am I?
Answer – A fire
- Question – A cowboy rode into town on Friday. He stayed in town for three days and rode out on Friday. How is that possible?
Answer – Friday was the name of his horse
- Question – What can you never eat for breakfast?
Answer – Lunch or dinner
- Question – What becomes wetter the more it dries?
Answer – A towel
- Question – What starts with ‘e’ and ends with ‘e’ but only has one letter in it?
Answer – An envelope
- Question – Why did the woman run around her bed at night?
Answer – To catch up on her sleep
- Question – What did the ocean say to the beach?
Answer – Nothing, it waved
- Question – What did the quilt say to the bed?
Answer – I’ve got you covered
- Question – Where is an ocean with no water?
Answer – On a map
- Question – How much dirt is there in a hole that is three feet deep, six feet long, and four feet wide?
Answer – None, because a hole does not have any dirt inside
- Question – What type hair does an ocean have?
Answer – Wavy
- Question – What has four eyes and but can’t see?
Answer – Mississippi (Four ‘I’)
- Question – What will you actually find at the end of every rainbow?
Answer – The letter ‘w’
- Question – How many legs does an elephant have if you count his trunk as a leg?
Answer – Four, because calling the elephant’s trunk a leg does not make it one
- Question – Why did the clown visit the doctor?
Answer – Because he was feeling a bit funny
- Question – How many animals did Moses take into the ark?
Answer – None, because it was Noah who built and loaded the ark
- Question – What is sticky and brown?
Answer – A stick
- Question – What belongs to you but gets used by everyone else more than you?
Answer – Your name
- Question – If a rooster lays an egg on top of the barn roof, which way will it roll?
Answer – It will not roll, because roosters do not lay eggs
- Question – What happens if you throw a white hat into the Black Sea?
Answer – The hat gets wet
- Question – What happened to the lion when he ate the clown?
Answer – He felt funny
- Question – What provides the strength and power to walk through walls?
Answer – A door
- Question – What goes up and down, but never moves?
Answer – Stairs
Big Answers To Mind-Bending Questions
- Question – You are driving a bus. When you begin your route, there is an old woman named Mrs. Smith and a young boy names Raymond are on the bus. At the first stop, the old woman leaves, and a salesman, named Ed, enters. At the next stop, Jack and his sister Jill get on, as well as three women with shopping bags. The bus travels fifteen minutes, then stopes and Raymond gets off and a man and his wife gets on the bus. What is the name of the bus driver?
Answer – Well, remember that you are the one driving the bus
- Question – A man has a fox, a chicken, and a sack of grain. He must cross a river, but cannot carry all of them at once. If he leaves the fox with the chicken, the fox will eat the chicken. However, if he leaves the chicken the grain, the chicken will eat the grain. How can he get all three across safely?
Answer – He can take the chicken over first. Then he can go back and bring the grain next carrying the chicken for this trip. He leaves the chicken, and takes the fox to wait with the grain. The he goes back to the other side and retrieves the chicken.
Funny Questions With Answers
- Question – What bird can lift the most weight?
Answer – A crane
- Question – Why did Superman cross the road?
Answer – He wanted to get to the supermarket
- Question – Why did the cowboy ride his mule into town?
Answer – Because the mule was too heavy to carry
- Question – Which nail does a carpenter try to miss?
Answer – His fingernail
- Question – If two waves have a race, who wins?
Answer – They tied (tide)
- Question – What can you make that no one – not even you – can see?
Answer – Noise
- Question – What do you always see at the beginning of a parade?
Answer – The letter ‘p’
- Question – How can you lift an elephant with one hand?
Answer – You cannot because you will never find an elephant with one hand.
- Question – What do snowmen eat for breakfast?
Answer – Frosted Flakes
- Question – How can you drop a raw egg onto a concrete floor and not crack it?
Answer – No problem, because concrete floors are very hard to crack
- Question – What happened to the human cannonball?
Answer – He got tired
- Question – How can a woman go eight days without sleep?
Answer – She sleeps at night
- Question – Which room has no walls?
Answer – A mushroom
Trick Questions To Ask Your Friends
- Question – If George’s father has four children – Eenie, Meenie, Miney – what is the name of his fourth child?
Answer – George
- Question – A photon checks into a hotel. What is her reply when she is asked if she needs any help with her luggage?
Answer – No thank you, I am travelling light
- Question – What never asks a question but gets answered all the time?
Answer – The cellphone
- Question – What has a face and two hands, but no arms or legs?
Answer – A clock
- Question – What is it that stands up, but grows down?
Answer – A candle
- Question – A neutron walks into a café, orders breakfast, and asks the waiter, “How much will that be?’
Answer – The waiter replies, “For you? No charge!”
- Question – What did one commode say to the other commode?
Answer – You look flushed
- Question – I am an odd number. Take away one letter and I become even. What number am I?
Answer – Seven (take away the ‘s’ and it becomes ‘even’)
- Question – Why was everyone so tired on the April first?
Answer – Because they just completed a March of 31 days
- Question – What do you find in the middle of nowhere?
Answer – The letter ‘H’
- Question – What five letter word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?
Answer – Short
- Question – Why did the banker quit his job?
Answer – He lost interest
- Question – What gets sharper the more you use it?
Answer – Your brain
- Question – How can a girl go twenty five days without sleep?
Answer – She sleeps at night
- Question – What is as big as an elephant but weighs absolutely nothing?
Answer – A shadow
- Question – Thanks to me, you can see straight through the wall. What am I?
Answer – A window
- Question – Did you hear what happened to the origami store?
Answer – It folded
- Question – What happened to the woman who fell into the upholstery machine?
Answer – She was fully recovered
Really Hard Questions With Answers
- Question – What did the person who invented the door-knocker win?
Answer – The no-bell (Noble) prize
- Question – What common eleven letter word is always spelled incorrectly?
Answer – Incorrectly
- Question – What happened when the magician got angry?
Answer – He pulled his hare (hair) out
- Question – How do you make the number one disappear?
Answer – Add the letter ‘g’ and it’s gone
- Question – What is green and sings?
Answer – Elvis Presley
- Question – What has three feet and can’t walk?
Answer – A yardstick
- Question – What happened to the tiny fortune-teller that escaped from jail?
Answer – He was a small medium at large
- Question – What is round and extremely violent?
Answer – A vicious circle
- Question – What’s full of holes but can still hold liquid?
Answer – A sponge
- Question – What do you call a woman standing on a tennis court?
Answer – Annette (a net)
Best Trick Questions
- Question – I have teeth but can’t eat. What am I?
Answer – A comb
- Question – What do you call a man in a hole?
Answer – Doug (dug)
- Question – What’s a great name for a lawyer?
Answer – Sue
- Question – What should one do with a dead chemist?
Answer – Barium (bury him!)
- Question – Do you know any good jokes about sodium?
Answer – Na!
- Question – Do you want to hear a joke about potassium?
Answer – K!
- Question – Why do you always find a mushroom at a party?
Answer – Because he is a fungi (fun guy)
- Question – What word starts with IS, ends with AND, and has LA in the middle?
Answer – Island
- Question – What travels the world while stuck in one spot?
Answer – A stamp
- Question – How can a door not be a door?
Answer – When it is a jar (ajar)
Mind Trap Questions
- Question – On which roads do ghosts linger?
Answer – Dead ends
- Question – What has one eye but can’t see anything at all?
Answer – A needle
- Question – What two keys can’t open any door?
Answer – A monkey and a donkey
- Question – Why did the house go to the doctor?
Answer – Because it had a window pane (pain)
- Question – What is the coldest country in the world?
Answer – Chili
- Question – The more you take, the more you leave behind. What am I?
Answer – Footprints
- Question – What do you get if you throw a million books into the ocean?
Answer – A title wave
- Question – Which is the fastest country in the world?
Answer – Russia (rush ya)
These fun questions can be used in a number of situations. Impress your friends and family with the questions listed above. Use questions that suit your situation and have a good laugh!
Naomi is an educator with 2 decades of experience working with children of all ages. She is a keen observer of the magic and importance of Maths in our daily lives. Follow me on Linkedin