85 Brain Teasers That Will Honestly Probably Melt Your Brain (2024)

1. What word in the dictionary is always spelled incorrectly?

The word "incorrectly" is always spelled "incorrectly."

2. A doctor gives you three pills and tells you to take one every half hour. How long do the pills last?

The pills last one hour: You take the first pill, wait 30 minutes, take the next pill, wait 30 minutes, then take the last.

3. Guess the state:

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Indiana

4. Which restaurant is this?

5. Which celebrity name can be deciphered from this clue?

6. You're running a marathon and you just passed the person who was in second place. What place are you in now?

You're in second place.

7. Guess the state:

8. In what month do people get the least sleep?

February, because it's the shortest month.

9. How much dirt is there in a hole that is three feet wide, four feet long, and five feet deep?

There is no dirt in it — it's a hole!

10. Guess the state:

11. What country does this represent?

12. What has a head and a tail, but no body?

A coin

13. Jane and Bob have four daughters. Each of their daughters has one brother. How many children do Jane and Bob have in total?

Five children

14. How many people is "two pairs of twins twice"?

Eight. If you thought the answer was 16, you are not alone. But a twin is only one person; a pair of twins, just two. Two pairs of twins equal four. Twice that is eight.

15. Guess the state:

16. The three volumes of Lord of the Rings sit in order on a shelf. Each is 1 1/4 inches thick, comprising an inch of pages and 1/8 inch for each cover. A bookworm bores from page 1, Volume I, to the last page of Volume III. How far does it travel?

One and a half inches.

Seems like it should be 3 1/2 inches, doesn't it? But if you think about where page 1 of Volume I is when the books are lined up the usual way (Volume I on the left), you'll see that the worm actually passes through only one volume's worth of pages.

17. A pencil with a pentagonal cross section has the maker's logo imprinted on one of its five faces. If the pencil is rolled on the table, what is the probability that it stops with the logo facing up?

Zero percent. The pencil will always land with a face of the pentagon down — and thus with an edge, not a face, pointing straight up.

18. Which restaurant is this?

19. A visitor points to a portrait on the wall and asks who it is. "Brothers and sisters have I none," says the host, "but that man's father is my father's son." Who is pictured?

The host's son.

20. What country does this represent?

21. How many Friday the 13ths can there be in one calendar year?

Three

22. What country does this represent?

23. Guess the state:

24. If there are 12 fish and half of them drown, how many are left?

Twelve. Fish don't drown.

25. How many bricks does it take to complete a building made of brick?

One — the last one!

26. What country does this represent?

27. Guess the state:

28. A farmer had 15 sheep, and all but 8 died. How many are left?

Eight

29. How many times can you take 5 from 25?

Once. After that, it's 20!

30. Guess the state:

31. What country does this represent?

32. Which celebrity name can be deciphered from this clue?

33. I have three apples. If you take away two from me, how many do you have?

Two

34. Which celebrity name can be deciphered from this clue?

35. Guess the state:

36. Guess the state:

37. Which restaurant is this?

38. Guess the state:

39. You walk into a pitch-black room, and you only have one match. You have some newspaper, a candle, and some firewood in front of you. Which should you light first?

The match, duh!

40. Which celebrity name can be deciphered from this clue?

41. Which restaurant is this?

42. Guess the state:

43. An electric train is moving north at 100 mph. Which way does the smoke blow?

Electric trains don't blow smoke!

44. Which celebrity name can be deciphered from this clue?

45. Which restaurant is this?

46. Guess the state:

47. One carafe contains a liter of wine, another a liter of water. A spoonful of wine is moved from the wine carafe to the water carafe and mixed in. A spoonful of the mixture is then moved from the water carafe to the wine carafe. Is there: more wine in the water carafe than water in the wine carafe; more water in the wine carafe than wine in the water carafe; or the same in both?

Same in both.

It seems like, since you transferred pure wine to the water and only a mixture back, there must be more wine in the water than water in the wine. But that can't be right, because then you would have increased the total amount of wine! No matter what you do, if you end with a liter of liquid in each carafe, there must be the same amount of wine in the water carafe as there is water in the wine carafe. The flaw in the first argument is that although you transferred less than a spoonful of water to the wine carafe, you returned some of the wine.

48. Which restaurant is this?

49. Guess the state:

50. Which restaurant is this?

51. Guess the state:

52. Which restaurant is this?

53. Guess the state:

54. What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?

The letter "M"

55. Which restaurant is this?

56. What disappears as soon as you say its name?

Silence

57. Which restaurant is this?

58. What country does this represent?

59. Some months have 31 days; others have 30. How many have 28 days?

Twelve.All months have at least 28 days.

60. What country does this represent?

61. Guess the state:

62. There are five sisters in a room. Anne is reading a book, Margaret is cooking, Kate is playing chess, and Marie is doing the laundry. What's the fifth sister doing?

Playing chess with Kate.

63. How many dots should be on the last die?

64. There are two ducks in front of a duck, two ducks behind a duck and a duck in the middle. How many ducks are there?

There are three ducks.

65. What gets wetter and wetter the more it dries?

A towel

66. Guess the state:

67. Dani's mother has five daughters: Kate, Sophia, Maya, and Sheila. Who's the fifth daughter?

Dani

68. What three-word question can you absolutely never answer "yes" to?

Are you dead?

69. Which celebrity name can be deciphered from this clue?

70. Guess the state:

71. You measure my life in hours, and I serve you by expiring. I’m quick when I’m thin and slow when I’m fat. The wind is my enemy. What am I?

A candle

72. What is seen in the middle of March and April that can’t be seen at the beginning or end of either month?

The letter "R"

73. Guess the state:

74. What are the next three letters in this combination? OTTFFSS

ENT — it's an acronym for numbers one through 10.

75. First, think of the color of the clouds. Next, think of the color of snow. Now, think of the color of a bright full moon. Now, quickly, what do cows drink?

Water

76. Guess the state:

77. Which restaurant is this?

78. Guess the state:

79. What can you hold in your right hand, but never in your left hand?

Your left hand

80. Jane went to visit Jill. Jill is Jane’s only husband’s mother-in-law’s only husband’s only daughter’s only daughter. What relation is Jill to Jane?

Jane's daughter

81. What country does this represent?

This post contains content from Stephen LaConte, Dao Nguyen,Ryan Schocket, Andrew Ziegler, Shelby Heinrich, Tessa Fahey,Audrey Engvalson, andchlo. It was compiled by Laura Frustaci.