Some wordplay puzzles look like they are asking about an object, person, or place. This one takes a different approach. What has 4 letters, sometimes 9, never 5? The trick is hidden in the wording itself.
Before checking the answer, look closely at the actual words in the sentence. Once you spot the pattern, the puzzle becomes much easier. Below, you’ll find the answer first, followed by 100 short puzzles with answers, moving from simple wordplay to trickier brain teasers.
What Has 4 Letters, Sometimes 9, Never 5? 🔤
Riddle 1: What has 4 letters, sometimes 9, never 5?
Answer: What, sometimes, and never.
Riddle 2: I have one letter but am not mail. What am I?
Answer: A letter.
Riddle 3: What word has five letters but sounds like one?
Answer: Queue.
Riddle 4: What word becomes shorter when you add two letters?
Answer: Short.
Riddle 5: What word contains all five vowels?
Answer: Facetious.
Riddle 6: What word starts and ends with E but has one letter?
Answer: Envelope.
Riddle 7: What begins with T, ends with T, and has T inside?
Answer: Teapot.
Riddle 8: What word has three consecutive double letters?
Answer: Bookkeeper.
Riddle 9: What has letters but cannot read?
Answer: A mailbox.
Riddle 10: What word sounds the same when spelled differently?
Answer: Homophone.
Short Wordplay Riddles 🧩
Riddle 11: What has a beginning and an end but no middle?
Answer: The word “end.”
Riddle 12: What letter sounds like a drink?
Answer: T.
Riddle 13: What letter can be a question?
Answer: Y.
Riddle 14: What letter is always looking forward?
Answer: Q.
Riddle 15: What word is pronounced wrong every time?
Answer: Wrong.
Riddle 16: What word is always spelled incorrectly?
Answer: Incorrectly.
Riddle 17: What word becomes a place when you remove one letter?
Answer: Plane → plan.
Riddle 18: What has a capital but no money?
Answer: A letter.
Riddle 19: What can be written but never read?
Answer: A signature.
Riddle 20: What has words but never speaks?
Answer: A dictionary.
Clever Everyday Object Riddles 🔎
Riddle 21: I have keys but open no doors. What am I?
Answer: A keyboard.
Riddle 22: I have hands but cannot clap. What am I?
Answer: A clock.
Riddle 23: I have a face but no eyes. What am I?
Answer: A clock.
Riddle 24: I have teeth but cannot bite. What am I?
Answer: A comb.
Riddle 25: I have a neck but no head. What am I?
Answer: A bottle.
Riddle 26: I have an eye but cannot see. What am I?
Answer: A needle.
Riddle 27: I have a tongue but cannot talk. What am I?
Answer: A shoe.
Riddle 28: I have a spine but no bones. What am I?
Answer: A book.
Riddle 29: I have a ring but no finger. What am I?
Answer: A telephone.
Riddle 30: I have a bed but never sleep. What am I?
Answer: A river.
Nature Riddles With Short Answers 🌿
Riddle 31: I fall but never get hurt. What am I?
Answer: Rain.
Riddle 32: I shine but am not a lamp. What am I?
Answer: The sun.
Riddle 33: I fly without wings. What am I?
Answer: A cloud.
Riddle 34: I roar without a mouth. What am I?
Answer: Thunder.
Riddle 35: I have roots but never walk. What am I?
Answer: A tree.
Riddle 36: I have leaves but cannot read. What am I?
Answer: A tree.
Riddle 37: I rise in the morning and set at night. What am I?
Answer: The sun.
Riddle 38: I disappear when darkness comes. What am I?
Answer: A shadow.
Riddle 39: I have no legs but can run. What am I?
Answer: Water.
Riddle 40: I have a tail but never wag it. What am I?
Answer: A comet.
What Has Four Wheels and Flies Riddle: 100 Riddles
Animal Riddles 🐾
Riddle 41: I have stripes and look like a horse. What am I?
Answer: A zebra.
Riddle 42: I carry my house on my back. What am I?
Answer: A turtle.
Riddle 43: I sleep upside down. What am I?
Answer: A bat.
Riddle 44: I have eight arms and no hands. What am I?
Answer: An octopus.
Riddle 45: I change color to hide. What am I?
Answer: A chameleon.
Riddle 46: I am known for carrying pollen. What am I?
Answer: A bee.
Riddle 47: I have a pouch for my baby. What am I?
Answer: A kangaroo.
Riddle 48: I am the tallest land animal. What am I?
Answer: A giraffe.
Riddle 49: I can mimic human speech. What am I?
Answer: A parrot.
Riddle 50: I have black-and-white stripes and eat bamboo. What am I?
Answer: A panda.
Food and Kitchen Riddles 🍎
Riddle 51: I am yellow and monkeys love me. What am I?
Answer: A banana.
Riddle 52: I have layers and can make you cry. What am I?
Answer: An onion.
Riddle 53: I am cold, sweet, and served in scoops. What am I?
Answer: Ice cream.
Riddle 54: I am round, red, and often sliced. What am I?
Answer: A tomato.
Riddle 55: I pop when heated. What am I?
Answer: Popcorn.
Riddle 56: I am white, cold, and fall from clouds. What am I?
Answer: Snow.
Riddle 57: I have a shell and can be scrambled. What am I?
Answer: An egg.
Riddle 58: I am baked and often have a crust. What am I?
Answer: A pie.
Riddle 59: I am sweet and made by bees. What am I?
Answer: Honey.
Riddle 60: I can be mashed, baked, or fried. What am I?
Answer: A potato.
Funny and Playful Riddles 😄
Riddle 61: Why was the math book sad?
Answer: It had too many problems.
Riddle 62: What kind of tree fits in your hand?
Answer: A palm tree.
Riddle 63: What kind of coat is best put on wet?
Answer: A coat of paint.
Riddle 64: What room has no doors or windows?
Answer: A mushroom.
Riddle 65: What has four wheels and flies?
Answer: A garbage truck.
Riddle 66: What bow cannot be tied?
Answer: A rainbow.
Riddle 67: What building has the most stories?
Answer: A library.
Riddle 68: What kind of bat can you eat?
Answer: A chocolate bat.
Riddle 69: What has ears but cannot hear?
Answer: Corn.
Riddle 70: What can you catch but never throw?
Answer: A cold.
Tricky Logic Riddles 🧠
Riddle 71: A farmer has 17 sheep. All but 9 run away. How many remain?
Answer: 9.
Riddle 72: You pass the person in second place. What place are you in?
Answer: Second.
Riddle 73: How many months have 28 days?
Answer: All 12.
Riddle 74: A rooster lays an egg on a roof. Which way does it roll?
Answer: It doesn’t. Roosters don’t lay eggs.
Riddle 75: A plane crashes on a border. Where are survivors buried?
Answer: Nowhere. Survivors aren’t buried.
Riddle 76: You have three apples and take away two. How many do you have?
Answer: Two.
Riddle 77: What gets bigger the more you take away?
Answer: A hole.
Riddle 78: What can travel around the world while staying in one corner?
Answer: A stamp.
Riddle 79: What belongs to you but others use more?
Answer: Your name.
Riddle 80: What can you hold without touching it?
Answer: A conversation.
Number and Time Riddles ⏰
Riddle 81: How many numbers are on a standard clock face?
Answer: 12.
Riddle 82: What comes after 999?
Answer: 1,000.
Riddle 83: What number stays the same upside down?
Answer: 0.
Riddle 84: What is half of 8?
Answer: 4.
Riddle 85: What number has no value when alone?
Answer: Zero.
Riddle 86: What comes once in a minute but twice in a moment?
Answer: The letter M.
Riddle 87: What comes once in a year but never in a day?
Answer: The letter Y.
Riddle 88: What number has the same number of letters as its value?
Answer: Four.
Riddle 89: What day comes before tomorrow?
Answer: Today.
Riddle 90: What can be measured but has no length?
Answer: Time.
Final Tricky Wordplay Riddles 🎯
Riddle 91: What has a head and a tail but no body?
Answer: A coin.
Riddle 92: What can be broken without being touched?
Answer: A promise.
Riddle 93: What can run but never walks?
Answer: A nose.
Riddle 94: What has cities but no houses?
Answer: A map.
Riddle 95: What has an eye but no vision?
Answer: A storm.
Riddle 96: What gets wetter as it dries?
Answer: A towel.
Riddle 97: What has holes but still holds water?
Answer: A sponge.
Riddle 98: What can fill a room but takes no space?
Answer: Light.
Riddle 99: What goes up but never comes down?
Answer: Your age.
Riddle 100: What can you hear but never see?
Answer: An echo.
Conclusion
The what has 4 letters, sometimes 9, never 5 riddle works because the wording itself contains the answer. “What” has four letters, “sometimes” has nine, and “never” has five. The trick is to stop looking for an object and examine the sentence literally.
The 100 short puzzles above use different styles, from wordplay and everyday objects to logic, numbers, animals, and lateral thinking. For the best challenge, try solving each one before looking at its answer.
Frequently Asked Questions
What has 4 letters, sometimes 9, but never 5?
The answer is “what,” “sometimes,” and “never.” “What” contains four letters, “sometimes” contains nine, and “never” contains five.
What is the answer to the 4-9-5 riddle?
The answer comes from counting the letters in the words what, sometimes, and never.
How many letters are in “sometimes”?
The word sometimes has nine letters.
How many letters are in “never”?
The word never has five letters.
How many letters are in “what”?
The word what has four letters.
What is the hint for this wordplay puzzle?
Look at the words in the sentence instead of searching for an object or person.
Is this a wordplay riddle?
Yes. It is a wordplay and letter-count puzzle based on the literal spelling of selected words.
Why is this riddle tricky?
The opening makes the reader expect a normal “What has…” question. The trick is realizing that the words themselves provide the answer.