Short questions with a hidden hinge, usually a word doing double duty. They work at speed, which is the point.
Wordplay riddles live or die on the phrasing. One clumsy word and the answer is either obvious or unfair, with very little space between.
Every question below shows all four options, the keyed answer, and the one-line explanation. If you want to turn these into video, the OmniFrame Quiz Studio is free and this pack is built in.
Question 1
Before Mount Everest was discovered, what was the tallest mountain?
Why: Discovery did not change its height.
Question 2
In the classic trick question, what transparent material is the greenhouse made from?
Why: The word greenhouse describes its purpose, not a green building material; the classic answer is glass.
Question 3
How far can you walk into a forest?
Why: After halfway, you are walking out.
Question 4
What has a bottom at the top?
Why: The bottoms of your feet are at the lower end, but the phrase tricks direction.
Question 5
A rooster lays an egg on a roof. Which way does it roll?
Why: Roosters do not lay eggs.
Question 6
How many months have 28 days?
Why: Every month has at least 28 days.
Question 7
What is full of holes but still holds water?
Why: The holes absorb and hold water.
Question 8
What word is spelled wrong in every dictionary?
Why: The word 'wrong' is spelled w-r-o-n-g.
Question 9
If you pass the person in second place, what place are you in?
Why: You take the place of the person you passed.
Question 10
What has to be broken before you can use it?
Why: You crack an egg before cooking or eating it.
Question 11
What gets wetter the more it dries?
Why: A towel dries other things by absorbing water.
Question 12
What can fill a room but takes no space?
Why: Light fills the room without occupying physical volume like an object.
Question 13
What has one eye but cannot see?
Why: A needle has an eye for thread.
Question 14
What building has the most stories?
Why: Libraries contain story books.
Question 15
What has words but never speaks?
Why: Books contain words but do not talk.
These questions are free to use — in a classroom, a pub quiz, a video, or anywhere else. No attribution required. If you think one is ambiguous or an explanation is wrong, tell us and we will fix the page.
For how questions like these are constructed, see what makes a quiz question hard.