Test your wits with our hardest riddles ever. Can you solve them?

Riddles run the gamut from simple and easy to solve to serious brain-busters – and we’ve compiled several of the latter for your riddling enjoyment. The major head-scratchers in this list might take some big-time brain power to solve – but it sure feels great when you figure one out!

This riddle relies on tricking you into thinking about ears and a mouth. You get a tiny hint about wind to encourage you to think broadly and avoid the literal.

Answer: An echo

Hard riddles want to trip you up, and this one works by hitting you with details from every angle. The big hint comes at the end with the wind. What does wind threaten most? You have to stretch your brain to come up with a something tiny and unexpected.

Answer: A candle. Plus, check out some equally tough trivia questions.

This riddle aims to confuse you and get you to focus on the things that are missing: the houses, trees, and fish. You might guess you need to think about something inanimate.

Answer: A map

Hard riddles like this brainteaser are tricky because they seems to invite straightforward, logical thinking. You may come up with answers like “they all went below deck” or “jumped overboard.” But you need to focus on the word “single” and think about its other meanings.

Answer: All the people were married. Can you solve these tricky number puzzles?

This is hard because it gets you thinking about gender and the ways they’re different. You have to think of one word that holds the others. It’s easy when you think about it!

Answer: Heroine

This one is pretty impossible, but use the facts you know about English to get on track. First, think of words with double vowels. And you must know this is probably going to be a compound word. The first and last letters of those combined words will form one set of double letters. Now, just wrack your brain!

Answer: Bookkeeper.

This puzzle aims to throw you off balance with shock. But pay attention to the first verb, “shoots.” What else can you shoot with besides a gun? There lies the key to the whole thing.

Answer: She took a picture of him and developed it in her dark room.

The idea of a mine might lead you to coal or a diamond. The wood detail is your best hint. This riddle is a toughie, but wood might lead you to figure it out.

Answer: Pencil lead

This trick question gives you a bunch of ways to get totally confused if you try to figure out the answer. The key is to keep it simple. Be sure to count the sisters and brothers in total and in terms of their own number of siblings. Then the answer gets a little easier.

Answer: Four sisters and three brothers. Yeah, this one had a little maths involved!