Riddles About Water With Answers
Updated · Best Riddles With Answers editorial team
Quick answer: This page offers 42 riddles about water with answers for children, science classes and curious adults. The easy riddles describe taps, rivers and ponds, the middle sets cover the water cycle and the things that move or hold water, and the hard set tests facts about water with measuring and counting puzzles. Sea creatures have their own ocean page, so these riddles stay inland.
Easy Riddles About Water
Turn me one way and water pours out, and turn me the other way and it stops. If I am loose, I drip all night. What am I?
A tap
I am water that has turned hard and cold, and I clink in your glass until I melt. What am I?
An ice cube
I rise from a boiling kettle as a white cloud, and I am water in the form of a gas. What am I?
Steam
I have a mouth but I never eat, a bed but I never sleep, and I run but I never walk. What am I?
A river
I am a big body of still water with land all around me, and boats and swans float on me. What am I?
A lake
I roar as I jump over a cliff, and I make a misty cloud at the bottom. What am I?
A waterfall
I am a round, shiny ball of soap and air, and I pop when you touch me. What am I?
A bubble
You fill me with warm water, add bubbles, and sit in me with a rubber duck. What am I?
A bath
I am a deep hole in the ground, and you lower a bucket on a rope to bring up water. What am I?
A well
I shoot water up into the air in the middle of the park, and people throw coins into me for luck. What am I?
A fountain
I am a narrow strip of water that trickles over pebbles, smaller than a river. What am I?
A stream (brook)
I am a small, calm pool of water where frogs, ducks and water lilies live. What am I?
A pond
Trickier Riddles About Water
The sun warms me and I rise into the air as an invisible gas. What am I called?
Evaporation
I appear as tiny drops on the outside of a cold glass on a warm day. What am I?
Condensation
I never stop going round: water rises, forms clouds, falls, and runs back to the sea. What am I?
The water cycle
I am a river of ice that moves slowly down a mountain valley. What am I?
A glacier
I am a strong wall built across a river to hold the water back. What am I?
A dam
I am a place where clean water bubbles up from the ground all by itself. What am I?
A spring
I have paddles, and a flowing stream turns me to grind the flour at the mill. What am I?
A water wheel
I am a long, man-made channel of water that barges travel along. What am I?
A canal
I am a short red post at the side of the road, and firefighters connect their hose to me. What am I?
A fire hydrant
I am the dry feeling in your mouth that tells you your body wants a drink. What am I?
Thirst
I am a large lake, often man-made, where a town stores its drinking water. What am I?
A reservoir
I have a handle and I carry water from the tap to the garden. If I have a hole, I leak. What am I?
A bucket
Hard Riddles About Water
My formula is H2O, and I cover most of the Earth's surface. What am I?
Water
At sea level, a kettle of water begins to bubble and turn to steam when it reaches my number of degrees Celsius. What number am I?
100
When I freeze, I expand, which is why a full bottle of me can crack in the freezer. What am I?
Water
A leaky tap drips once a second, and each drop is 0.05 millilitres. How much water drips away in an hour?
180 millilitres, because 3,600 drops x 0.05 = 180
A bath holds 150 litres. The tap adds 10 litres a minute, but the open plug lets out 2 litres a minute. How long does it take to fill?
18 minutes 45 seconds, because the net rate is 8 litres a minute and 150 / 8 = 18.75
A bucket holds 8 litres. How many buckets must you empty to fill a 100 litre barrel completely?
13, because 12 buckets give 96 litres and the 13th fills the rest
A 1 litre bottle is three quarters full, and you drink a third of the water in it. How much is left?
500 millilitres, because 750 / 3 = 250 and 750 - 250 = 500
About 97 percent of the water on Earth is salty. If you had 1,000 litres of all the world's water, about how much would be fresh?
About 30 litres, because 3 percent of 1,000 is 30
You have a 3 litre jug and a 5 litre jug and a tap. How can you measure exactly 4 litres?
Fill the 5, pour it into the 3, leaving 2. Empty the 3, pour in the 2, refill the 5 and top up the 3 with 1 litre. That leaves 4 litres in the 5
A 70 kilogram adult is about 60 percent water. How many kilograms of that person is water?
42 kilograms, because 70 x 0.6 = 42
Quick-Fire Riddles About Water
One tiny round bead of water. What am I?
A droplet
A ditch of water around a castle. What am I?
A moat
A pool of water in the middle of a desert, with palm trees. What am I?
An oasis
A hot spring that shoots water high into the air. What am I?
A geyser
Fast, bumpy water in a river, where rafts bounce. What am I?
Rapids
Water spinning round and round in a circle, pulling things down. What am I?
A whirlpool
A tube that carries water to your house. What am I?
A pipe
The sound of a stone hitting a pond, and the spray that follows. What am I?
A splash
How to Use These Riddles About Water
Water riddles are useful in a science lesson on the water cycle or in a swimming class. Read the riddle, ask pupils to name the answer, and then show a photo or a model, such as a glass with condensation on the outside.
At home, try the measuring puzzles with real jugs and a bowl of water, since the fun is in the pouring. The hard riddles suit older children who like to test an idea by hand.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a good water riddle for kids?
Try 'I have a mouth but I never eat, a bed but I never sleep, and I run but I never walk.' The answer is a river. Riddles about taps, ponds and ice cubes are easy for young children.
Why does ice float on water?
When water freezes, its molecules arrange themselves in a pattern that takes up more space, so ice is less dense than liquid water. That is why ice cubes float in a glass and lakes freeze from the top down.
What is the water cycle?
It is the endless journey of water: the sun makes water evaporate, the vapour cools into clouds, rain or snow falls, and rivers carry it back to the sea. The same water is used again and again.
Are these riddles good for a science lesson?
Yes. The facts about evaporation, condensation and freezing are accurate, and the measuring puzzles link to maths. Use the easy set for younger classes and the hard set for upper primary or lower secondary pupils.
