Thanksgiving Riddles and Jokes
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These thanksgiving riddles with answers belong next to the pie: turkeys, wishbones, a brown river of gravy, and one very famous boat. Thanksgiving jokes and riddles sit in here too, the kind that make the kids table groan and then repeat them anyway. Tap-through trivia, true or false calls and three emoji puzzles let the table answer on the spot, and the history of that 1621 harvest gets a seat as well.
Work out what a Thanksgiving card wants before you name the dish
Start by asking what a card is made of. Thirty-four of them stack plain clues and wait for you to reason your way in: a square of cloth that sits on your lap and catches what you drop, a probe pushed into the thickest part of the bird until the reading is right. Read to the end before you answer, because the word that rules out the near miss tends to arrive late. Thirteen give you nothing to reason with at all, like the card that wants the family nickname Native farmers gave corn, beans and squash.
Wordplay asks for a different ear. Eight answers land only when you say them aloud, since poultry hides a poltergeist, a goblet hides a gobble and a gourd hides a bodyguard. Eleven hang on one word doing two jobs, and those you can argue out on paper. Watch the close pairs, too: three cards answer with a pie and a fourth with the empty tin, while a cranberry and the sauce cooked from it get a card each, so the wording is where the difference lives.
Our fall riddles take the same season outdoors, where an acorn wears a little cap, a rake earns its keep and frost repaints the lawn overnight. That page never asks you to separate the cards you can talk yourself into from the ones you either know or you do not. Sorting those two piles is the habit this page is built to teach.
- Riddle 54: most people say The Pilgrims. The word Pilgrims is printed inside the question, so that is the name that surfaces. Look again at what is being asked, which is who shared the feast with them. That makes the Pilgrims one half of the pair and leaves the people who were already living on that coast.
- Riddle 75: most people say A kitchen timer. A timer also decides when dinner starts, so it feels like the right shape of answer. Nobody shoves a timer deep into the meat, though, and the card is explicit that this thing goes in there and reports heat rather than minutes gone by.
- Riddle 68: most people say The last slice of pie. Round and whole sounds like the dessert, so people answer with the pie and stop there. Nothing in the wording says the speaker is food. Hollow metal is the phrase that moves the description off the filling and onto the dish it was baked in.
- Riddle 81: most people say Autumn, the season. Autumn is the synonym everyone reaches for, and it does answer the naming half of the card. Then the card asks what you do when you slip on a pile of leaves, and nobody autumns down a slope. One word has to work as a noun and as a verb.
Name the job a card is doing before you answer it, and the guess that arrives first stops being the guess you say out loud.
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1. I strut around the farm saying gobble, gobble, and in November everyone talks about me. What am I? Easy
Most people first say: A rooster
Need a hint?
I am the guest of honor at the feast, whether I like it or not.
Show answer
A turkey.
Every farm bird struts, so the noise sorts them out: a rooster crows at dawn, a goose honks, and only one of them owns the gurgling call plus a place on the November calendar.
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2. I arrive the morning after the feast, the store doors open while it is still dark, and the lines outside start before breakfast. What day am I? Easy
Most people first say: Cyber Monday
Show answer
Black Friday.
Cyber Monday is the other big sale of that week, and it comes three days after this one. The name is pinned to the holiday rather than to a date, so it slides through November with the fourth Thursday.
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3. I am orange, smooth, and spiced, and I show up for dessert in a crust. What am I? Easy
Most people first say: Pecan pie
Need a hint?
My main ingredient also gets carved in October.
Show answer
Pumpkin pie.
Orange knocks out pecan and apple before the spice matters. The same field crop gets carved into lanterns in October, and here its flesh is cooked down and poured into a crust.
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4. Two people grab my ends, pull, and make a wish. Snap! What am I? Medium
Most people first say: The drumstick
Need a hint?
The bigger half wins.
Show answer
The wishbone.
Grab my ends and pull works on a party cracker as well. Snap plus a wish narrows it to the forked bone from the bird's chest, and whoever holds the longer half claims the wish.
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5. I am bread that hides inside the bird, and some families call me dressing. What am I? Easy
Most people first say: A bread roll
Show answer
Stuffing.
Two regional names for one bread mix: baked in the cavity it earns the first name, spooned into a separate dish it becomes dressing, so hides inside picks between them.
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6. I am a warm brown river poured over mountains of mashed potatoes. What am I? Easy
Most people first say: Maple syrup
Need a hint?
You pour me from a little boat.
Show answer
Gravy.
River and mountains are figures of speech, not landscape. Warm, brown and pourable over potatoes rules out syrup and butter, which belong on pancakes and rolls, and leaves the pan sauce.
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7. I am a curved horn overflowing with fruit and vegetables, and I decorate the table. What am I? Medium
Most people first say: A fruit basket
Show answer
A cornucopia, the horn of plenty.
A basket holds fruit; this thing displays it. Curved separates the two, because the shape copies an animal's horn, and once it is on the table nobody is meant to unpack it.
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8. I am Thursday's feast, but you will meet me again in sandwiches on Friday, Saturday, and maybe Sunday. What am I? Medium
Most people first say: Second helpings
Need a hint?
The fridge is full of me.
Show answer
Leftovers.
Thursday's feast could mean the meal itself, but the point is that it keeps coming back. A second helping happens at the table, while this one waits in the fridge and turns into Friday lunch.
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9. I am giant and full of air, and I float over the city while crowds cheer on Thanksgiving morning. What am I? Medium
Most people first say: A parade float
Need a hint?
Watch the famous parade in New York.
Show answer
A parade balloon.
Floats roll along on wheels; this one is held down by ropes and rises above the rooftops. Giant plus full of air separates the cartoon character overhead from the truck underneath it.
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10. I started out as a hard lump from the ground. Now I am a fluffy white cloud on your plate. What am I? Easy
Most people first say: Whipped cream
Show answer
Mashed potatoes.
A fluffy white cloud on a plate suits whipped cream until you reread the first line, since cream never came out of the dirt. Dug up hard, then boiled and beaten soft, is one vegetable's journey.
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11. For years I wrote to one president after another asking for a national day of thanks, and I also wrote the rhyme about Mary and her little lamb. Who am I? Hard
Most people first say: Abraham Lincoln
Need a hint?
A magazine editor better known for a nursery rhyme.
Show answer
Sarah Josepha Hale.
Lincoln signed the 1863 proclamation, so his name arrives first. The letters came from the editor of a Philadelphia ladies magazine, and the nursery rhyme about the lamb is the detail that separates her from the signer.
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12. After the feast, families flop on the couch to watch me get thrown, kicked, and carried. What am I? Easy
Most people first say: A basketball
Show answer
A football.
Thrown and carried fit a basketball too. Kicked is the word that rules it out, since only one of these games sends the ball off a boot, and it is the one on every television after dinner.
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13. I am a race people run on Thanksgiving morning to earn their dinner. What am I? Medium
Most people first say: a Thanksgiving marathon
Need a hint?
Lace up your sneakers before the feast.
Show answer
A turkey trot.
Marathon is the reflex, but that name fixes a distance and runs all year. This event's name instead pairs the holiday bird with a gait between walking and galloping, which is why most courses stay short and casual.
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14. I come in pumpkin, pecan, and apple, and there is never enough of me. What am I? Easy
Most people first say: A pumpkin pie
Show answer
Pie.
Three flavors are listed, so the reflex is to pick one. Nothing here asked for a flavor though, only the family name that pumpkin, pecan and apple all belong to, which is why naming one misses.
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15. I sit quietly on your lap during dinner and catch everything you drop. What am I? Easy
Most people first say: A bib
Show answer
A napkin.
A bib also catches what you drop, but it hangs from your neck instead of resting on your lap. Sits quietly on your lap is the line that picks the folded square of cloth beside the plate.
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16. I am the season's big gather-up of corn, squash, and beans, and I am the whole reason for the first feast. What am I? Medium
Most people first say: The planting
Show answer
The harvest.
Planting and gathering both belong to the farm year, and gather-up names the end of it rather than the start. Corn, squash and beans coming in at once is the work the first feast was thanking.
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17. The Wampanoag taught the Pilgrims to grow me. I am tall, golden, and my kernels line up in rows. What am I? Easy
Most people first say: A field of wheat
Need a hint?
You might eat me right off the cob.
Show answer
Corn, also called maize.
Tall and golden covers wheat and sugarcane as well. Kernels lined up in rows is the detail that rules them out, because only this crop carries its seeds in neat double rows along a cob.
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18. I am hot and patient, and I hold the turkey for hours until it turns golden brown. What am I? Easy
Most people first say: The grill
Show answer
The oven.
Hot fits the grill and the stovetop too. Holds the turkey for hours narrows it to the closed box where heat surrounds the bird.
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19. I turn red, orange, and gold, then I let go and drift onto the lawn. What am I? Easy
Most people first say: A maple tree
Show answer
An autumn leaf.
A maple turns those colors as well, yet the tree stays put. Let go and drift onto the lawn belongs to the small flat piece that hung there until the sap stopped feeding it.
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20. Everyone gathers around me on Thanksgiving. I hold the whole feast on my back and never complain. What am I? Easy
Most people first say: The kitchen counter
Show answer
The dinner table.
Back and never complain are borrowed from people, so hand them back: a flat top that holds weight, standing still while relatives crowd around it, and the counter loses because nobody gathers there.
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21. Joke time! Why did the turkey cross the road? Medium
Show answer
To prove he wasn't chicken.
Chicken carries two jobs in one word, the farm bird and the name for somebody scared. The turkey is answering the second job, which is the only way crossing a road proves anything.
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22. What key has legs and cannot open a single door? Medium
Need a hint?
Say the bird's name slowly.
Show answer
A tur-key.
Read the last three letters on their own and a key appears inside the bird's name. Legs and doors are there to keep you rummaging in a drawer of house keys instead of the farmyard.
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23. What smells the best at Thanksgiving dinner? Medium
Most people first say: The pumpkin pie
Show answer
Your nose.
Smells works two ways, giving off a scent and picking one up. You are being asked which thing does the smelling, so every dish on the table is out and the middle of your face wins.
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24. Why did the cranberries turn red? Medium
Need a hint?
Dressing means two different things here.
Show answer
Because they saw the turkey dressing.
Dressing means the bread mix beside the bird and also the act of putting clothes on. The cranberries blush because they read it the second way, which no bowl of stuffing could ever cause.
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25. What do you call the weather when it rains turkeys? Medium
Show answer
Fowl weather.
Fowl and foul sound identical and mean nothing alike, one a bird and the other nasty weather. Raining turkeys puts both meanings in the sky at once, which is where the joke sits.
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26. What sound does a turkey's phone make? Medium
Need a hint?
How would a bird say "ring"?
Show answer
Wing, wing, wing.
Swap the r in ring for the w a bird already owns and the ringtone turns into a body part. Nothing about the phone changes, only the first letter, so this one has to be said aloud.
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27. If April showers bring May flowers, what do Mayflowers bring? Medium
Show answer
Pilgrims.
Mayflowers in the rhyme are spring blooms, and capitalized it is the name of a ship. The joke swings on that second reading, so what gets brought over is a boatload of passengers rather than plants.
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28. What is a turkey's favorite dessert? Medium
Need a hint?
It sounds a lot like a real dessert with a crumbly top.
Show answer
Peach gobbler.
Cobbler and gobbler differ by a single consonant, and the bird supplies the noise for the swap. Say the dessert aloud with a g at the front and the bird has named its own treat.
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29. Why was the Thanksgiving soup so expensive? Medium
Need a hint?
It sounds like the purest gold.
Show answer
It was made with 24 carrots.
Carrots and karats are heard the same way, and a karat measures gold, so the price only makes sense with the spelling you did not choose. Soup with vegetables in it costs pennies; soup measured in gold does not.
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30. What instrument does a turkey play in the band? Medium
Show answer
The drumsticks.
Drumstick is a roast turkey leg and also the stick a drummer holds. Asking what the bird plays in a band flips the kitchen word into the music one, and the legs come ready made.
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31. Which ship carried the Pilgrims to America in 1620? Easy
Show answer
The Mayflower
Three of these ships are famous from other voyages: the Santa Maria sailed for Columbus, the Beagle carried Darwin and the Endeavour carried Cook. The one that reached Plymouth in 1620 spent about 66 days crossing.
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32. When is Thanksgiving celebrated in the United States? Easy
Show answer
The fourth Thursday of November
The trap option also sits in November, and it fails for a different reason: the rule fixes an ordinal weekday, never a number, so the date wanders between the twenty-second and the twenty-eighth and matches that fixed choice only some years.
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33. Which president made Thanksgiving a national holiday in 1863? Medium
Show answer
Abraham Lincoln
Washington did proclaim days of thanksgiving, which is why his name feels right. The lasting yearly holiday came from a proclamation signed in 1863, while the Civil War was still being fought.
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34. What is the red, dangly skin under a turkey's chin called? Hard
Show answer
A wattle
Two flaps hang on a turkey's head, and this question describes the lower one, under the chin. Gobbler is a nickname for the whole bird, while a comb and a crest sit on other birds' heads.
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35. Wild turkeys can fly. Medium
Show answer
True.
Wild birds burst up into trees to roost at night and can hold a short sprint through the air. The heavy white ones raised for the table are a different story, and they stay on the ground.
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36. The first Thanksgiving feast in 1621 lasted three days. Medium
Show answer
True.
Edward Winslow, who was there, wrote that the celebrating ran three days, with about ninety Wampanoag men joining fifty or so colonists. Nobody called it the first Thanksgiving until much later.
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37. Thanksgiving falls on November 25 every single year. Easy
Show answer
False.
The date drifts because the rule names a weekday, not a day of the month, so it can land anywhere from the twenty-second to the twenty-eighth of November.
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38. 🌽 + 🍞 Easy
Most people first say: corn toast
Show answer
Cornbread (corn + bread).
The loaf can be read as toast or a slice, and neither joins into a word anybody bakes. Swapping to its shortest plain name is what makes the compound appear, the same trick that rescues most stuck rebus pairs.
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39. 🌾 + 🌕 Medium
Need a hint?
It glows big and orange over the fields in fall.
Show answer
Harvest moon (harvest + moon).
Read the sheaf of grain as the gathering-in rather than as wheat, and the second picture keeps its plain name. Farmers gave the full disc nearest the autumn equinox that title long before emoji existed.
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40. 🍬 + 🍠 Medium
Need a hint?
A sweet side dish, often topped with marshmallows.
Show answer
Candied yams (candy + yams).
Candy and yam are the two pictures, but the first has to bend into an adjective before the pair makes sense. Sweet potatoes baked in syrup and marshmallow answer to the bent version.
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41. No single cook makes this meal. Every household carries in one dish, and the table fills up from the trunks of the cars outside. What is a meal like this called? Medium
Most people first say: A buffet
Show answer
A potluck
A buffet lines up just as many dishes, yet one kitchen cooked every tray on it. Here the cooking is split among the guests, so who made each dish is the clue, not how the food gets served.
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42. I am the tart red side dish made from berries that grow in bogs. What am I? Easy
Most people first say: A cherry relish
Show answer
Cranberry sauce
Tart and red also suit a cherry relish, so look at where the fruit grows. Cherries hang on trees, while this one floats up when growers flood the low sandy beds it was planted in.
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43. I am thick and padded, I have no separate fingers, and I only come out when the hot pan does. What am I? Easy
Most people first say: A winter mitten
Show answer
An oven mitt.
A winter mitten has the same fingerless shape, so padding alone does not sort them out. Wool is knitted to hold in body heat, while the quilted kind is sewn thick enough to carry a roasting tray across the kitchen.
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44. The 1621 harvest feast is famous for the bird, yet the guests also carried in five of one four-legged animal. What was it? Hard
Most people first say: A roast pig
Need a hint?
The guests hunted it, nobody raised it.
Show answer
Deer.
A pig feels right because most pictures of a colonial feast come with a ham in the middle. Edward Winslow's letter counts five of these animals brought by the Wampanoag guests, which is where venison enters the menu.
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45. I am a red berry that gets cooked into a tart sauce every Thanksgiving. What am I? Easy
Most people first say: A red cherry
Show answer
A cranberry.
Strawberries and cherries are red too, and both end up in sweet jam rather than a sharp sauce. Cooked into something tart enough to cut through gravy leaves one fruit off the bog vines.
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46. The plates are stacked, the coats come off their hooks, and the whole family shuffles outside together. What is this tradition called? Easy
Most people first say: A nap on the couch
Show answer
The after-dinner walk.
A nap follows a heavy plate too, and a nap needs no coats. Reaching for the hooks puts everyone on the sidewalk, circling the block until a stuffed feeling eases.
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47. I have a flat grid at the end of my handle, and at the big dinner I go up and down inside a pot. What am I? Medium
Most people first say: A kitchen whisk
Show answer
A potato masher.
A whisk works the same pot but travels in circles. Straight up and down through a grid crushes instead of stirring, which turns boiled lumps smooth without plugging in a blender.
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48. I am spread flat over the table before a single plate arrives, and I hide every scratch in the wood. What am I? Easy
Most people first say: A placemat
Show answer
The tablecloth.
A placemat covers one seat and leaves the rest of the wood bare. Reaching corner to corner is the difference, which is also why this one gets shaken outside and washed when the meal ends.
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49. I get sharpened the night before, and when the bird reaches the table I am the first thing someone picks up. What am I? Easy
Most people first say: A steak knife
Show answer
The carving knife.
Steak knives wait beside the plates and stay there. A long blade honed in advance belongs to whoever stands up to slice the roast into servings for everybody else.
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50. I live in the garage for most of the year, and I get carried in so the cousins have somewhere to sit. What am I? Easy
Most people first say: A kitchen stool
Show answer
A folding chair.
A stool also seats an extra guest, but it never goes near the garage. A seat that flattens for storage and opens for one crowded afternoon is the one carried through the door.
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51. I keep my own Thanksgiving every autumn, weeks before the feast in the United States. What country am I? Medium
Most people first say: The United Kingdom
Show answer
Canada.
England sent the Pilgrims, so the United Kingdom gets named first, though no national holiday like it sits in that calendar. The earlier date belongs to the neighbor along the long northern border, where the second Monday of October carries the meal.
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52. I march down the streets of New York City every Thanksgiving with giant balloons floating overhead. What am I? Easy
Most people first say: A street carnival
Show answer
A parade.
Marathons and street carnivals also fill an avenue. Giant balloons floating overhead is the clue that narrows it, because a carnival stays parked on one block and a race has nothing tethered above the runners.
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53. I come off a roll in a silver sheet, and after dinner I get pressed over every bowl that goes in the fridge. What am I? Easy
Most people first say: Plastic wrap
Show answer
Aluminum foil.
Plastic wrap clings to the same bowls, so silver narrows it to metal. A thin metal sheet keeps whatever shape your fingers crease into it and can go back under the broiler.
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54. We were the first people to share the harvest feast with the Pilgrims. Who are we? Medium
Most people first say: The Pilgrims
Show answer
The Wampanoag.
The clue says first people to share the feast, and the group it means is the Wampanoag, who had farmed and fished that coast long before 1620. Naming the Pilgrims inside the question is what keeps them out of the answer.
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55. What sound does a turkey make when it is happy and proud? Easy
Most people first say: a hen's clucking
Show answer
Gobble gobble.
Cluck is the first guess, but hens make that one. The display call belongs to strutting males, who fan their tails and throw it nearly a mile so rivals and females hear them, which matches the boastful mood described.
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56. I am the fourth Thursday of November, a day for feasting and giving thanks. What am I? Easy
Most people first say: A harvest festival
Show answer
Thanksgiving.
Harvest festivals happen all through autumn and land on no fixed weekday. Naming the fourth Thursday pins this one to a calendar rule, and giving thanks rather than costumes keeps the October holiday out.
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57. I am a nutty brown pie from the South, gooey and sweet, and I share the dessert table with the pumpkin one. What am I? Medium
Most people first say: Sweet potato pie
Show answer
Pecan pie.
Sweet potato pie is the other southern one on that table, and it bakes up soft rather than sticky. Nutty brown plus the gooey filling picks the pie built on halved nuts set in syrup.
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58. Cross a turkey with a ghost, and what spooky feathered thing floats out of the haunted farmhouse? Hard
Need a hint?
Farm-bird word crossed with a haunted-attic word.
Show answer
A poultry-geist.
Poltergeist is the word being bent, and the swap only lands if you hear it: the opening syllables give way to the butcher-shop term for farm birds, and the haunting keeps the rest.
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59. Here is a tricky one. What do you call a cranberry that is feeling gloomy and down in the dumps? Hard
Need a hint?
A mood word that is also a fruit.
Show answer
A blue-berry.
Blue does two jobs in English, a color and a mood, and this card feeds you the mood. Push a gloomy bog fruit through the other sense and you land on a different fruit's name entirely.
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60. After a long voyage on a wooden ship, what kind of music did the Pilgrims like to listen to? Hard
Need a hint?
Where they landed, said like a music style.
Show answer
Plymouth Rock.
Rock carries the second job here. The boulder at the landing place picked up that name long after the ship arrived, and rock by itself is also a music style, so the place name doubles as a punchline.
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61. Picture a turkey sprinting full speed away from the Thanksgiving cook. What would you call that turkey? Hard
Need a hint?
Speed and the drive-through share one word.
Show answer
Fast food.
Fast means quick and also names a category of cheap meals. A sprinting bird that somebody plans to eat sits in both senses at once.
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62. Of all the turkeys on the farm, one was never served at any dinner table. What do you call that one bird? Hard
Need a hint?
Not a breed, just how the bird feels.
Show answer
Lucky.
What do you call sounds like it wants a breed or a label, so most people hunt for a kind of bird. Nothing asked for a category, and the plain adjective for dodging dinner is enough.
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63. A turkey has a wattle dangling under its chin, but what is the floppy flap of skin draped over its beak called? Hard
Most people first say: a rooster's comb
Need a hint?
Rhymes with mood, and sits above the beak.
Show answer
A snood.
Comb is the reflex, yet combs stand upright on roosters. What hangs here earned a separate name because it changes size, stretching long while a male displays and shrinking tight again once he settles.
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64. At a very fancy feast, a turkey lifts a shiny cup to make a toast. What is that cup called? Hard
Need a hint?
A fancy cup with the bird's noise inside.
Show answer
A gobble-t.
Goblet is the real word underneath. Give it the bird's doubled b and the front of the cup turns into the gobble it already makes, while the final t stays put.
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65. The turkey pushed away the pumpkin pie and would not take a single bite. Why did it refuse dessert? Hard
Need a hint?
One word covers the bread and the belly.
Show answer
Because it was already stuffed.
Stuffed is the pivot, packed with bread before roasting and also too full for another bite. The bird gets both senses at the same moment.
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66. Riddle me this. I have plenty of ears, yet I cannot hear a word of the dinner conversation. What am I? Hard
Most people first say: A cornfield
Need a hint?
Ears that grow on a stalk, not a head.
Show answer
An ear of corn.
Ears here are not for listening. This crop grows its seeds in a sheathed cluster that farmers have always called an ear, so one meaning of the word is set against the other.
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67. I have a neck but no head, and I sail across the table pouring out a warm brown stream. What am I? Hard
Most people first say: A water pitcher
Need a hint?
Its neck is really a pouring spout.
Show answer
A gravy boat.
Neck but no head is the contradiction to unpick, since the narrow part is a spout and sailing across the table means being passed hand to hand. A pitcher would be full of water.
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68. I started the day round and whole, but by night I am hollow metal with a few crumbs, and everyone swears they had only one slice. What am I? Hard
Most people first say: The last slice of pie
Need a hint?
Think about what the dessert was baked in.
Show answer
An empty pie tin.
Round and whole invites you to answer with the dessert, though nothing said the speaker was food. Hollow metal is the line that moves the description onto the container it was baked in.
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69. I cost nothing to give, I warm both the giver and the receiver, and I am the real reason the whole holiday exists. What am I? Hard
Most people first say: A warm hug
Need a hint?
The reason for the day, not a gift.
Show answer
Gratitude, or a thank you.
A hug is free and warming too, but it is handed over with the arms rather than said out loud. Being the reason the day was named settles on the words people offer at the table.
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70. Before anyone lifts a fork, the family joins hands and shares a few thankful words. What is this moment called? Hard
Most people first say: A dinner toast
Need a hint?
A short prayer, and it has a name.
Show answer
Saying grace.
A toast is raised with a glass and aimed at a person, so joined hands and thankful words are the tell. That short prayer before eating has a set name older relatives use without thinking.
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71. Off to the side of the feast sits a smaller spot where the youngest cousins giggle, spill, and flick peas. What is it called? Hard
Most people first say: the dessert table
Need a hint?
Where the little cousins sit, plus its nickname.
Show answer
The kids' table.
Dessert table is the near miss, since that one takes its name from what sits on top of it. This label tracks the diners instead of the dishes, which is the naming rule behind every side spot at a crowded holiday meal.
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72. Once a year the President spares one lucky bird from the dinner plate in a silly little ceremony. What is that ceremony called? Hard
Most people first say: The turkey trot
Need a hint?
A legal word borrowed for a bird.
Show answer
The turkey pardon.
Once a year plus a silly ceremony is the shape of a modern White House tradition: a live bird is presented and then spared, and the term borrowed for it comes from courts and prisons.
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73. I was the Native man who taught the struggling Pilgrims to plant corn and catch fish so they could survive their first year. Who am I? Hard
Need a hint?
He had already crossed to Europe and back.
Show answer
Squanto.
Two famous names get offered by reflex and neither belongs: one lived in Virginia, one guided an expedition nearly two centuries later. The man at Plymouth had crossed to Europe and back and spoke English.
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74. Corn, beans, and squash were planted together and given one clever family nickname by Native farmers. What were the three of them called? Hard
Most people first say: the succotash dish
Need a hint?
A family nickname for the planting trio.
Show answer
The three sisters.
Succotash tempts because it names corn and beans in one word, but it is a dish and leaves the squash out. The nickname comes from a Haudenosaunee story about inseparable women, so kinship, not cookery, supplies the phrase.
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75. I get poked deep into the thickest part of the bird, and only when I reach the right number does dinner truly begin. What am I? Hard
Most people first say: A kitchen timer
Need a hint?
It reads heat, not minutes.
Show answer
A meat thermometer.
A timer also decides when dinner starts, but it counts minutes instead of heat. The probe goes into the thickest part, where the reading lags behind the clock.
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76. I am a puzzle you can walk right through in the fall, with tall green walls that rustle and hide the way out. What am I? Hard
Most people first say: A hedge maze
Need a hint?
The walls are a crop, not a shrub.
Show answer
A corn maze.
A hedge maze has walls too, but they are clipped shrubs that stand all year. Tall green walls that rustle belong to a field crop, cut into paths while it is still standing and harvested once the season ends.
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77. Surprise fact time. I flavor lattes and cookies all autumn, yet I usually contain no actual pumpkin, just warm spices. What am I? Hard
Most people first say: Plain cinnamon
Need a hint?
Named after a pie, not an ingredient.
Show answer
Pumpkin spice.
Cinnamon on its own is the usual first answer, and it is only one part of the blend. The label names the pie the mixture was invented for, not an ingredient, which is the fact underneath.
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78. Beaten until I stand up stiff, the more air you trap inside me the softer I look, but leave me in the warm and I collapse. What am I? Hard
Most people first say: A meringue
Need a hint?
Beaten, not baked, so it slumps.
Show answer
Whipped cream.
Meringue is beaten stiff as well, and it keeps that shape because an oven dries it out. Collapsing in the warm is the clue that names the uncooked one, held up by nothing but trapped bubbles.
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79. Two decorative pumpkins stood watch on the porch all season long. What do you call a pumpkin whose job is protecting the harvest? Hard
Need a hint?
A guard job for a hard-shelled squash.
Show answer
A body-gourd.
Bodyguard is the phrase underneath, and the second half swaps to the word for a hard-shelled autumn squash. Guarding the harvest is the job description that tells you which real word to bend.
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80. I get the cold shoulder in the fridge, but set me near warm rolls and I fall to pieces, and folks say I make everything better. What am I? Hard
Most people first say: Soft cream cheese
Need a hint?
Swap one vowel and it means improved.
Show answer
Butter.
Makes everything better is the pun: change one vowel and the compliment turns into the spread. Cold shoulder and falls to pieces are everyday phrases doing literal work, one for the fridge shelf and one for melting.
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81. I am a season you can name, and also the exact thing you do when you slip on a pile of my leaves. What am I? Hard
Most people first say: Autumn, the season
Need a hint?
One word for the season and the stumble.
Show answer
Fall.
Autumn answers the first half of this card and fails the second, because nobody autumns down a slope. One English word covers the season and the tumble, and the whole thing is built on that overlap.
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82. A famous winter song says I roast on an open fire, my shiny shell splits with an X so I will not burst, but I am no marshmallow. What am I? Hard
Most people first say: Roasted walnuts
Need a hint?
Score an X or it bursts in the fire.
Show answer
Chestnuts.
Walnuts and pecans come out of a shell you crack rather than cut. Scoring that X before roasting keeps the steam from bursting the case, and one famous winter song did the rest.
Thanksgiving riddles for kids
Turkeys that gobble, cranberry sauce out of the bog, pumpkin pie in a crust. Tap the Easy chip and the list keeps the gentlest cards, the ones a small cousin can shout across the table.
Turkey jokes and Thanksgiving puns
Say these answers out loud and they get funnier: a soup priced at 24 carrots, a dessert called peach gobbler, a forecast of fowl weather. The groan you get back is the receipt.
Thanksgiving trivia and quiz cards
Twelve cards ask in a different shape. Four are multiple choice, on a ship, a date, a president and a turkey's anatomy. Three want a true or false call, two want the answer typed in, and three set two emoji side by side to be read as one thing. Every reveal waits behind a toggle.
Your score
FAQ about Thanksgiving Riddles and Jokes
Are these Thanksgiving riddles good for the kids table?
That is their natural habitat. Every card carries a difficulty badge and twenty-eight of them read Easy, so you can see what you are handing a six year old before you say it out loud. Answers stay behind a Show answer toggle, so nobody gets ahead of the reader.
Which Thanksgiving cards work for grown-ups?
The history and the odd facts do that job: the man who showed the Pilgrims how to plant corn and catch fish, the November ceremony that spares one bird, the autumn latte flavor that usually carries no pumpkin at all. Puns land hardest on the people who claim to hate puns, which is exactly why you read those out loud.
What does the Most people first say line mean?
It is the wrong answer this page expects you to reach for, printed above the reveal so you meet it before the classic one. Fifty-five of them carry that line, and four get taken apart at length in the method notes. Where a card offers a hint, it waits behind its own toggle.
Why is Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November?
The proclamation that turned it into a yearly national holiday came in 1863 and named the last Thursday of November. Franklin Roosevelt later shifted it a week earlier to stretch the shopping season, which caused an uproar, so Congress fixed it as the fourth Thursday in 1941.
Thanksgiving is one afternoon, so take the cards that suit your table and pass the questions about 1621 to whoever swears they remember school. Once the plates are cleared, our winter riddles pick the season up, and the brain teasers drop the holiday altogether.