Put your brain to the test with these challenging word puzzles
15 Word Puzzles That Will Leave You Stumped
Updated on Apr. 21, 2024
Word puzzles to keep your mind sharp
When was the last time you truly exercised your mind? If you’re drawing a blank, it’s high time you start—doing so can keep you mentally fit. In fact, research has found that staying mentally active (say, by solving word puzzles and brainteasers) can improve attention and even reduce dementia risks.
Luckily for you, Reader’s Digest knows word games. We published the book Word Power Is Brain Power, after all. Ahead, we’ve collected our favorite word puzzles for you to solve. Ready to work out your mind? See how many of these challenging riddles you can get right. Word games can be difficult, so don’t worry if you can’t solve all of them—just keep trying! And if they’re a little too tough, you can prime your mind by solving easier brainteasers for kids first.
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Scrambled cities
These seemingly random phrases hide the names of eight capital cities around the world. Each phrase contains the name of two cities. Can you unscramble them and figure out what they are? This isn’t a trick question! The answer is staring you in the face.
Solution: Scrambled cities
The cities are: Beijing, London, Berlin, Moscow, Rome, Tokyo, Madrid and Paris.
What’s the quote?
This is a well-known William Shakespeare quote, but all of the vowels have been removed, and the constants have been mixed into groups of five letters. Replace the vowels to reveal the quote. Can you solve this tough literary riddle for adults?
Solution: What’s the quote?
Yes, it’s the famous quote from Romeo and Juliet!
Spell it out
Spell out a two-word place name by traveling to each letter along the lines. You can go through each circle only once. (Hint: It’s a statuesque location.)
Solution: Spell it out
The answer is Easter Island, home of the famous moai statues. Feel inspired? Try these Easter riddles next.
Word worm
From wherever you start (hint: it’s probably easiest to start at the top left), join the hexagons by creating a new word that is only one letter different from where you started. Each hexagon must connect to exactly two adjacent hexagons. Good luck!
Look for the link
Far from a spot-the-difference quiz, this riddle asks how these items are related. Can you guess?
Solution: Look for the link
The picture shows petals, plates and pleats, which are all anagrams of one another. Careful, don’t get anagrams confused with acronyms, abbreviations or initialisms!
Step down
Beginning at the top of the upside-down pyramid, remove one letter from the word strides and rearrange the remaining letters to build a new six-letter word beneath. Continue the same process for each word until you get to the bottom. (There may be more than one solution.)
Solution: Step down
Did you make it to the bottom, or did you get stumped halfway through?
Solution: Odd word out
This is a tricky one because even though it’s on our list of word puzzles, it’s also secretly a math riddle!
Word circles
Create three words, one from each circle, that all have a similar meaning. Can you solve it?
Solution: Word circles
The three similar words are merriment, laughter and hilarity—hopefully things you experience while working on this puzzle!
Word centers
Each four-letter word is the middle of a much bigger word. Fill in the blank spaces to create the original eight-letter word.
Solution: Word centers
Some of these were tricky! If you loved this puzzle, you might be a wiz at word searches too.
Scrambled
Unscramble the letters to create six worlds that relate to reading.
Solution: Scrambled
Once you get the answer to this puzzle, you’ll want to sit down with a good book.
Turn again
Begin at one of the corner squares, move clockwise around the perimeter and finish in the center square to spell a nine-letter word. You must fill in the empty squares with your own letters.
Solution: Turn again
Starting from the bottom left and going clockwise, the missing letters are R and N to spell out chronicle. Did you guess the right letters?
X Words
The X in each word represents missing letters. Figure out which letters are missing to uncover each word. This isn’t a Mensa-level quiz, but we admit it’s a head-scratcher! (Hint: For each puzzle, the missing letters form different words that have something in common.)
Solution: X words
This was a tough one! The trick is realizing that each word has a number spelled out within it.
Solution: What am I?
It’s the horizon! If this whet your appetite for word puzzles, try these other “What am I?” riddles.
Anagram
Only one of the following rows is an anagram of a five-letter English word. Do you know which one it is?
Solution: Anagram
The answer is the fourth row. LUDIB is an anagram of the word build, while the other letters are nonsense.
Star words
Create a word from each segment of each star using the four letters provided and one mystery letter. In the star at the top, the mystery letter is the third letter in each of the new words you create. In the star at the bottom, the mystery letter is the last letter in the new word you create. What are the two mystery letters?
Solution: Star words
The mystery letter in the start at the top is W, spelling rowed, hawks, lower, byway and towns. The mystery letter for the bottom star is R, spelling timer, baker, briar, flier and razor.
How did you do with these tricky word puzzles overall? Regardless of how many you got right or wrong, your brain surely benefited from a mental workout as you tried to find the answers!
Sources:
- The BMJ: “Mind games: do they work?”
- Medical Science Monitor Basic Research: “Brain Training Games Enhance Cognitive Function in Healthy Subjects”
Why trust us
Reader’s Digest is known for our humor and brain games, including quizzes, puzzles, riddles, word games, trivia, math, pattern and logic puzzles, guessing games, crosswords, rebus, hidden objects and spot-the-difference challenges. We’ve earned prestigious ASME awards for our entertainment content and have produced dozens of brainteaser books, including Word Searches, Word Power, Use Your Words, Fun Puzzles and Brain Ticklers, Mind Stretchers, Ultimate Christmas Puzzles and more. Our 10 published volumes of Mind Stretchers were edited by Allen D. Bragdon, founder of the Brainwaves Center and editor of Games magazine. Read more about our team, our contributors and our editorial policies.
