Many people scratch their heads when they first hear the riddle, “Turn me on my side, and I am everything.”

This little brain teaser makes them stop and think. What could possibly mean nothing in one position but everything when turned?

But don’t worry, the answer isn’t as hard as it seems once you know what to look for.

Keep reading to find out the simple yet clever solution that will make you smile.

What It Really Means: Cracking the Code Behind the Riddle

The answer to “turn me on my side and I am everything” is simpler than most people think. It’s the number 8.

Look at the number 8 on a page. It stands tall with two circles, one on top of the other. But what happens when you turn it sideways? The shape changes to something new, the infinity symbol (∞).

In math, the infinity symbol stands for a value without end. It’s everything because it goes on forever, with no limits or bounds. The number 8 becomes the symbol for all that exists and will ever exist.

A simple shift in perspective turns a basic number into a symbol for the biggest idea humans can think of.

Some Riddles with a Twist That Spark Curiosity

Most people love a good riddle that makes them think in new ways. Like the “turn me on my side and I am everything” puzzle, these brain teasers ask us to shift how we see words, numbers, and objects to find answers hiding in plain sight.

Challenging Brain Teasers

Not all brain teasers are as simple as turning 8 on its side. Some puzzles push people to think harder and look beyond the obvious, testing both patience and problem-solving skills.

1. What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?
Answer: The letter “M”

2. I speak without a mouth and hear without ears. I have no body, but I come alive with wind. What am I?
Answer: An echo

3. The more you take, the more you leave behind. What am I?
Answer: Footsteps

4. I am not alive, but I grow; I don’t have lungs, but I need air. What am I?
Answer: Fire

5. I can fill a room but take up no space. What am I?
Answer: Light

6. I have keys but no locks, space but no room. You can enter, but can’t go outside. What am I?
Answer: A keyboard

7. What can’t talk but will reply when spoken to?
Answer: An echo

8. What disappears the moment you say its name?
Answer: Silence

9. I’m tall when I’m young, and I’m short when I’m old. What am I?
Answer: A candle

10. I’m light as a feather, yet the strongest man can’t hold me for much more than a minute. What am I?
Answer: Breath

11. I am taken from a mine and shut in a wooden case, from which I am never released, and yet I am used by almost every person. What am I?
Answer: Pencil lead

12. The more of me you take, the bigger I get. What am I?
Answer: A hole

13. What invention lets you look right through a wall?
Answer: A window

14. What has a head, a tail, but no body?
Answer: A coin

15. If you drop me, I’m sure to crack, but smile at me and I’ll smile back. What am I?
Answer: A mirror

16. What flies forever, rests never?
Answer: Time

17. I have one eye but can’t see. What am I?
Answer: A needle

18. The more you take from me, the more I become. What am I?
Answer: A hole

19. I shrink every time I take a bath. What am I?
Answer: A bar of soap

20. I start out tall, but the more I stand, the shorter I grow. What am I?
Answer: A candle

21. What has hands but can’t clap?
Answer: A clock

22. What has a neck but no head?
Answer: A bottle

23. You see me once in June, twice in November, but not at all in May. What am I?
Answer: The letter “E”

24. What goes up but never comes down?
Answer: Your age

25. I have a bed but never sleep, a mouth but never eat. What am I?
Answer: A river

26. What begins and has no end, and is the key to everything?
Answer: Infinity

27. I go in hard, come out soft, and am never the same again. What am I?
Answer: Chewing gum

28. The more you take from me, the more there is. What am I?
Answer: A gap

29. What has no beginning, middle, or end?
Answer: A circle

30. What breaks yet never falls, and what falls but never breaks?
Answer: Day breaks, night falls

Clever Brain Teasers for Kids

These kid-friendly brain teasers build thinking skills while bringing smiles to young faces when they crack the code.

31. I have four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three legs in the evening. What am I?
Answer: A human (baby, adult, old age)

32. What has one horn but doesn’t make noise?
Answer: A unicorn

33. What has stripes but no color, pages but no words?
Answer: A zebra crossing or a notebook

34. What can be cracked, made, told, and played?
Answer: A joke

35. Where does today come before yesterday?
Answer: In the dictionary

36. I’m round on both sides but high in the middle. What am I?
Answer: Ohio

37. What has legs but doesn’t walk?
Answer: A table

38. I can be long or short; I can be grown or bought; I can be painted or left bare. What am I?
Answer: Hair

39. What has teeth but doesn’t bite?
Answer: A comb

40. I’m always in front of you, but I can’t be seen. What am I?
Answer: The future

41. What gets wetter as it dries?
Answer: A towel

42. What has eyes but can’t see?
Answer: A potato

43. What’s full of holes but still holds water?
Answer: A sponge

44. What comes down but never goes up?
Answer: Rain

45. What can you catch but not throw?
Answer: A cold

46. Why did the boy bury his flashlight?
Answer: Because the batteries died

47. What begins with T, ends with T, and has T in it?
Answer: A teapot

48. What is brown and sticky?
Answer: A stick

49. What can you break without touching it?
Answer: A promise

50. What gets sharper the more you use it?
Answer: Your brain

51. Why did the math book look sad?
Answer: Because it had too many problems

52. What has a tail and no body?
Answer: A coin

53. What kind of room has no doors or windows?
Answer: A mushroom

54. What runs but never walks, has a bed but never sleeps?
Answer: A river

55. What letter of the alphabet has the most water?
Answer: The C

56. What kind of tree can you carry in your hand?
Answer: A palm

57. What goes around the world but stays in one corner?
Answer: A stamp

58. What has a thumb and four fingers but is not alive?
Answer: A glove

59. What do you find in the middle of nowhere?
Answer: The letter H

60. What begins with an E, ends with an E, but only has one letter in it?
Answer: An envelope

Tricky Brain Teasers for Adults

Grown-ups need mental challenges that match their life experience and knowledge. These harder puzzles give adults the perfect way to test their thinking skills and keep their minds sharp through the years.

61. If two’s company, and three’s a crowd, what are four and five?
Answer: Nine

62. Forward, I’m heavy; backward, I’m not. What am I?
Answer: Ton

63. What can travel around the world while staying in the same spot?
Answer: A stamp

64. The person who makes it sells it. The person who buys it never uses it. What is it?
Answer: A coffin

65. You see a boat filled with people. It hasn’t sunk, but when you look again you don’t see a single person. Why?
Answer: They were all married

66. What comes once in a year, twice in a week, and never in a day?
Answer: The letter E

67. What word is spelled incorrectly in every dictionary?
Answer: Incorrectly

68. I’m only useful when I’m broken. What am I?
Answer: An egg

69. What has cities but no houses, forests but no trees, and rivers but no water?
Answer: A map

70. I’m always running but never move. What am I?
Answer: Time

71. What’s always coming but never arrives?
Answer: Tomorrow

72. I am a word of three letters, add two and fewer there will be. What am I?
Answer: Few

73. What’s the end of everything?
Answer: The letter G

74. What has one head, one foot, and four legs?
Answer: A bed

75. What English word retains the same pronunciation, even after you take away four of its five letters?
Answer: Queue

76. You see me in water, but I never get wet. What am I?
Answer: A reflection

77. What occurs once in every minute, twice in every moment, yet never in a thousand years?
Answer: The letter M

78. What belongs to you but is used more by others?
Answer: Your name

79. What can fill a room but takes up no space?
Answer: Light

80. What do you throw out when you want to use it, but take in when you don’t want to use it?
Answer: An anchor

81. What gets broken without being held?
Answer: A promise

82. The more you remove from me, the stronger I become. What am I?
Answer: A shadow

83. What word looks the same upside down and backward?
Answer: Swims

84. Which is heavier: a ton of bricks or a ton of feathers?
Answer: Neither

85. What can run but never walk, has a mouth but never talks?
Answer: A river

86. The more of me there is, the less you see. What am I?
Answer: Darkness

87. What flies without wings and cries without eyes?
Answer: A cloud

88. What is always in front of you but can’t be seen?
Answer: The future

89. What can be heard and caught but never seen?
Answer: A remark

90. If you have me, you want to share me. If you share me, you don’t have me. What am I?
Answer: A secret

Fun Brain Teasers for All Ages

Some puzzles work magic at family gatherings because everyone from grandparents to small children can join in. These all-ages brain teasers create moments where the whole family can laugh, guess, and solve together.

91. What starts with P, ends with E, and has a million letters in it?
Answer: Post Office

92. What’s easy to lift but hard to throw?
Answer: A feather

93. What comes down but doesn’t go up?
Answer: Rain

94. What kind of band never plays music?
Answer: A rubber band

95. What do you get if you cross a snowman and a vampire?
Answer: Frostbite

96. What goes up and down but doesn’t move?
Answer: A staircase

97. What is always late and never early?
Answer: Procrastination

98. What is red and smells like blue paint?
Answer: Red paint

99. What goes through towns and over hills but never moves?
Answer: A road

100. What do you call a bear with no teeth?
Answer: A gummy bear

101. What has a spine but no bones?
Answer: A book

102. What never asks a question but gets answered all the time?
Answer: A phone

103. What has ears but can’t hear?
Answer: A cornfield

104. What building has the most stories?
Answer: The library

105. What can you hold in your left hand but not your right?
Answer: Your right elbow

106. What becomes white when it’s dirty?
Answer: A chalkboard

107. Why can’t your nose be 12 inches long?
Answer: Because then it would be a foot

108. What goes up when the rain comes down?
Answer: An umbrella

109. What is orange and sounds like a parrot?
Answer: A carrot

110. What do you call two birds in love?
Answer: Tweethearts

111. What gets bigger the more you take away?
Answer: A hole

Wrapping Up

The beauty of the number 8 turning into infinity shows us something important about life.

What looks like one thing from our perspective can become totally different with just a small shift in perspective.

Next time someone asks for a brain teaser, try “turn me on my side and I am everything,” and watch their face when they figure it out. Better yet, ask them to make up their riddle.