Opposite Riddles: 30 Topsy-Turvy Riddles with Answers

I’m the opposite of “up,” but I’m also the soft, fluffy feathers on a duckling’s belly. What word am I?

What goes up when the rain comes down?

Many shop doors have a sign on each side, and the two words mean opposite things. If the outside sign says PUSH, what does the inside sign say?

What gets wetter and wetter the more it dries?

I’m the opposite of “lose,” and you can find me hiding inside “window,” “winter” and “twin.” What word am I?

Flip me up and the room gets bright. Flip me down and it’s dark as night. What am I?

A stone does the opposite of me. Rubber ducks, beach balls and boats all do me in the water. What word am I?

Black and white are opposites, but I wear both from my ears to my hooves. I look like a horse and gallop across the African grasslands. What am I?

I’m the opposite of “set.” The sun does me every morning, and bread dough does me before it goes into the oven. What word am I?

On Opposite Day, every sentence means the opposite of what it says. Your friend says, “I don’t want a single bite of your birthday cake.” What does your friend really mean?

The more of me there is, the less you can see. Click on a lamp and I disappear. What am I?

On a standard six-sided die, the numbers on opposite faces always add up to 7. If you roll a 2, which number is facing the table?

Where does “after” always come before “before”?

I’m a word that is my own opposite. When you ___ a shelf, you take tiny bits off it. When you ___ a cake with powdered sugar, you put tiny bits on it. What’s the word?

I’m the opposite of “right,” but I can also mean “still here after everything else is gone,” like the last cookie on the plate. What word am I?

I’m the opposite of midnight on the clock, and my name is spelled the same forward and backward. What am I?

I’m a four-letter word that means “at any time.” Put one letter in front of me and I mean “at no time at all.” What am I, and what do I become?

Big and small. Hot and cold. Early and late. I’m the grammar name for a pair of words with opposite meanings. What am I?

I’m a piece of metal with two ends called north and south. Opposite ends pull together, and matching ends push apart. What am I?

When it’s summer in Australia, what season is it in Canada?

Arrange the 12 months in a circle like the numbers on a clock. Which month sits directly opposite January?

I’m how you might feel the night before a big test. Spell me backward and I become the best part of dinner. What am I?

I’m the past tense of the opposite of “lose.” Spell me backward and I mean “at this very moment.” What am I?

Forward I’m heavy, backward I’m not. What am I?

These two words look like opposites, just like “visible” and “invisible.” But they mean exactly the same thing: both warn you that something catches fire easily. What are they?

In math, the opposite of 5 is −5 and the opposite of −3 is 3. Which number is its own opposite?

You’re facing north. You turn to face the opposite direction, then make a quarter turn to your right. Which way are you facing now?

My opposite is always in front of you and can’t be seen. I’m always behind you. You can remember me, but you can never go back and visit. What am I?

What word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?

The Arctic is at the top of the world. My name means “opposite the Arctic.” What am I?