Candle Riddles: 30 Riddles About Candles with Answers on Riddlepedia
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Candle Riddles: 30 Riddles About Candles with Answers

30 riddles · tap Hint or Answer to reveal

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These candle riddles start with the most famous riddle about a candle, “tall when I’m young, short when I’m old,” and then light the way through 29 more riddles about candles, all with answers and hints. The easy round is classic “candle riddle, what am I?” territory: wicks, matches, smoke and the shadows a flame throws on the wall. The medium round turns to holiday candles, from the Hanukkah menorah and the Advent wreath to trick birthday candles, plus the candlestick riddle about a candle holder that gives off no light.

The tricky round is a set of burning candle puzzles for older kids and adults: candles that burn at different speeds, a candle used as a clock, and the classic puzzle of timing 45 minutes with two candles. Every answer to these candle riddles comes with a short explanation, and all the math has been checked. At the end you’ll find ideas for playing them by candlelight, safely.

Easy Candle Riddles for Kids (What Am I?)

I’m tall when I’m young, and I’m short when I’m old. What am I?

Hint
Every time I’m used, a little more of me melts away.
Answer
A candle

I’m the little string that runs through the middle of a candle. The flame sits on my tip, and I turn black as the candle burns. What am I?

Hint
My name rhymes with “quick.”
Answer
The wick

You strike me once against my box, I flare up with a hiss, and I pass my flame to the candle. A few seconds later, I’m finished. What am I?

Hint
I’m a short wooden stick with a red or blue head.
Answer
A match

Blow out a candle and I curl up from the wick like a thin gray ribbon. I float away and leave a smell behind. What am I?

Hint
Where there’s fire, there’s…
Answer
Smoke

Light a candle in a dark room and I appear on the wall. I copy everything you do, I dance when the flame flickers, and I vanish when the candle goes out. What am I?

Hint
Hold your hand in front of the flame to make a bunny with me.
Answer
Your shadow

I’m hot and bright, I wave without hands, and I eat wax and string. A drop of water or one big puff of air and I’m gone. What am I?

Hint
I’m the part of the candle you should never touch.
Answer
The flame

Once a year you can see me on a cake, one for every year you’ve been alive. You make a wish, take a deep breath and blow us all out. What are we?

Hint
The older you get, the more of us there are.
Answer
Birthday candles

I’m orange and round, someone carved a face into me, and a candle inside makes my eyes glow on Halloween night. What am I?

Hint
I started out in a pumpkin patch.
Answer
A jack-o’-lantern

I’m a short, round candle that sits in a little metal cup. People float me in bowls of water or line me up along a table. What am I?

Hint
My name sounds like something you’d drink with a snack.
Answer
A tealight

I’m a tiny metal bell on a long handle. Lower me over a flame and the candle goes out without any smoke blowing in your face. What am I?

Hint
I put out candles without a single puff of breath.
Answer
A candle snuffer

Candles are made of me, I drip when I get warm, and I harden again when I cool. Take away my first letter and you can chop wood with what’s left. What am I?

Hint
Bees make one kind of me in their hives.
Answer
Wax. Without the W, it’s “ax.”

Holiday and Candlestick Riddles About Candles

I’m part of every candlelit dinner, yet I give off no light at all. I just stand tall and hold the candle up. What am I?

Hint
In the nursery rhyme, Jack jumped over me.
Answer
A candlestick

I have nine branches, and for eight nights in winter, one more of my candles is lit each night. What am I?

Hint
I’m the centerpiece of Hanukkah.
Answer
A Hanukkah menorah. It’s also called a hanukkiah.

On a Hanukkah menorah, I’m the one candle with a job: I’m lit first and used to light all the others. I often sit higher than the rest. What am I called?

Hint
My name means “helper” or “attendant.”
Answer
The shamash

I’m a ring of evergreen branches with four candles. One more candle is lit each Sunday in the weeks before Christmas. What am I?

Hint
My name comes from the season of waiting before Christmas.
Answer
An Advent wreath

I hold seven candles, red, black and green, and one more is lit each day from December 26 to January 1. What am I?

Hint
I’m used during Kwanzaa.
Answer
A kinara

I hang from the ceiling of a grand ballroom with many arms full of candles or bulbs, and crystals dangle from me. My name comes from the French word for “candle.” What am I?

Hint
I’m a very fancy kind of light fixture.
Answer
A chandelier

Before clocks were common, people marked lines down the side of me. Each line that melted away meant another hour had passed. What am I?

Hint
I tell time by burning.
Answer
A candle clock

Blow us out on your birthday cake, and a second later we flicker back to life. You have to blow again and again. What are we?

Hint
We’re a party prank.
Answer
Trick candles. They are also called relighting candles.

I’m a holiday on February 2, exactly 40 days after Christmas, and I’m named after the candles that churches bless that day. What am I?

Hint
In the United States, the same day is also Groundhog Day.
Answer
Candlemas

What did one candle say to the other candle on Saturday night?

Hint
Think about what happens when someone blows on a candle.
Answer
“Want to go out tonight?”

Tricky Burning Candle Puzzles (with Answers)

Ten candles are burning on a table. A draft blows out 3 of them, and nobody relights them. The other candles burn all the way down. How many candles are left on the table in the morning?

Hint
Which candles stopped melting?
Answer
  1. Only the blown-out candles are still there; the other 7 burned away completely.

You have two special candles, each with a wick at both ends. Each takes exactly 1 hour to burn from end to end, but they burn unevenly, so half a candle isn’t half an hour. How can you time exactly 45 minutes?

Hint
A candle lit at both ends burns out twice as fast, no matter how unevenly it burns.
Answer
Light candle A at both ends and candle B at one end. When A burns out (30 minutes), light B’s other end; it burns out 15 minutes later.

A candle maker can melt 5 candle stubs into 1 new candle. She has 30 stubs. How many new candles can she make in all if she keeps melting the stubs of the candles she burns?

Hint
Don’t forget that every new candle leaves a stub of its own.
Answer
  1. 30 stubs make 6 candles; their 6 stubs make 1 more, with 2 stubs left over.

A 12-inch candle burns 2 inches every hour. An 8-inch candle burns 1 inch every hour. If you light them at the same time, when will they be the same height?

Hint
The tall one shrinks 1 inch per hour faster than the short one.
Answer
After 4 hours. Both candles are 4 inches tall then.

Two candles are exactly the same length. One burns down in 4 hours, the other in 5 hours. You light them at the same time. When will one candle be four times as long as the other?

Hint
Write how much of each candle is left after t hours.
Answer
After 3 hours and 45 minutes. The slow candle has 1/4 of its length left and the fast one has 1/16.

A candle is 20 centimeters tall and burns 2 centimeters every hour. You light it at 6 p.m. and let it burn. At what time does it go out?

Hint
First find how many hours it lasts.
Answer
4 a.m. It lasts 10 hours.

Hanukkah lasts eight nights. On the first night you light 1 candle plus the shamash, on the second night 2 candles plus the shamash, and so on, with brand-new candles every night. How many candles do you need for the whole holiday?

Hint
Each night needs one more candle than the night’s number.
Answer
  1. That’s why a standard box of Hanukkah candles holds 44.

You get one candle for each year of your age on every birthday cake. By the time you’ve blown out the candles on your 10th birthday cake, how many candles have you blown out in all?

Hint
Add 1 + 2 + 3 and keep going up to 10.
Answer
55

On the first Sunday of Advent you light one candle on the wreath, on the second Sunday two, on the third Sunday three, and on the fourth Sunday all four. How many candle lightings is that over the four Sundays?

Hint
Each Sunday, every candle that burns has to be lit again.
Answer
  1. 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = 10.

Playing Candle Riddles by Candlelight

  • Candlelight round: turn the lights down and read the riddles by a candle or a battery candle, which is the safer choice with little kids around. Whoever answers right gets to read the next one.
  • Puzzle with props: for the burning candle puzzles, give each team paper strips as “candles” and let them tear or fold off the burned parts. The 45-minute puzzle clicks much faster when you can hold it.
  • Holiday table game: save the menorah, Advent and kinara riddles for a holiday dinner, and ask each family to share one candle tradition after the answer is read.

Looking for more? Try our Hanukkah riddles, these riddles about light and dark or our fireplace riddles.