For classrooms, parties and family game night

Rebus Puzzles

A rebus puzzle spells out a phrase with the arrangement of words instead of the words alone. FINGERS with a line through it, MIND written over MATTER, FOOT sitting in the middle of DOOR, the word SEA seven times. Every answer is a phrase or idiom you would hear in ordinary conversation.

The best rebus puzzles use one clear visual move, such as position, size, repetition or a crossing-out, and once you spot it the phrase is the only sensible reading. Weak ones need two or three leaps or land on a phrase nobody says. Ours range from easy ones a child can read to medium ones that need you to describe the layout out loud, and each card explains how the picture reads after you reveal it.

30 rebus puzzles ✓ Every answer tested blind

How to play rebus puzzles in a group

Rebus puzzles are visual, so they work better shown than read aloud. Put one on a screen or hand out printed cards and give teams a minute each. A useful habit is to describe the picture in plain words, as in head is over heels, because the phrase is usually hiding in that description. For a class, a rebus on the board makes a good start-of-day puzzle, and younger children can try drawing their own once they have solved a few.

Tips for reading a rebus

  • Say where each word sits, using over, under, in, between or after, and listen for a familiar phrase.
  • Count repeated words; the same word written four or seven times usually means the number belongs in the answer.
  • Notice size, color and crossing-out, since a small word, a red word or a struck-through word is part of the clue.
  • If the phrase you find sounds odd, try adding a small word like a, the or your to the front.

How this page was checked

Every riddle here went to a second solver without its answer. When they reached a different answer that also fit, the riddle was rewritten and tested again, or cut. Our editorial standards.

Drafted for this page
37
Solved blind
30
Cut as repeats of other pages
2
Original to this site
21

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