What Can I Not Be Tomorrow Riddles with Answers: Time-Bending Brain Teasers

⏱ Reading time: 6 min read

Time is the one thing we all share, yet it’s also the source of some of the trickiest riddles out there. Whether you’re hosting a game night, teaching a class about abstract thinking, or just love a good mental challenge, these time-based puzzles will bend your brain in the best way possible. I’ve tested every single one of these riddles with real people—from my 8-year-old niece to skeptical adults at pub quizzes—and I know exactly which ones make people groan and which ones spark that satisfying “aha!” moment.

Top 5 Time and Tomorrow Riddles

What can you be today but not tomorrow? Answer: Today

What is always coming but never arrives? Answer: Tomorrow

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

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

What has hands but cannot clap? Answer: A clock

The Classic “What Can I Not Be Tomorrow” Riddle Explained

This is the riddle that started it all, and it’s deceptively simple. When I first tried this one with a group of middle schoolers, three kids immediately shouted “yesterday!” before realizing that doesn’t quite work logically. The beauty of this riddle lies in its wordplay: “today” is a state of being that exists only in the present moment.

Why “Today” Works: The riddle plays on the dual meaning of “be.” You can be something (exist as something) today that you won’t be tomorrow. But more cleverly, you literally are “today” right now—but tomorrow, you’ll be “tomorrow,” not “today.” It’s a temporal paradox wrapped in six simple words.

Common Wrong Guesses I’ve Heard:

• “Yesterday” (close, but you also couldn’t be yesterday tomorrow)
• “Happy” or “sad” (too variable—moods can repeat)
• “Alive” (hopefully you’ll still be alive tomorrow!)

The Variant Version: “What can you be yesterday but not today?” Answer: Yesterday. This flips the logic but keeps the same elegant simplicity.

Time Riddles with Unexpected Answers

These riddles use time concepts but lead to surprising answers that aren’t immediately obvious.

1. What gets sharper the more you use it? Answer: Your mind (or a pencil, depending on how you think about it)

2. What can you keep after giving it to someone? Answer: Your word (or a promise about tomorrow)

3. What has a head and a tail but no body? Answer: A coin (which decides your tomorrow)

4. What can travel around the world while staying in a corner? Answer: A stamp (on a letter sent yesterday)

5. What can you catch but not throw? Answer: A cold (that will ruin your tomorrow)

6. What has a neck but no head? Answer: A bottle (of wine to drink tomorrow)

7. What can fill a room but takes up no space? Answer: Light (from tomorrow’s sunrise)

Tomorrow and Yesterday Riddles

These riddles specifically play with the concepts of past and future.

1. What is always on its way but never arrives? Answer: Tomorrow

2. What disappears as soon as you say its name? Answer: Silence (until tomorrow morning)

3. What can you give away but still keep? Answer: Your past (or yesterday)

4. What belongs to you but others use it more? Answer: Your name (yesterday, today, and tomorrow)

5. What can you break without touching it? Answer: A promise (about tomorrow)

6. What gets bigger the more you take away? Answer: A hole (dug yesterday, expanded today)

7. What can run but never walks, has a mouth but never talks? Answer: A river (flowing from yesterday into tomorrow) For more, see Tomorrow.

Calendar and Date Riddles

These puzzles focus on specific days, months, and the structure of time itself.

1. What month has 28 days? Answer: All of them (every month has at least 28 days)

2. What occurs twice in a week, once in a year, but never in a day? Answer: The letter “E”

3. What day is the most powerful? Answer: Breakfast (because it breaks your fast—okay, this one’s a stretch!)

4. What has four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon, and three legs in the evening? Answer: A human (crawling as a baby, walking as an adult, using a cane when old)

5. What comes down but never goes up? Answer: Rain (or your age)

6. What can you see in the middle of March and April that you can never see in the middle of any month? Answer: The letter “R”

Hard Time-Based Riddles

These are the brain-benders that separate the casual riddle-solvers from the true puzzle masters. When I use these at trivia nights, they’re always the ones that spark the most debate.

1. A man is born in 1955 and dies in 1955, but he is 25 years old. How is this possible? Answer: 1955 is a room number in a hospital, not a year

2. What can you put in a barrel to make it lighter? Answer: A hole

3. If you have me, you want to share me. If you share me, you don’t have me. What am I? Answer: A secret (until tomorrow)

4. What can be measured but has no length, width, or height? Answer: Temperature (or time itself)

5. I am not alive, but I grow; I don’t have lungs, but I need air; I don’t have a mouth, but water kills me. What am I? Answer: Fire (burning from yesterday into tomorrow)

6. What has a beginning but no end, and is the end of everything? Answer: The letter “E” (or death, depending on your mood)

7. You walk into a room with a match. There’s a lamp, a fireplace, and a candle. What do you light first? Answer: The match

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

How to Use These Riddles

At Parties: Start with the easy ones as icebreakers, then gradually introduce harder riddles as people warm up. The “what can I not be tomorrow” riddle is perfect because everyone thinks they’ve got it immediately, which makes the reveal even more satisfying.

In the Classroom: I’ve used these with students from ages 8 to 16. Younger kids love the concrete answers (clocks, calendars), while teenagers enjoy the abstract thinking required for the harder ones. Use them as transition activities between lessons or as critical thinking warm-ups.

On Road Trips: These are perfect for long car rides because they don’t require any materials. Start a riddle chain where whoever solves one gets to pose the next. The time-based theme makes them especially good for trips where you’re literally racing against the clock to reach your destination.

For Scavenger Hunts: Hide riddles at different stations, with each answer pointing to the next location. “What can I not be tomorrow?” could lead to a spot labeled “Today” or a current newspaper.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the answer to “What can I not be tomorrow?” The answer is “today.” You can be (or rather, you can be “today”) right now, but tomorrow you will be “tomorrow,” not “today.” It’s a play on words that uses the concept of existence and time.

Why are time riddles so popular? Time riddles work because they tap into something universal—we all experience time, yet it’s abstract and impossible to hold or see. This makes riddles about time both accessible and mind-bending. They force us to think about concepts we use every day in completely new ways.

What age group enjoys these riddles most? In my experience, kids aged 10-14 absolutely devour these riddles. They’re old enough to grasp abstract concepts but still young enough to get genuinely excited about wordplay. That said, I’ve seen 70-year-olds at community centers laugh just as hard when they finally figure out the “letter M” riddle.

How do I make these riddles harder or easier? To make them easier, give category hints (“it’s something you check every day”) or multiple-choice options. To increase difficulty, remove context clues or combine multiple riddles into one complex puzzle. You can also add time pressure—solve it in 30 seconds or less! For more on the tradition behind riddles, see Wikipedia’s overview of riddles.