25 Questions to Ask to Test Someone's Intelligence

7 min read · IQ Tester

The best questions to ask to test someone's intelligence aren't random trivia. They're short puzzles that check how a person reasons: logic, numbers, words and whether they slow down before answering a trick. Below are 25 of them in four groups, with answers and what each one actually shows.

If you've been quizzing your friends and realized you have no idea which kind of question you'd fail, IQ Tester shows your strongest and weakest reasoning areas: Find my weak spots.

How to test intelligence in a conversation

Quick reality check before you start firing questions in the group chat:

• Trivia tests memory, not reasoning. "What's the capital of Australia?" tells you what someone has read, not how they think.
• Ask them to explain. The answer matters less than how they got there. "Wait, why?" is the most revealing follow-up.
• Mix the types. Some people crush word puzzles and freeze on numbers. One question type gives you a skewed picture.
• Keep it fun. Nobody's intelligence is on trial at a sleepover. Take turns asking each other.

Here's a cheat sheet of the four groups:

Logic questions to test intelligence

These smart questions to ask test whether someone can follow a chain of rules without getting distracted.

1. All bloops are razzies, and all razzies are lazzies. Are all bloops definitely lazzies?
2. Mary's father has five daughters: Nana, Nene, Nini and Nono. What's the fifth daughter's name?
3. Some cats are black. Some black things are cars. Does that mean some cats are cars?
4. You're in a race and you pass the person in second place. What place are you in now?
5. Two coins add up to 30 cents, and one of them is not a nickel. What are the two coins?
6. You're facing north. You turn right, right again, then left. Which way are you facing?

Number questions

Good questions to test intelligence with numbers don't need a calculator. They need pattern spotting.

7. What comes next: 2, 6, 12, 20, 30, ?
8. What comes next: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, ?
9. If 3 people paint 3 fences in 3 hours, how long do 6 people take to paint 6 fences?
10. A hoodie is marked down 20%, then another 20% off the new price. What's the total discount?
11. Which is bigger: 3/7 or 4/9?
12. What comes next: 4, 9, 16, 25, ?

Word and verbal questions

Verbal reasoning questions check vocabulary plus the ability to see how ideas relate. These are simple questions to test intelligence that work great over dinner.

13. Book is to reading as fork is to ___?
14. Which word doesn't belong: apple, banana, carrot, mango?
15. What five-letter word gets shorter when you add two letters to it?
16. Rearrange the letters of LISTEN to make another common word.
17. Hot is to cold as generous is to ___?
18. Glove is to hand as sock is to ___?

Want more like 14? Our hard emoji odd one out puzzles are the same idea, in emoji form.

Trick questions to test intelligence and thinking speed

Trick questions to test intelligence are really testing one thing: do you answer on autopilot, or do you read the question? Ask these fast.

19. How many of each animal did Moses take on the ark?
20. A rooster lays an egg on the peak of a roof. Which side does it roll down?
21. A plane crashes exactly on the US-Canada border. Where do they bury the survivors?
22. Some months have 31 days. How many have 28?
23. A doctor gives you three pills and says take one every half hour. How long until they're gone?
24. Which weighs more, a pound of feathers or a pound of bricks?
25. A farmer has 15 cows. All but 8 run away. How many are left?

These are cousins of puzzles that look easy but are actually hard, which goes deeper into why our brains take the bait.

Answers and what they reveal

Here are the questions to test intelligence with answers, plus what a right (or wrong) answer actually tells you.

Logic answers

1. Yes. If every bloop is inside "razzies" and every razzie is inside "lazzies," bloops are inside lazzies. Reveals: following a rule chain.
2. Mary. It's in the first three words. Reveals: reading carefully.
3. No. The black cats and the black cars can be totally different black things. Reveals: not jumping to conclusions.
4. Second. You took their spot; you didn't pass first place. Reveals: picturing the situation instead of guessing.
5. A quarter and a nickel. One of them isn't a nickel (the quarter). The other one is. Reveals: catching hidden assumptions.
6. East. North, right to east, right to south, left back to east. Reveals: keeping track in your head.

Number answers

7. 42. The gaps grow by 2 each time: +4, +6, +8, +10, +12.
8. 13. Each number is the sum of the two before it.
9. 3 hours. Double the people, double the fences, same time.
10. 36%. 20% off leaves 80% of the price; 20% off that leaves 64%. So you saved 36%, not 40%.
11. 4/9. Cross-multiply: 3 x 9 = 27 and 4 x 7 = 28, so 4/9 is a tiny bit bigger.
12. 36. They're the squares of 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.

Reveals: whether someone looks for the rule or just stares at the numbers.

Word answers

13. Eating. 14. Carrot (it's a vegetable). 15. Short (add "er"). 16. Silent (also enlist or tinsel). 17. Stingy (or selfish). 18. Foot.

Reveals: how fast someone sees the relationship between two words, which is what verbal analogy questions on IQ-style tests are about.

Trick answers

19. None. It was Noah's ark, not Moses'.
20. Neither. Roosters don't lay eggs.
21. Nowhere. You don't bury survivors.
22. All 12. Every month has at least 28 days.
23. One hour. First pill now, second at 30 minutes, third at 60.
24. Neither. A pound is a pound.
25. 8. "All but 8" means 8 stayed.

Reveals: impulse control. Smart people miss these all the time, because they're fast. That's kind of the point.

How to score your friends (and yourself)

Honestly? Don't take the score too seriously. Count it like this if you want:

• 20-25 right: strong all-rounder, probably reads questions twice
• 13-19 right: solid, with one or two question types that trip them up
• Under 13: they were rushing, or one category is a real blind spot

Here's the catch. When you quiz yourself, you remember the answers you got right and forget the ones you guessed. It's really hard to judge your own pattern honestly.

IQ Tester handles that part. It draws 20 untimed questions from a bank across number series, verbal analogy, logic and pattern, starting easy and getting harder, and counts a skip as wrong so you can't fudge it. Then it shows how you did in each category, no self-grading. Find my weak spots

Why this isn't a real IQ test

Twenty-five questions from a blog post can be fun and revealing, but they aren't an IQ test. A real IQ score compares your results to a big group of people your age, and the questions are tested so they're fair and consistent. Trick questions especially say more about attention than about intelligence.

So use these questions to test someone's intelligence as a game: a party icebreaker, a road trip time-killer, a study break with your flatmates (UK) or roommates (US). Just don't use them to decide who's "smart."

See which questions you'd actually miss

You've asked everyone else the questions to ask to test someone's intelligence. Now flip it. In a few minutes, IQ Tester gives you 20 untimed questions and shows your band plus three of your four category strengths for free. Then challenge the friend who aced question 23 head-to-head.

Find my weak spots

FAQ

What questions can I ask to test someone's IQ?

Use a mix: a logic chain ("all bloops are razzies..."), a number series ("2, 6, 12, 20, 30, ?"), a word analogy ("hot is to cold as generous is to ___?") and one trick question. That covers more than one kind of thinking. It's still a game, not a real IQ score.

What are good trick questions to test intelligence?

"How many of each animal did Moses take on the ark?" and "A doctor gives you three pills, one every half hour, how long do they last?" are classics. Trick questions test whether someone slows down and reads carefully, not raw brainpower.

What are simple questions to test intelligence quickly?

"What comes next: 4, 9, 16, 25?" (36) and "Which word doesn't belong: apple, banana, carrot, mango?" (carrot) take seconds. Simple questions work best when you ask "why?" afterward.

Can you really test intelligence with a few questions?

Not accurately. A few questions show how someone handles that particular puzzle on that day. Real IQ tests use many questions and compare results to a large group of people the same age.

How can I test my own intelligence online?

Look for a test that mixes question types and explains what you got wrong. IQ Tester gives you 20 untimed reasoning questions in four categories, with your band and three category strengths free. It's for entertainment, not a clinical assessment.