79 Word Play Trivia Questions (Ranked From Easiest to Hardest)

Are you good at thinking on your feet?

Do people often tell you that you have a quick wit?

If so, then you probably excel at word play trivia.

Word play trivia questions require you to think outside the box to find the right answer.

This type of trivia often includes puns, riddles, and tongue-twisting teasers.

Word play trivia quizzes are the perfect way to test your wit and see how fast you can think under pressure.

So, if you're feeling up for a challenge, we've got 87 word play trivia questions for you.

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79 Word Play Trivia Questions Ranked From Easiest to Hardest (Updated for 2024)

1. What number between one and ten, when said out loud, sounds like the past tense of the verb "eat"?
   
   Answer: Eight
   
   
2. Let’s see how “sharp” you are: This five-letter word is a noun meaning a stated idea or opinion, a verb meaning to direct others' attention to something by using a finger, and an adjective describing a ballet dancer performing on their toes. (You’ll score one if you answer it correctly.)
   
   Answer: Point
   
   
3. What seven-letter “C” word means to exist in the present time, the fastest-moving part of a water stream, or flowing electric charge?
   
   Answer: Current
   
   
4. If you combine a word meaning the opposite of “old”, and a shirt that athletes wear that links them to their team, you get what 30th state alphabetically in the U.S.?
   
   Answer: New Jersey
   
   
5. Take a word that means "not good," a word that's the fresh herb found in a julep, and a word that means "activated." Put them all together and you have what Summer Olympics event?
   
   Answer: Badminton
   
   
6. What seven-letter word is a dizzying condition where a person feels the false sensation of movement, and is also the title of a 1958 Alfred Hitchcock thriller starring Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak?
   
   Answer: Vertigo
   
   
7. What are two five-letter homophones, one of which means "to stop a car" and one of which means "to shatter in pieces?" Homophones are words that are spelled differently but pronounced the same.
   
   Answer: Brake and Break
   
   
8. What three-letter palindrome doesn't sound like much, but is actually a religious figure who is known for donning a habit in convents and taking solemn vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience?
   
   Answer: Nun
   
   
9. What four letter word can be a man’s name, part of a duck or a proposed law?
   
   Answer: Bill
   
   
10. Salix babylonica is the scientific name of what droopy Asian tree that anagrams to WOW, WILLING PEE?
    
    Answer: Weeping Willow
    
    
11. The phrase "dirty room" can be anagrammed into what 9-letter word for a college residence that might contain many a dirty room?
    
    Answer: Dormitory
    
    
12. When spoken aloud, what 8-letter word can (depending on how you pronounce it) either be a noun meaning a way to get into a building, or a verb meaning to put someone under a spell?
    
    Answer: Entrance
    
    
13. "Presbyterians" is not just a religious denomination, it's also an anagram of the name of what singer of "Toxic" and "Gimme More?" First and last name required.
    
    Answer: Britney Spears
    
    
14. "A man, a plan, a canal - BLANK!" What canal completes this palindrome?
    
    Answer: Panama
    
    
15. What profession anagrams, quite appropriately, to the term "moon starer?"
    
    Answer: Astronomer
    
    
16. What two digit number has the most syllables in it when you say it out loud?
    
    Answer: 77
    
    
17. "Respect" is an Aretha Franklin biopic starring Jennifer Hudson, but "respect" also anagrams to what other film title, the 2015 installment in the James Bond series?
    
    Answer: Spectre
    
    
18. Take a five-letter word that means an instrument with pipes played in a church. Add the two-letter domain code for South Africa. What stiff, sheer dress material is the result?
    
    Answer: Organza
    
    
19. What four-letter “L” word is a bobcat or a member of Minnesota’s WNBA team?
    
    Answer: Lynx
    
    
20. What “T” word is defined by Merriam-Webster Dictionary as a verb meaning “to move jerkily,” and is also the name of a livestreaming service launched in 2011 where its users often watch gaming content?
    
    Answer: Twitch
    
    
21. Marcy, Juno, and Max are all first names, but if you give each one a different last letter, they're all turn into what unit of time?
    
    Answer: Month
    
    
22. It can't be just a coincidence that the only 2 vowels from this body part are used as the common abbreviation for the field of machines that mimic the problem-solving and decision-making capabilities of humans. Can it? What fitting body part are we thinking of?
    
    Answer: Brain
    
    
23. Add one letter to "Las Vegas" to get the title of what 2013 film, in which Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman, and Kevin Kline play a group of friends having one final bachelor party?
    
    Answer: Last Vegas
    
    
24. What seven-letter “D” word describes a comedian’s seemingly serious and stoic expression while telling a joke or could weirdly describe a deceased culinary object?
    
    Answer: Deadpan
    
    
25. She'll only pay pennies and dimes for a kiss, but her whole soul for a wish. So go the weird economics of what Carly Rae Jepsen hit that anagrams to MY ABLE CAMEL?
    
    Answer: Call Me Maybe
    
    
26. Take the brand name for the tablet made by Apple, add a five-letter synonym for a frock, and move the space between them. You now have what two-word term that means a unique identifier for a device on the Internet?
    
    Answer: IP Address
    
    
27. An example of a contronym, where one word has two opposite meanings, what four-letter word means to cover lightly with a powdered substance, and also means to remove a fine substance from a surface?
    
    Answer: Dust
    
    
28. Howard Stern is a proponent of what product, a stool that is placed next to the toilet in order to improve the user’s posture and reduce stress? It has a two-word rhyming name. The first word-y refers to your posture, and the second word-y is a childish term for the toilet.
    
    Answer: Squatty Potty
    
    
29. What five-letter word becomes shorter when you add two letters to the end of it?
    
    Answer: Short
    
    
30. What five-letter word is defined by Merriam-Webster as a verb meaning “to act playfully,” “to waste time,” and sometimes follows the word “dilly”?
    
    Answer: Dally
    
    
31. "Burma" can be rearranged to form "Rumba", but since the country changed its name to Myanmar there is only one country that anagrams to a famous dance style. Name either the country (whose capital is Nuku'alofa) or the dance (which appears in the NATO phonetic alphabet).
    
    Answer: Tonga / Tango
    
    
32. Remove the first letter from a six-letter breed of hunting dog, and you'll get a five-letter predatory bird. What are the two words?
    
    Answer: Beagle, eagle
    
    
33. What’s a word for a waste-moving organ of the body, a Central American currency, the surname of a Super Bowl XLIII winner, or a punctuation mark that can be of the semi-variety?
    
    Answer: Colon
    
    
34. Obsidian, charcoal, pepper, crows, soot. These are just a few colorful items that might go on what list, perhaps curated by James Spader?
    
    Answer: The Blacklist
    
    
35. Lizard Flake aficianado Salem Saberhagen was the sassy American shorthair buddy of the title character on what late '90s sitcom that anagrams to BEWARE THEE SATANIC THING?
    
    Answer: Sabrina the Teenage Witch
    
    
36. Cobb County's Truist Park is the home stadium for what Major League Baseball team that anagrams to NAVAL BASE TART?
    
    Answer: Atlanta Braves
    
    
37. What actor and director has a name that anagrams, quite appropriately, to "Old West Action?"
    
    Answer: Clint Eastwood
    
    
38. Sounding striking similar to another zoological term for a bobcat, what five-letter word is a slang term for a golf course, or a pile of rings within a chain?
    
    Answer: Links
    
    
39. Add a consonant to a word that describes something relating to the nervous system and you would get what seven-letter "N" word that’s synonymous with “impartial,” “indifferent,” and “nonpartisan?”
    
    Answer: Neutral
    
    
40. The star of "Taken" and Mr. Payne of One Direction have given names that anagram to the name of what West African country?
    
    Answer: Mali
    
    
41. Reverse the letters in the name of a vegetable that's a relative of the onion and you get a word that refers to a certain structure on a ship or boat. What are BOTH of these four-letter words?
    
    Answer: Keel, Leek
    
    
42. According to Merriam-Webster, “Warren,” “Web,” “Entanglement,” or “Maze” would also serve as suitable synonymous titles for what 1986 adventure film starring David Bowie as a Goblin King named Jareth?
    
    Answer: “Labyrinth”
    
    
43. What word, when pronounced differently, might be applied to a group of organized workers or a molecule without a net electrical charge?
    
    Answer: Unionized
    
    
44. What six-letter word, in classical music, means German art songs? It is a homophone for someone in a position of power, such as a president, a CEO, or a monarch.
    
    Answer: Lieder
    
    
45. Add one letter to the name of a 2020 Pixar film starring Jamie Foxx and you'll get the name of a world capital city. What is that capital city?
    
    Answer: Seoul
    
    
46. The combined letters in "Israel" and "Uganda" can be anagrammed to the names of which two pretty huge North African nations?
    
    Answer: Algeria and Sudan
    
    
47. Named for a Nashville hotel and perfect for a pick-me-up, what American coffee brand anagrams to ME SEXUAL HOWL?
    
    Answer: Maxwell House
    
    
48. Change one letter each in the first and last names of actor Harrison Ford and you get two words that are, practically speaking, synonymous. What are these two words?
    
    Answer: Garrison and Fort
    
    
49. If there were a boat vacation for small cats of the family Felidae, it might share its name with what famous actor?
    
    Answer: Tom Cruise
    
    
50. What word--the plural form of a travel professional that's more politely called by a different term these days--is famously the longest word typed using only the left hand on a standard QWERTY keyboard?
    
    Answer: Stewardesses
    
    
51. What word means the following two things? A polyhedron formed by connecting a polygon to an apex or a game show that often included a number in its official title and won nine Daytime Emmy Awards.
    
    Answer: Pyramid
    
    
52. A bronx bomber, an absentminded scribble, and a man who places importance on physical appearance and refined language come together to form what song and American standard?
    
    Answer: Yankee Doodle Dandy
    
    
53. Take a four-letter word that means "to breathe heavily" and a five-letter word that means a type of robbery. Put them together and you get what word that means a person who worships all gods?
    
    Answer: Pantheist
    
    
54. Words like BEEF, BILLOWY, GHOST, and CHINTZ have their letters arranged in alphabetical order. What is the ONLY integer number that has this trait when spelled out in English?
    
    Answer: Forty
    
    
55. Oxford's 2023 Word of the Year was "rizz," which means style, charm or attractiveness. The American Dialect Society's word of the 20th Century was also a 4-letter word that ended in two Z's. What genre-defining word was that?
    
    Answer: Jazz
    
    
56. What word, when pronounced differently, might refer either to a vehicle like the Yamaha FS1, or a past tense verb meaning "brooded" or "sulked?"
    
    Answer: Moped
    
    
57. The Chinese giant species can grow up to six feet long. I'm talking about what amphibian group that anagrams to RAMEN SALAD?
    
    Answer: Salamander
    
    
58. Taking their name from pouched animals, what kind of word contains another smaller word inside it? For example, “used” gets carried around inside “accustomed” and “act” gets carried by “action.”
    
    Answer: Kangaroo
    
    
59. "Round Mound of Rebound" was a college nickname for what NBA All-Star whose name anagrams to SKY REACH BALLER?
    
    Answer: Charles Barkley
    
    
60. On the periodic table, the element with the shortest name in English (not symbol) has how many letters in it?
    
    Answer: Three
    
    
61. What plural word that describes something you might list during a job interview is the longest English word, at nine letters, with only one vowel?
    
    Answer: Strengths
    
    
62. Without a U, it's a tree of the willow family. With a U in the middle, it's a song sung by Glinda in the Broadway show "Wicked." What are the two words?
    
    Answer: Poplar and Popular
    
    
63. "Jumper" and "How's It Going to Be" are '90s hits by what alt-rock band that anagrams to HIDDEN LIBERTY?
    
    Answer: Third Eye Blind
    
    
64. A "supervocalic" is a word or phrase, like SEQUOIA or MOUNTAIN DEW, that uses all five vowels once. What African nation is the only country in the world whose name is a supervocalic?
    
    Answer: Mozambique
    
    
65. Here’s one for the linguists out there. In what language is the following phrase written in: “Sdrawkcab sti tub, hsilgne si siht”
    
    Answer: English
    
    
66. When pronounced differently, what word might refer to a language of 45 million native speakers or something you might pick up in the beauty aisle at CVS?
    
    Answer: Polish
    
    
67. Although it has an alternate spelling, what high-scoring, two-letter word is the most commonly played Scrabble word according to North American Scrabble Players Association?
    
    Answer: Qi
    
    
68. Take a two-word phrase, five letters total, that means "be successful in life." Reverse the order of the two words and you get what 1996 Coen brothers movie?
    
    Answer: Fargo
    
    
69. What word, when pronounced differently, is an adjective meaning small or a pretty small unit of measurement?
    
    Answer: Minute
    
    
70. If, on “The White Album”, the Beatles said, “you say you want to turn 360 degrees, well, you know, we all want to point back the same way,” they might be referring to a full version of what “R” geometric movement around another object?
    
    Answer: Revolution
    
    
71. Anagrams are a great art! In fact, the word ANAGRAMS is an anagram of what Latin phrase meaning "great art?"
    
    Answer: Ars Magna
    
    
72. Add the letter T to the nickname of Beethoven's third symphony, and you get the name of a 1992 Madonna album. What are the names of the symphony and the album, respectively?
    
    Answer: Eroica, Erotica
    
    
73. What word means both to restrict the movement of by bonds or obstacles, and a large basket usually with a cover for packing, storing, or transporting items?
    
    Answer: Hamper
    
    
74. This question will definitely have you seeing double. What is the only word in the English language that three lots of double letters in a row?
    
    Answer: Bookkeeper
    
    
75. A palindrome is a word or phrase that reads the same forwards and backwards; what is the corresponding term for words that become different words when read backward, such as STRAW and WARTS?
    
    Answer: Semordnilap
    
    
76. There is a 5-letter word. You remove the first letter, and it forms a 4-letter word. Then, you remove the first letter of that word to form a 3-letter word. If the 3-letter word, 4-letter word, and 5-letter word that all mean the same thing. What was the original 5-letter word?
    
    Answer: Alone
    
    
77. Considering J is worth 8, A is worth 1 and Z is worth 10, how many points is the word “Jazz” worth with a standard Scrabble set of tiles?
    
    Answer: 19
    
    
78. A saying attributed to Jesus, and the disrespect from a honey insect. Both can help you form what word?
    
    Answer: Beatitude
    
    
79. According to a famous Spoonerism, a kind of speech error where sounds are swapped between words, "The Lord is" what kind of pushy African cat?
    
    Answer: A Shoving Leopard
    

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