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20 Rebus Puzzles That Are Almost Impossible to Solve

You're going to need a lot of patience and a good eye to solve these tricky rebus puzzles. How fast can you decipher them all?

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Test your smarts with these rebus puzzles

Rebus puzzles, also known as word picture puzzles or picture riddles, use images or words to convey a phrase or message, typically a common idiom or expression. To help you solve them, make sure to look at word placement, size, color, and quantity. Take your time and don’t give up. These can be pretty tricky. To help you get your brain on the right track, take a look at the most frequently used idioms in the English language.

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Rebus puzzle #1

We’ll start off with a simple rebus puzzle. Can you guess this one?

Answer: Green with envy. If you like these rebus puzzles, you’ll also want to try to solve these challenging logic puzzles.

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Rebus puzzle #2

Can you solve this puzzle? Hint: Focus on the word here.

Answer: Split pea soup. Need to keep your hands busy? These are the most challenging jigsaw puzzles you can buy.

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Rebus puzzle #3

This is one of the rebus puzzles where you need to focus on the placement—and number—of numbers.

Answer: For once in my life. See if you can solve the hardest riddles ever.

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Rebus puzzle #4

Tilt your head to solve this rebus puzzle.

Answer: What goes up must come down. By the way—how many squares do you see in this image?

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Rebus puzzle #5

How fast can you solve this tricky rebus puzzle? Make sure to take note of the placement of the words.

Answer: Overseas travel. Need a boost? These brain games are guaranteed to boost your brain power.

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Rebus puzzle #6

You might think this rebus puzzle has something to do with wine, but think again.

Answer: Win with ease. These word puzzles will leave you stumped.

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Rebus puzzle #7

Hint: Think of different types of house layouts.

Answer: Split level. Also, try out these printable crossword puzzles, printable word searches, and printable sudoku puzzles to test your smarts.

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Rebus puzzle #8

The answer isn’t “try to stand.” If that’s what you thought, keep guessing.

Answer: Try to understand. Want something a little easier? Try to solve these riddles for kids.

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Rebus puzzle #9

Clear your brain and think hard about this rebus puzzle. Can you solve it?

Answer: Summer (sum R). These are the most famous riddles in history—do you already know the answers?

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Rebus puzzle #10

We’ll give you a hint to solve this rebus puzzle. What words start with “meta”?

Answer: Metaphor. Only the smartest can get these math riddles right.

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Rebus puzzle #11

Hmm, what do those numbers mean?

Answer: Safety in numbers. Try to solve this triangle puzzle—it’s trickier than you think!

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Rebus puzzle #12

First, rearrange the letters to make a real word.

Answer: Trail mix. Test your smarts with these detective riddles.

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Rebus puzzle #13

We’ll throw in one of the easier rebus puzzles to give your brain a rest. (The color here matters.)

Answer: Greenhouse. Here are some optical illusions you have to see to believe.

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Rebus puzzle #14

Can you figure out why the word “cover” appears four times and the word “head” only appears once?

Answer: Head for cover. Now, let’s see how many of these visual brain teasers you can solve.

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Rebus puzzle #15

This one is tricky. What words do you see?

Answer: Go up in smoke. By the way, we need to know: how many ducks do you see in this image?

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Rebus puzzle #16

This rebus puzzle represents an idiom you might use when you’re happy.

Answer: Sitting on top of the world. If you can figure out this puzzle, you could qualify to be a British spy.

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Rebus puzzle #17

Notice the shape of this rebus puzzle to help you solve it.

Answer: Street corner. Be sure to bookmark these cool optical illusion photos you have to see to believe.

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Rebus puzzle #18

Can you decode this one?

Answer: In between jobs. See if you can spot the difference in these pictures and guess which image doesn’t belong with the rest.

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Rebus puzzle #19

Rebus puzzles aren’t easy. If you’ve solved every one so far, that’s super impressive.

Answer: Up for grabs. Try to find the turtle hidden in this picture—over 60 percent of people can’t.

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Rebus puzzle #20

How many of these rebus puzzles did you get right? Guess this last one and finish strong.

Answer: Forgive and forget. Now, challenge your brain more and try to answer these Mensa quiz questions—if you can solve them, you’re probably a genius.

Morgan Cutolo
Morgan Cutolo is a former senior production editor at Trusted Media Brands. She graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 2016, where she received her Bachelor of Arts in Journalism. In her free time, she likes exploring the seacoast of Maine, where she lives, and snuggling up on the couch with her corgi, Eggo, to watch HGTV or The Office.