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Three-Word Riddles (Remote Associates Test)

Three words, one hidden link: find the word that goes with all of them. Five new riddles every day, the same for everyone. About 3 minutes, free, no sign-up. We save scores, with your IP address and country, to build comparisons.

By the Helibrain teamReviewed by Robert, biophysics PhD candidatePublished Last reviewed

 

Today's three-word riddles

Find the one word that goes with all three words to make a common compound or phrase. 5 riddles, 45 seconds each, as many guesses as you like.

Example

green · light · dog

Answer: house (greenhouse, lighthouse, doghouse)

How to read your result

Your score is how many of today's 5 riddles you solved within 45 seconds each. Riddles like these come from the Remote Associates Test, which researchers use to study insight: the moment an answer suddenly clicks [1][3]. One day's score is a game, not a measure of how creative you are; your average over many days says more.

  • Score: riddles solved out of 5, with the seconds each one took.
  • The squares: green for solved, red for not, in order. They're what you share, so friends see how you did without the answers.
  • Today's players: shown once 20 people have played that day in your language. Replays don't count.
  • Streak: the days in a row you've played, kept in this browser only.

Quick facts

  • What it is: a remote associates problem gives three words; the answer makes a compound word or common phrase with each. Example: green, light, dog → house (greenhouse, lighthouse, doghouse). The idea goes back to Sarnoff Mednick's 1962 test of creative thinking [2].
  • How hard they are: in the best-known set of 144 such problems, 289 people had 2, 7, 15 or 30 seconds per problem, and how many solved each one varied widely, from easy to very hard [1].
  • Insight: people often solve these riddles with a sudden "aha" rather than step by step, which is why researchers use them to study insight [3].

How the riddles work

  1. Each day at midnight UTC, 5 new riddles start, easier ones first.
  2. Type the linking word and press Check. Wrong guesses just shake; guess as often as you like within 45 seconds, or skip.
  3. At the end you see the answers and the three compounds for each riddle.

The riddles are our own, written for Helibrain and checked a second time for common words and a single answer. The bank has 356 riddles, enough for 70 days. Capital letters, spaces and hyphens in your answer don't matter. Our server checks every guess again when it scores the round; your typed guesses are not stored, only how many you made and when you solved each riddle.

What affects your score

  • Fixation. A wrong first idea can block the right one. Skipping and coming back with fresh eyes isn't possible here, so try a different cue word as your starting point.
  • Your vocabulary and your variety of English. The riddles use common compounds, but one may simply be less common where you live.
  • Luck of the day. Five riddles is a small sample.

What this game can and can't tell you

This is a daily puzzle based on a research task. It doesn't measure your creativity as a whole: our riddles have no published norms, and a few riddles on one day can't say much about one person. It says nothing about your health. For a different side of creative thinking, try the creativity test, which measures how far apart your ideas are.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Remote Associates Test?

The Remote Associates Test, first published by Sarnoff Mednick in 1962, gives three words and asks for a fourth word that links them [2]. Later researchers made a version where the answer forms a compound word or phrase with each cue, called compound remote associates [1]. The Helibrain three-word riddles use that format with our own riddles.

Is the remote associates test a creativity test?

Researchers use it to study convergent thinking and insight: finding the single answer that fits [1][3]. Creativity also includes coming up with many different ideas, which this game doesn't measure.

Are the riddles the same for everyone?

Yes, everyone who plays in the same language on the same day (UTC) gets the same Helibrain three-word riddles, so you can compare with friends. The share button sends your score and squares, never the answers.

What counts as a right answer?

The linking word, in its usual spelling; some riddles also accept a plural or another spelling. Capitals, spaces and hyphens are ignored.

Is the Helibrain three-word riddle game free?

Yes. The riddles and your full result are free: no sign-up, no email, no payment. We save results with your IP address and country to build comparisons, as our privacy policy explains. Helibrain makes money from its app, which has a free plan and paid plans; you don't need the app for this game.

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Want to work on this daily? The Helibrain app has a free plan and paid plans.

Sources

  1. Bowden EM, Jung-Beeman M (2003). Normative data for 144 compound remote associate problems. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers 35(4):634–639. doi.org/10.3758/BF03195543
  2. Mednick SA (1962). The associative basis of the creative process. Psychological Review 69(3):220–232. doi.org/10.1037/h0048850
  3. Kounios J, Beeman M (2014). The cognitive neuroscience of insight. Annual Review of Psychology 65:71–93. doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115154

How we made this page: written by the Helibrain team from the studies listed above, and reviewed by Robert (biophysics PhD candidate) on 4 November 2026. We update it when the sources change.